51С»Æ³µto graduate its first class of doctor of pharmacy students at May 18th Commencement
The University of 51С»Æ³µ's 178th Commencement will mark an historic occasion on May 18th - the graduation of the College of Pharmacy's inaugural class. The ceremonies will take place outdoors under the tent on UNE‚'s Biddeford Campus at 10:00 a.m.
U.S. Senator Angus S. King, Jr. will be the 2013 commencement speaker, and 51С»Æ³µwill also honor Maine's Poet Laureate Wesley McNair with an honorary Doctor of Letters degree.
The University will award an estimated 1,450 associate's, bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees at the event, representing the College of Arts and Sciences, Westbrook College of Health Professions, College of Osteopathic Medicine, and College of Pharmacy. The 51С»Æ³µCollege of Pharmacy's inaugural graduating class includes 26 students from Maine.
Each college will recognize its own student achievements at pinning and hooding ceremonies throughout the week.
Angus S. King, Jr.
Angus S. King, Jr. was sworn in as Maine's first Independent United States Senator on January 3, 2013. Senator King joins a long line of independent leaders from the State of Maine. He began his career as a staff attorney for Pine Tree Legal Assistance in Skowhegan. In 1972, he served as chief counsel to the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Alcoholism and Narcotics in the office of former Maine Senator William Hathaway.
In 1975, he returned to Maine to practice with Smith, Loyd and King in Brunswick. In 1983, he was appointed Vice President of Swift River/Hafslund Company, an alternative energy development company working on hydro and biomass projects in Maine and 51С»Æ³µ. Six years later, he founded Northeast Energy Management, Inc., a developer of large-scale energy conservation initiatives at commercial and industrial facilities in Maine.
In 1994, Senator King was elected Maine's 71st Governor. During his two terms in the Blaine House, he focused on economic development and job creation, and also achieved significant reforms in education, mental health services, land conservation, environmental protection, and the delivery of state services. He was re-elected in 1998 by one of the largest margins in Maine's history.
Senator King was born in Alexandria, VA in 1944. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1966 and from University of Virginia Law School in 1969. Senator King is married to Mary Herman and has four sons, Angus III, Duncan, James, and Ben, one daughter, Molly, and five grandchildren. He lives in Brunswick.
Wesley McNair
U.S. Poet Laureate Philip Levine has called Wesley McNair "one of the great storytellers of contemporary poetry." He is the author of nine collections of poems, and twenty books, including poetry, nonfiction, and edited anthologies. His poetry has been featured on National Public Radio's Weekend Edition (both the Saturday and Sunday programs), and sixteen times on Garrison Keillor's Writers Almanac. It has also appeared in the Pushcart Prize annual, the Best American Poetry, and over sixty anthologies and textbooks.
McNair has held grants from the Fulbright and Guggenheim foundations, two Rockefeller Fellowships, and two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships. In 2006 he was selected for a United States Artists Fellowship of $50,000 as one of "America's finest living artists." Other honors include an Emmy Award for a series on Robert Frost aired on Public Television, and the Sarah Josepha Hale Medal for his "distinguished contribution to the world of letters." He has been invited two times to read his poetry by the Library of Congress, and he has served four times on the jury for the Pulitzer Prize in poetry.
Wesley McNair is the Poet Laureate of Maine, and in that position he has worked with his partner, the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance, to sponsor three major, state-wide initiatives with the aim of bringing poetry directly to the people. One of these initiatives is his weekly poetry column called Take Heart, which appears in 30 Maine newspapers with a combined circulation of over a quarter of a million readers. As Poet Laureate, he has read his poetry at dozens of locations throughout the state, including the University of 51С»Æ³µ, where he has been a guest lecturer during the summer in the Early College program.