PRESQUE ISLE, Maine – The University of Maine at Presque Isle’s 2008-2009 Distinguished Lecturer Series will kick off with a guest speaker who will discuss community journalism, pioneering spirit and how to conduct successful grassroots projects during his three-day stay in northern Maine. Darrell Dorgan, an award-winning journalist, documentary filmmaker and executive director of the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame, will be in Presque Isle from Oct. 6-8, speaking to local groups, hosting a community workshop and offering the first University Distinguished Lecture of the academic year.
Dorgan will deliver his community lecture at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 8, in the Campus Center. He will discuss everything from homesteaders and ranchers to Maine guides when he offers his talk, “Pioneering Spirit: How 19th Century Maine and North Dakota Helped to Shape a Future President.”
The subject is an especially important one to Dorgan as he is currently working on a feature-length documentary film about the life of President Theodore Roosevelt, who had strong ties to North Dakota and some interesting ties to Maine. In 1884, Roosevelt began ranching in the North Dakota Badlands along the Little Missouri River. Two Maine men helped Roosevelt build his famed Elkhorn Ranch there. Dorgan’s work in the field of journalism and with the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame – Roosevelt is an inductee – led him to the subject matter of his latest documentary.
During his visit to northern Maine, Dorgan also will speak with University classes and local service organizations about the importance of community journalism. Dorgan is the recipient of more than 50 awards for journalism excellence, including an Emmy nomination in 1992 and a National Associated Press award for “Reporting Beyond Reproach.”
Along with his speaking engagements, on Tuesday, Oct. 7, from 6-7:30 p.m. in the Campus Center Dorgan will lead a community workshop based on work he did to help move the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame from dream to reality. The workshop, “If You Build It, They Will Come: Rustling Up Support and Wrangling Publicity for Major Community-Centered Projects,” will provide strategies for planning large-scale projects, fund-raising, building and maintaining a network of support, and promoting a project around the state, around the country or around the world. The workshop is free, but you must reserve a space to participate.
Dorgan has served as the executive director of the Hall of Fame since 1997, working first to establish a large support base and raise more than $4 million to construct the 15,000-square-foot facility –it opened its doors in 2005 – and later to promote the institution to the world. Last year, the interpretive center for the history of Native Americans, ranching, rodeo and frontier life was named 2007 North Dakota Tourist Attraction of the Year.
The University’s Distinguished Lecture Series was established in 1999. Each year, the UDLS Committee sponsors five-six speakers who come from Maine and other states representing a range of disciplines and viewpoints. While the emphasis tends to be on featuring visiting academics, it is not exclusively so. The speakers typically spend two days at the University meeting with classes and presenting a community lecture.
FMI about Dorgan’s lecture, community workshop or other speaking engagements in the area, contact the Media Relations Office at 768-9452.
Maine GIS conference
PRESQUE ISLE – The University of Maine at Presque Isle, together with Northern Maine Development Commission, will host the fall conference of the Maine Geographic Information Systems Users Group (MEGUG) on the UMPI campus on Friday, Sept. 26, beginning at 8 a.m. The meeting is titled “Energy and Emergency Response.”
The meeting will take place at UMPI’s Campus Center. Registration is at 8 a.m. with the meeting to run from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The meeting is open to the public but is subject to a registration fee of $50 for members, $65 for non-members and $10 for students. The registration fee includes lunch and commemorative T-shirt (for the first 50 registrants).
FMI about the fall conference, the Maine GIS Users Group and to register online, log on to the MEGUG Web site. Should you require more information, please contact Chunzeng Wang, Ph.D. in Earth and Environmental Sciences, at UMPI, at 768-9412 or chunzeng.wang@umpi.edu or contact Ken Murchison, NMDC GIS specialist, at 498-8736, 800-427-8736 or kmurchison@nmdc.org.
