UMaine pursues transformative $110 million athletic facilities plan

UMaine pursues transformative $110 million athletic facilities plan

The University of Maine has unveiled its transformative $110 million athletic facilities master plan. The initiative honors Harold Alfond’s legacy of support for Maine education and athletics by providing modern facilities for all 17 varsity programs at Maine’s only Division I athletic program, and improving the overall UMaine student experience.

In October, the Harold Alfond Foundation announced an historic $500 million investment in Maine and its people. The University of Maine System is to receive $240 million over 10–12 years, including $90 million in support for UMaine’s $110 million Athletics Facilities Master Plan.

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UMaine holds virtual groundbreaking for $78 million Ferland Engineering Education and Design Center

UMaine holds virtual groundbreaking for $78 million Ferland Engineering Education and Design Center

April 28, 2020

Today, donors, architects, builders, alumni, friends and colleagues will celebrate the official groundbreaking ceremony for the University of Maine Ferland Engineering Education and Design Center. Due to coronavirus pandemic protocols, the previously planned in-person event is virtual and available online. Construction of the 105,000-square-foot facility will begin in May, with workers following appropriate COVID-19 health and safety guidelines.

The project is expected to be completed in spring 2022. Members of the UMaine Class of 2023, who entered as first-year students in fall 2019, will complete their senior capstone projects in the center. The groundbreaking for the Ferland Engineering Education and Design Center (Ferland EEDC), which has been in the planning and fundraising stages since 2013, is a significant milestone, says Gov. Janet Mills.

“This is an exciting opportunity for UMaine students to learn skills in emerging fields in state-of-the-art classrooms in biomedical and mechanical engineering labs. And once we’re on the other side of this pandemic, it will be another crucial tool to help us address our workforce challenges, which is critical to the growth of our economy and our success as a state,” Mills notes in her video message for the virtual groundbreaking.

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Transformational change for athletic fundraising

A $1.5 million, three-year award from the Harold Alfond Foundation has established the Alfond Fund in the University of Maine Foundation, focused on creating a centralized fundraising structure for UMaine Athletics and continuing support of the football program.

“Through the years, Harold Alfond and the Harold Alfond Foundation have helped the University of Maine achieve excellence in Division I athletics for Maine, and for our fan base on campus, statewide and beyond,” says UMaine President Susan J. Hunter. “This newest award further underscores the leadership role of UMaine Athletics, and will be a game changer for fundraising and friendraising going forward.”

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$5.2 Million Emera Astronomy Center Benefits from $3.2 Million Anonymous Gift

People donate to the Foundation for various reasons and most are recognized publicly for their generosity. However, donors sometimes choose to remain in the background and watch their legacy at work from afar. Anonymity is very possible when working with the University of Maine Foundation. In fact, this is the case of the anonymous donors for the new Emera Astronomy Center at UMaine, the donors decided to step aside from the opportunity to name the center. It is somewhat fitting that the largest donor for the new UMaine astronomy center remains a very important, yet unknown entity somewhere in the shining stars.

The new Emera Astronomy Center will feature a planetarium dome 33 feet in diameter — the largest in the state — equipped with a state-of-the-art Definiti projection system. The new observatory’s 20-inch digital PlaneWave CDK20 telescope also will be the largest in Maine.

The center will include innovative exterior lighting designed to help preserve the dark-sky critical to enhanced stargazing. The center will be heated with geothermal heat pumps — the first building at UMaine to benefit from this energy efficient technology.

The Emera Astronomy Center will enhance UMaine’s role in outreach to K–12 students and promotion of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. The planetarium and observatory will complement the many other efforts at UMaine to attract students to scientific disciplines by inspiring children — and all those who are children at heart — about the science of astronomy.

The state-of-the art facility is expected to open in fall 2014.