University of Maine Political Science Department announces first class of Nickerson Scholarship recipients
University of Maine Nickerson Scholarship recipients are, left to right, Allyson Eslin ’17, Madison Waterman ’17, Miranda Roberts ’18 and Jaymi Thibault ’17. Not pictured: Isabella DiPhilippo ’17, currently studying in Madrid, Spain. Photo by Heidi Martinson
The University of Maine Department of Political Science has announced the first awardees of the John M. Nickerson University of Maine Scholarship. The five selected students will each receive close to one year of in-state tuition for the 2016–17 academic year.
Each of the students was awarded scholarship support after being chosen by the faculty of the UMaine Political Science Department based upon their overall GPA and faculty evaluations.
For the 2016–17 year, the recipients of the John M. Nickerson University of Maine Scholarship are: Isabella DiPhilippo of Scarborough, Allyson Eslin of Bangor, Miranda Roberts of Hermon, Jaymi Thibault of Lisbon and Madison Waterman of Eliot.
“I am so beyond humbled and thankful to have been selected as one of the inaugural recipients of the John M. Nickerson University of Maine Scholarship,” says Allyson Eslin, a third-year student at UMaine. “I am thrilled to be representing a person of such profound integrity, dedication and scholarship as John Nickerson, and am deeply inspired to embody the spirit of public leadership in his memory.”
The John M. Nickerson University of Maine Scholarship was established in 2014 at the University of Maine Foundation with a gift of more than $2 million from the estate of Dr. John M. Nickerson. This endowed scholarship annually supports UMaine students who, among other requirements, study political science, have attained a junior standing, are Maine residents and have made an impact in their communities.
Nickerson also established the John Mitchell Nickerson Professorship of Political Science and the John M. Nickerson Quiet Room to benefit the members, faculty and staff of the UMaine Department of Political Science.
“Dr. Nickerson devoted his life to his work and it was his desire to continue to support a strong political science community in Maine,” says University of Maine Foundation President Jeffery Mills. “The foundation is grateful for his commitment, which will provide significant support to UMaine students for generations.”
Nickerson, a Lewiston native, was a member of the UMaine class of 1959. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in political science, he earned a Ph.D. from the University of Idaho in 1971 and taught for many years at the University of Maine and the University of Maine at Augusta.
Nickerson authored numerous books and other publications during his career and remained active in the political science community until his death at age 75.
