Bank earns Campus Compact Partner of the Year Award

Machias Savings Bank recently earned a statewide award for its work with the University of Maine at Presque Isle. From left are team members with the Presque Isle branch, from left, Mike Kelley, Tracy Casey, Tim Goff, Cindy Thibeau, Julie Howlett, Carol Blackstone, Sage Ouellette, Michelle MacFarline and Kathryn Easler. (Courtesy of Machias Savings Bank)

PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — A local bank was awarded recently for its work as a partner with the University of Maine at Presque Isle.

Machias savings Bank received the 2021 Corporate Partner of the Year Award, which recognizes an outstanding corporate partner, organization and its staff for their model partnership with a Maine Campus Compact member institution.

The compact held its 20th annual awards ceremony virtually on April 28 to recognize outstanding work in public service and civic engagement by Maine faculty, students, and community and corporate partners.

Over the years, Machias Savings Bank has had a longstanding and multi-faceted partnership with the UMPI, said Abby Bohlen of the Maine Campus Compact. For example, local leaders such as Tim Goff, the bank’s Presque Isle branch manager, have served as volunteers on UMPI boards and committees and provided valuable insight for UMPI’s work to support students.  

Most recently, the bank donated $1,000 to UMPI’s inaugural Profession-OWL Student Entrepreneur Competition, which is part of UMPI’s larger entrepreneurship co-curricular programming. 

Programs like Profession-OWL help students develop life skills such as critical thinking, public speaking and research skills, and help them explore potential career options that will allow them to remain in  Aroostook County. 

“Machias Bank is more than simply one of the community’s financial institutions. They are truly  an integral part of the UMPI family community,” Bohlen said. “During these unprecedented times, our award recipients’ positive impacts on campuses and in communities throughout the state reinforce the importance of the public purposes of higher education.”

Established in 1994, Maine Campus Compact is a coalition of 17 member campuses whose purpose is to catalyze and lead a movement to reinvigorate the public purposes and civic mission of higher education. The organization seeks to transform member campuses in ways that develop better informed, active citizen problem-solvers, stronger communities, and a more just democratic society.