Unity Magazine 2018 - Unity College

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Unity College: Sky Lodge

Letter from the president Dear Unity College Community, What an amazing fall it has been. Seeing all the students here for the opening of the Flagship semester is my annual inspiration, the Sky Lodge ribbon cutting in Moose River in September was spectacular, and Distance Education is launching four new undergraduate degrees online.

On a somber note, we lost President Emeritus Allan B. Karstetter in September.

Dr. Karstetter made foundational contributions during a formative time in Unity College’s history through increased enrollment and institutional accreditation.

Allan Karstetter the teacher, scholar, leader, and family man lived the kind of rich life that inspires others. Dr. Karstetter will be missed both by his family and by this community.

As I leaf through these pages, I am reminded of the incredible work done every day by the faculty, staff, and students of Unity College. And I am humbled. Students doing primary research alongside their faculty mentors, a friend of the College entrusting us with their life’s legacy, and more alumni stories than we can possibly tell. This is our reason for being. This is my reason for recommitting myself — every day — to America’s Environmental College.

I hope you enjoy the piece on Dr. Perry that portrays her as a superheroine. I love thinking of our faculty as world-saving and life-changing heroes and heroines.

Because that’s who they are to our students and to me.

I loved looking again at the pictures of the Unity College: Sky Lodge dedication day. What a day. What a special place. What a transformative gift. Thanks again to Elaine and John Couri for their belief in Unity College.

As we begin to think about a new calendar year, we’re also about halfway through the process to develop the next strategic plan for Unity College. Right now, we’re calling it “Unity College 2025,” but that’s just a working title. The focus for the plan is to put the needs of students and society right at the heart of every decision we make.

I hope you’ll always keep Unity College in your thoughts. We have our ups and downs, but we always work hard to do the right thing. Keep an eye on us during the coming year. And stay in touch. Ours is a college that is beginning to get noticed, and we want all of our friends along for the journey.

In Unity, Dr. Melik Peter Khoury President, Unity College

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Sky’s the Limit An aerial view of Unity College: Sky Lodge, a historic sporting lodge that sits on more than 150 acres of land in the Moose River Valley. How did Unity College celebrate this generous gift from the Couri Foundation? Turn to Page 6 for a full rundown on the ribbon cutting event!

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Unity Magazine Volume 33 No. 1 President Dr. Melik Peter Khoury Unity Magazine Team Joel Crabtree Erica Hutchinson Laura Reed Alecia Sudmeyer Dr. John Zavodny Printer Franklin Printing Photography Joel Crabtree Laura Reed Alecia Sudmeyer iStock Cover Photo Unity College The Unity College Mission Through the framework of sustainability science, Unity College provides a liberal arts education that emphasizes the environment and natural resources. Through experiential and collaborative learning, our graduates emerge as responsible citizens, environmental stewards, and visionary leaders.

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Learning Happens in All Kinds of Weather Unity College professor Dr. Kevin Spigel takes a group of Earth and Environmental Science students out on Lake Winnecook on a chilly Saturday morning in January for some sediment coring.

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The Big Moment John Couri (from left), Elaine Couri, Unity College President Dr. Melik Peter Khoury, Chairman of the Board of Trustees John Newlin, and special guests help in cutting the ribbon on Friday, September 7, for Unity College: Sky Lodge.

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Spirits Soar at Unity College: Sky Lodge ribbon cutting COLLEGE AND MOOSE RIVER VA L L E Y C E L E B R AT E MOMENTOUS GIFT On a perfect sunny September day, Sky Lodge, a historic sporting lodge sitting on more than 150 acres in the Moose River Valley, officially became Unity College: Sky Lodge. The lodge and its grounds hummed with energy and excitement, with an atmosphere

that was less procedural and more of a true celebration of the gift from Elaine and John Couri.

“Elaine and John, can you believe it’s only been a year since we sat on the Sky Lodge deck, on that spectacular fall day. We had wonderful conversations, we had so much to share,” said Unity College President Dr. Melik Peter Khoury during his dedication speech, reflecting on the moment when the Couris first offered Sky Lodge as a gift to Unity College. “Over the last year, your friendship, camaraderie, and support has come to mean so much to Unity College, and to me personally.”

There wasn’t a cloud in the sky as attendees were trying their hand

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at flying kites, or if they preferred, walking or biking the surrounding trails. The smell of barbecue that lingered in the air, in addition to that of freshly popped popcorn, added to the festive environment, with cotton candy and ice cream to boot. For many, it was the first time they got to explore the lodge and the accompanying car and train museums, over the soundtrack of live old school country and rock, provided by Teddy Bither and the Country Boys band, who made sure to include some Dwight Yoakam and George Strait classics.

No matter what they chose to participate in, though, every individual there took the opportunity to see just what Unity College: Sky Lodge has to offer.

What it has to offer students.

What it has to offer faculty. And

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what it can continue to offer the community.

“When Elaine and John first made that offer, we were looking out at some of the most picturesque views Maine has to offer, and around us was this beautiful lodge that could be the setting of a movie,” Dr. Khoury added, while he walked around and introduced himself to residents of the Moose River Valley before the event. “Then my gears began to really turn. With this news, I asked myself: How can Unity College leverage this amazing space to enhance our experiential education for students? It turns out, the answers are limitless!”

Over the years, the Couri Foundation has used Sky Lodge for programs to help deserving children get connected to nature,

programs for seniors, seminars for graduate students, and other services. The multimillion-dollar gift, which is one of the largest in Unity College’s history, includes a substantial start-up investment and three years of additional financial support to underwrite staffing and programmatic development as the College looks to build on the care and success Sky Lodge enjoyed under the leadership of the Couri Foundation.

“Our foundation and family are delighted to have chosen Unity College as the recipient for this special property,” said John Couri in front of a crowd of roughly 425 at the ceremony, as students held up hand-written signs thanking the Couri Foundation for the generous gift. “It’s going to be wonderful for us to see Unity College grow

and assist Moose River and Jackman in becoming more prosperous communities.”

The College will use the facilities and Sky Lodge campus in a number of ways, from providing real-world research, sustainable business, and adventure learning opportunities for students, to continued and expanded use of the site for outdoor enthusiasts and vacationers to Maine, and destinationbased sustainability training for professionals.

“Sky Lodge gives our institution potential to expand our ability to stimulate the minds of young conservationists, to make learning experiential in one of Maine’s newest and most beautiful outdoor classrooms,” said Jordan Baker, President of Unity College’s Student Government Association.

“Through this gift, the Couris are showing faith in our generation, and our ability to pursue ecological goals.”

“Elaine and John, while I’m so pleased we could all gather here today in celebration, no event, no matter how grand, could ever express how very grateful we are for you and your generous gift of Sky Lodge, and for believing in Unity College,” said Dr. Khoury in his dedication speech. “This tremendously gracious gift from the Couri Foundation will truly enable Unity College to continue to transform what it means to be an institution of higher education, and serve new and existing audiences who are eager to engage with our mission.”

Built in 1929 as a sporting getaway for an executive from

A Festive Celebration Popcorn, cotton-candy, outdoor games, and live music created a fair-like experience for more than 400 attendees.

Port Chester, New York, and then purchased and renamed “Sky Lodge” by two former WWII airmen in the 1940s, the main lodge has been lovingly restored over the past decade to its original state.

Other amenities on the more than 150 acres include a conference center, contemporary cabins for rental, a swimming pool, an antique auto museum, a model railroad museum, and ski trails. Outdoor activities nearby include hiking, golfing, biking, canoeing, kayaking, fishing, hunting, whitewater rafting, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, and more.

For more information on Unity College: Sky Lodge, visit skylodge.unity.edu.

magazine.unity.edu/skylodge

Giving Thanks Students expressed their Unity spirit by holding up handwritten cards to thank Elaine and John Couri for the gift of Sky Lodge.

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Mascot Mischief Unity College President Dr. Melik Peter Khoury joked around with Rocky the Ram.

A Blast from the Past Attendees took a ride in one of the museum’s oldest automobiles.

A First Look Unity College students got their first look at Unity College: Sky Lodge, touring the lodge and trekking through some of the trails.

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Bringing Unity Into the Community Students painted their names onto a blank canvas as part of the ceremony.

Welcome to the neighborhood STUDENTS VOLUNTEER TO CLE A N U P PA R K IN THE MOOSE RIVER VA L L E Y B E F O R E SKY LODGE RIBBON CUTTING CEREMONY A week before Unity College hosted its Sky Lodge ribbon cutting event, a group of intrepid students from the College journeyed up to the Moose River Valley region to not only get their first glimpse at the historic lodge, but to also help out the community by cleaning up one of the area’s parks.

“For people in Jackman, it’s a new chapter, and we’re really excited that there’s some young blood

coming to our area, and wanting to see what we have to offer,” said Jackman Selectman Alan Duplessis.

“We just know it’s going to be a win-win situation for both of us.”

After seeing Unity College: Sky Lodge for the first time, the group spent the remainder of the morning picking up trash and recyclables that had been left behind in the park. The timing couldn’t have been any better, as the town of Jackman was honoring a retiring longtime town employee with a barbecue that drew more than 100 community members to the park that evening. And, according to Duplessis, you couldn’t have found a trace of trash even if you were searching with a magnifying glass.

“I love helping clean up trails and parks, because I love getting people out in nature,” said Nicholas Lusson, one of the Unity College students who helped in the effort.

“It’s tough when people see trash thrown on the ground, because then they only think about the negatives when it comes to nature.

I want them to think about the positives and the beauty that places like this have for us.”

The cleanup is just the beginning, though, in what will become a long tradition of Unity College service projects in the Moose River Valley region.

magazine.unity.edu/skylodge

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UNITY MAGAZINE STUDENTS IN THE NEWS

The Public Safety & Crisis Management Institute In June, Unity College hosted the inaugural institute to better prepare leaders on how to respond to and manage crisis situations in ways that meet the needs of the constituents and communities they serve.

UNITY COLLEGE HOSTS FULBRIGHT SCHOLARS Fulbright scholars are some of the best and brightest in their fields, having received grants and funding to further their study of interest because of their knowledge, commitment, and passion.

On Friday, March 16, Unity College’s Distance Education hosted the Maine Chapter of the Fulbright Association’s annual dinner at the Unity College Center for the Arts, for an evening of mingling, good food, and scholarly talks.

“When Dr. Amy Arnett talked about hosting a room full of scholars like yourselves, we jumped at the opportunity to show off our campus, and the work that our faculty and staff are doing,” said Unity College President Dr. Melik Peter Khoury in his opening remarks. “But most importantly, we really wanted to give folks an opportunity to just break bread, and have a wonderful evening of conversation.”

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WHEN IS A TREE MORE THAN JUST A TREE? After becoming functionally extinct, the American Chestnut is being restored through a Unity College and American Chestnut Foundation partnership.

When the American chestnut tree — which once covered the Appalachian Mountains from Maine to Alabama with 4 billion trees — became functionally extinct from Chestnut Blight, there were a lot of questions left unanswered, the most important

UNITY COLLEGE News unity.edu/news of which remains “how do we bring them back?”

For the past three years, Unity College has partnered with The American Chestnut Foundation in an effort to answer that very question. In March, students assisted in sowing roughly 1,300 chestnut seedlings at the College’s McKay Farm and Research Station in Thorndike.

Those seedlings were transported and planted on tribal lands owned by the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy tribes. Since the project began, Unity College students have helped plant roughly 3,500 saplings across Maine.

Fight the Blight Students and faculty prepare American chestnut seedlings to help in research with The American Chestnut Foundation to restore the trees.

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UNITY COLLEGE FACILITY RENOVATED AS DEDICATED ARTS TEACHING, PRODUCTION, AND EXHIBITION CENTER A Space for Art to Flourish The Unity College Center for the Arts underwent extensive renovations this summer.

Art is a powerful way to tell the story of our environment and our planet, giving environmental stewards a way to connect with audiences far and wide.

Throughout the summer, Unity College’s Center for the Arts underwent renovations that reimagined the space for students when they returned this fall.

The renovation included a new media lab, which gives students a dedicated space for graphic art, photography, documentary film, and new media. There is also a new space for sculpting and ceramics, faculty offices, a paint studio, and additional classrooms on both floors. The Leonard Craig Gallery and auditorium continue to be used as they were prior to the renovations.

Foodies Say It’s Impossible!

In 2018, Unity College became the first institution of higher education in Maine to serve the Impossible Burger, a plantforward burger that tastes like meat.

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UNITY MAGAZINE STUDENTS IN THE NEWS

UNITY COLLEGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES ONE OF FIVE TO RECEIVE NATIONAL HONOR The Association of Governing Boards’ Nason Award recognizes exceptional leadership March 12, 2018 - The Unity College Board of Trustees was recently named as one of five winners of the Association of Governing Boards’ John W. Nason Award for Board Leadership. The Unity College Board was unanimously chosen by a panel of judges among 40 entrants for their dedication to innovation and exemplary leadership.

“From the beginning, our board has been the heart of innovation at Unity College,” said Unity College President Dr. Melik Peter Khoury.

“This is an extraordinary honor for this group, who has demonstrated unwavering commitment not only to the mission, institution, and students of Unity College, but to the future of Unity College, to its future students, and to the very future of small, private higher education. What is most remarkable about this altogether remarkable group of volunteers is that — over several terms and through changes and challenges — they have maintained a singular vision throughout nearly a decade of disciplined research, ideation, planning, and implementation.”

During that time, Dr. Khoury noted, the College has seen revenue increased by 30 percent, and the student body has grown by 35 percent, allowing Unity College to invest in student support, academics, and infrastructural improvements.

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Unity College: A Case Study in Inn The Challenge: A Complex Maze of Survival Unity College is a private liberal arts institution enrolling about 750 students on its campus in Unity, Maine. Known as “America’s Environmental College,” the institution is in the midst of a multiyear venture to redefine the higher education experience Unity offers, creating “the future leaders of the environmental century” and moving from a regional to a nationallyrecognized institution.

Unity’s leadership understands the disruptive external and internal forces challenging higher education institutions to make changes in order to thrive in a new normal.

As Unity board chair John Newlin writes, “This ‘industry of education’ has become a complex maze of

survival for future generations.” For Unity, this maze of survival includes a diminishing pipeline of regional high school graduates, increased competition in the sustainability space, and, like many private institutions, a desire to be less dependent on tuition revenues from its traditional market.

A Three-Pronged Approach Responding to these disruptions, Unity is currently implementing a three-pronged approach to innovation: the institution is completing a strategic branding initiative, creating new sources of revenue, and developing a new enterprise-driven organizational model.

In light of the environmental realities of the coming century, the

A Case Study in Innovation A recent case study in AGB’s “Innovation in Higher Education” initiative lays out exactly how Unity College is “doubling down on its commitment to environmental science and sustainability,” and how “Unity has successfully cultivated new revenue in creative ways.”

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novation institution is doubling down on its commitment to environmental science and sustainability.

Integrating sustainability science into all aspects of its experiential, liberal arts curriculum, Unity aims to develop “holistic, integrative practitioners of sustainability science.” As part of its commitment, the institution has set an ambitious goal of eliminating its carbon footprint completely.

It is also proactively seeking out new potential student populations, particularly transfer and nontraditional students, and placebound students. And it is launching new online graduate programs with a focus on sustainability science as it expands its reach and reputation.

Harnessing entrepreneurial initiatives across campus, Unity has successfully cultivated new revenue in creative ways. A farm gifted to the college in 2011 now

AGB CASE STUDY hosts a farm stand and horticultural workshops to bring in revenue for the college, in addition to operating as a center for teaching and research. The dining services department uses the produce from the farm in its recipes to cut costs and to create specialty food products that bring in money for the campus. The college utilizes campus space sustainably and profitably, offering summer programs that garner roughly $250,000 in revenue and renting out the campus performing arts center to outside groups. Moving into the online market in 2016, the institution launched Unity College Online to offer master’s degrees, an MBA, and nondegree credits with a curricular focus in sustainability science. It plans to expand graduate and undergraduate online programs.

Throughout this process, the leadership and governing board of Unity College realized that a nimble organizational structure was important to the long-term success of the college. In June 2017, the board approved changes to the bylaws to implement the Enterprise Model. This model enables the creation of Individual Sustainable Education Business Units (SEBUs) for new initiatives— like Distance Education—while preserving the unique residential liberal arts experience offered at the flagship campus. It establishes separate faculties, staffs, and policies for each SEBU to allow for experimentation and innovation.

To ensure sound governance of the new institutional model, the board has changed its own structure and reaffirmed the role of the president in stewarding the implementation of this strategic vision.

magazine.unity.edu/agb Reprinted with permission from AGB

A recent case study in AGB’s “Innovation in Higher Education” initiative lays out exactly how Unity College is “doubling down on its commitment to environmental science and sustainability,” and how “Unity has successfully cultivated new revenue in creative ways.”

Building on the AGB Board of Directors’ Statement on Innovation in Higher Education, the association developed practical resources and case studies to demonstrate how institutions are pursuing innovation across the sector, hoping “that these resources prompt new thinking and discussion on a topic of great importance to our colleges and universities.”

The changing face of higher education has long been a topic of conversation at Unity, with the college pursuing a number of revenue-generating initiatives over the last five years.

“We have been using things that are historically viewed as overhead to generate revenue and train ourselves for major initiatives in this area,” Unity College President Dr. Melik Peter Khoury said. “And with the adoption of the Enterprise Model we are now ready to take these incubator ideas to a much more substantial scale.”

New potential ventures, referred to as Sustainable Education Business Units (SEBUs), will open doors for students, staff, and faculty alike, allowing more real-world experiences within the college safety net and learning network while helping hold tuition increases in check.

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FACULTY NOTES Defining the risk landscape in the context of pathogen pollution: Toxoplasma gondii in sea otters along the Pacific Rim, Tristan L. Burgess, M. Tim Tinker, Melissa A. Miller, James L. Bodkin, Michael J. Murray, Justin A. Saarinen, Linda M. Nichol, Shawn Larson, Patricia A. Conrad, Christine K. Johnson.

Dr. Matthew Chatfield was presented with this year’s Donald Harward Faculty Award for ServiceLearning Excellence. Each year Maine Campus Compact recognizes just three faculty members in Maine who have made public service an integral part of their teaching with the Donald Harward Faculty Award for Service-Learning Excellence. Recipients use servicelearning and/or community action as an innovative teaching tool to engage students in civic learning.

Recipients also show clear evidence of reflection, community benefit and reciprocity with community partners and demonstrate a commitment to advocating for service-learning and/ or community action on campus and beyond.

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Brannelly, L.A., M.W.H. Chatfield, J. Sonn, M. Robak and C.L. RichardsZawacki. 2018. Fungal infection has sublethal effects in a lowland subtropical amphibian population.

BMC Ecology 18:34.

Trophic ecology of speckled peacock bass Cichla temensis, Humboldt 1821 in the middle Negro River, Amazon, Brazil. Ecology of Freshwater Fish. 2018:1-11.

Jamerson Aguiar-Santos | Pieter A. P. deHart | Marc Pouilly |Carlos E. C. Freitas | Flávia K. Siqueira-Souza https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/ doi/10.1111/eff.12416 Dr. Dylan Dillaway, Associate Professor of Sustainable Forest Management, received a $17,500 grant from the Quimby Family Foundation for his Food Access Programs at the family-run nonprofit 47 Daisies. The Food Access Programs support families/ individuals in need, seniors on fixed budgets, and children through their Kid Chef program.

Dr. Dillaway was also awarded a $2,500 grant from the FruitGuys Community Fund for his scholarship of application work at 47 Daisies.

This fund provides small grants for sustainability projects that have large impacts on the environment, local food systems, and farm diversity. This grant, in particular, will help three current Unity College students (two internships and one employee) to implement the mission of the farm to the community during summer 2018.

“Integrating abundance and diet data to improve inferences of food web dynamics” in the journal of Methods in Ecology and Evolution

by Authors Jake M. Ferguson, John B. Hopkins III, Briana H. Witteveen

Dr. Hopkins was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to pursue research questions related to bear behavior and issues around humanbear conflict in Slovenia.

Dr. Cheryl Frederick was awarded a sabbatical for fall 2018. She is working on a project with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, Wash.

McGovern C., Frederick C., Clarke J. 2018. Comparing Responsiveness of Nocturnal and Diurnal Primates to Different Sensory Enrichment Conditions. Animal Keeper’s Forum 45(5): 139-145.

Paul Guernsey for was awarded the Maine Literary Award for Speculative Fiction, honoring his novel, “American Ghost.”

Dr. Emma Perry and Dr. Alyson McKnight were awarded a grant from the PADI Foundation to support their project: Can foraging shorebirds provide us with a cheap index of marine community health?, a pioneering effort to link bird activity and meiofaunal community structure.

magazine.unity.edu/faculty

Perry, E.S., P. Rawson, N.J. Ameral, W.R. Miller, and J.D. Miller. (2018).

Echiniscoides rugostellatus a new marine tardigrade from Washington, U.S.A. (Heterotardigrada: Echiniscoidea: Echiniscoididae: Echiniscoidinae). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington.

131: 182–193.

Dr. James Spartz was appointed as an Honorary Associate/Fellow with the Rickenbach Research Lab, part of the Department of Forest & Wildlife Ecology at the University of Wisconsin – Madison Deanna Witman’s “Melt” exhibit was included in the 2018 Portland Museum of Art Biennial.

UNITY COLLEGE INSTRUCTOR’S NOVEL EARNS MAINE LITERARY AWARD ‘American Ghost’ is as much about writers as it is about ghosts An unemployed paranormal investigator, a down-on-his-luck novelist, and a frustrated ghost with literary ambitions of his own. These are the central characters in Paul Guernsey’s latest book, “American Ghost,” which recently received the honor of the 2018 Maine Literary Award in Speculative Fiction.

“The book is at least as much about fiction writing as it is a ghost story,” said Guernsey, Visiting Instructor of Writing at Unity College.

“It’s what we call metafictional, in that it’s a story about storytelling. But of course, it also has its scary parts.”

In “American Ghost,” published by Talos Press, the ghost of a college

In October, Dr. Rana Johnson, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer; Dr. Erika Latty, Chief Academic Officer; and Jennifer deHart, Chief Sustainability Officer, delivered a presentation on Unity College’s Leadership in Abundance model at the Women in Leadership’s Higher Education Conference at the Harvard Faculty Club in Cambridge, Mass.

National Geographic has included Dr. Alyson McKnight’s tagged tern data for their “bird migration” map supplement in their upcoming issue celebrating the Year of the Bird.

McKnight, A., Blomberg, E. J.,

dropout turned small-time criminal named Thumb Rivera haunts rural Maine, searching for clues to the mystery of his own unsolved murder and looking for a way to write his autobiography from beyond the grave.

Thumb finds that he can only communicate with the world of the living via Ouija board to Ben, a young spiritual medium. In turn, Ben relays his conversations with Thumb to Fred, a failed novelist turned pig farmer, who then puts ink to paper to tell the story.

“The Maine landscape is pretty much responsible for what this book is in a lot of ways, so to be honored with the Maine Literary Award is just terrific,” said Guernsey.

In addition to two previously published novels, Guernsey has worked as an editor for a fly fishing

Dr. Alyson McKnight Golet, G. H., Irons, D. B., Loftin, C. S., & McKinney, S. T. (2018).

Experimental evidence of long-term reproductive costs in a colonial nesting seabird. Journal of Avian Biology 49(8).

magazine, a crime reporter for a newspaper in Bridgeport, Conn., and a writer for the Associated Press in Venezuela. He also, uncoincidentally, spent a year raising heritage-breed pigs in Maine.

“I’ve always said: Those who can do, make the best teachers,” said Dr. Melik Peter Khoury, President of Unity College. “Paul is a perfect example of just that. Our students are learning from someone who has worked as an editor for a major magazine, who has worked as a writer in various capacities, and who is now an awardwinning author. It gives them an understanding of how the industry works, and a glimpse into the process of someone who is a successful writer and editor.”

“American Ghost” is currently available in hardcover, and will be available in paperback this October.

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UNITY COLLEGE OFFERS NATION’S FIRST ONLINE CONSERVATION LAW MASTER’S PROGRAM NEW MASTER’S IN PROFESSIONAL SCIENCE TRACK L AUNCHES THIS FALL September 19, 2018 - Unity College’s Conservation Law Enforcement program has achieved a lot since it graduated its first student more than 40 years ago.

It’s played a key role in educating thousands of conservation officers who have gone to work all across the country, raised thousands of dollars for charities through fundraisers put on by students, and even gained national attention with several Unity College graduates being featured on the show “North Woods Law.” Now, through Unity College Distance Education, the Conservation Law Enforcement program is blazing a new trail, introducing an online Master’s in Conservation Law Enforcement that is the first of its kind in the nation.

This master’s is distinctly focused on working conservation officers looking to advance their careers.

Unity’s experienced Con Law faculty recognize conservation law enforcement is unique, requiring all the skills of law enforcement in addition to the skills needed to carry out these duties in the fields, forests, and on the waters of the United States of America.

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As officers progress in their careers, or want to gain extra experience for management positions, an online master’s degree from Unity College will help them get the educational insight they need to be successful administrators.

The program’s online platform is affordable and flexible for professionals seeking to advance their careers while working full-time. Students will benefit from small classes, world-class teachers, and flexible class schedules, creating a dynamic and personalized learning community.

“We have a robust undergraduate Conservation Law Enforcement program at Unity College, and over the years we’ve seen some incredible outcomes from our graduates,” said Dr. Melik Peter Khoury, Unity College President.

“This master’s program is a natural progression that offers our graduates, or graduates from other programs, an opportunity to continue advancing in their field, while they’re still able to serve in their current position.”

Each course within the new Conservation Law Enforcement track has the elements necessary for any criminal justice graduate degrees: organizational structure, management, public policy, ethics, and leadership.

But Unity’s coursework was specifically developed by experienced conservation law enforcement professionals and vetted against the scope of work of senior management officials in conservation enforcement agencies.

“These new tracks really allow us to take what we’re decidedly good at, what the College is known for, and expand it to adult learners,” Chief Distance Education Officer Dr. Amy Arnett said. “We’re expanding our sustainability science mission to a broader audience.”

Tim Peabody, Deputy Commissioner for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, helped design the program, based on his more than 30 years of experience.

“There are a number of people in conservation law who want to advance their career through further education and earning a master’s degree, but also want to continue working in the field without interruption,” said Peabody, who is also a Unity College graduate and retired faculty member. “This program is unique because you now have the flexibility to do both.”

magazine.unity.edu/master

Patrolling the Waters Keegan Nelligan (‘18), a Conservation Law Enforcement student who earned one of six spots this summer as a Deputy Game Warden with the Maine Warden Service, checks to ensure boats on Sebago Lake are registered.

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Unity College 2025: Building the Next Strategic Plan N E W S T R AT E G I C PL A N TO BUILD ON SUCCESS A N D E X PA N D SE RV I CE TO STUDENTS AND SOCIETY

To view Dr. Khoury’s introduction of the new strategic plan visit president.unity.edu.

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magazine.unity.edu/strategic-plan

What comes to mind when you hear the words “strategic plan?”

For many, the phrase elicits groans and conjures images of dusty tomes tucked away and forgotten in a bottom drawer somewhere.

Notebooks that rarely, if ever, see the light of day.

Not so for Unity College. The recently closed strategic plan, served as an important guide for daily work and serves as the foundation for the continuing strategic transformation of America’s Environmental College.

In 2014, the Unity College Board of Trustees adopted “Building a Beacon: The Unity College Strategic Plan,” which called for investment in distance education, improvements to the residential experience of students, and increased access to a national and global market through a major branding study.

Due in large measure to the initiatives outlined in Building a Beacon, between 2012 and 2018, Unity College saw fall headcount increase by 43 percent, operating revenue increase by 66 percent, square footage increase by 62 percent, and number of employees increase by 34 percent.

as the landscape continues to shift, audiences are becoming increasingly important. And when I say ‘audiences,’ that could mean anyone from learners, partners, foundations, investors, donors, and the list goes on. We are not fulfilling our mission if we only serve one audience. My hope with this plan is that it will allow Unity College to be nimble enough to meet the needs of every audience.”

doing so, Unity College will become an inclusive group that goes into the world and starts to solve very real and pressing problems,” said Dr. Khoury. “That is why it is so important for the College to serve not only those audiences that we already know and serve, but those that we may not even know about.

That is what I’m hoping this strategic plan does.”

“Audience” is best defined as a segment of society that needs a program, experiences, or product that Unity College can meet.

Audience answers the “Who?” in “Who do we serve?” Unlike other strategic plans, Unity College 2025 is not a list of important projects, but a framework for prioritization and decision making. Unity College has chosen to prioritize the element of audience above all else.

Unity College 2025 has three goals:

The chart below outlines college decision-making priorities from the largest encompassing tab (audience) to the most embedded tab (unit).

Elements inside another element are in a subservient and service role to that element.

•

•

•

To serve audiences through engagement with Unity College and its mission in response to clearly identified needs.

Establish the Enterprise approach at Unity College as an exemplar of organizational flexibility and responsiveness.

Share the story of Unity College through powerful storytelling and inspiring thought-leadership.

“At Unity College, we are trying to create a new model for success that other colleges can adopt and adapt to fit their own needs,” Dr. Khoury continued. “We’re working to get more responsive to the needs of society, to find new audiences “The world needs more Unity that need America’s Environmental College-educated leaders, not College, and to bring our made in Now, the Beacon is largely built, and fewer. With that in mind, we want to Maine education and services to in May of 2018, the Unity College connect with more people from all them, no matter where they are in Board of Trustees enthusiastically over the world like never before. In the country or the world. We still endorsed the successful have a long way to go stewardship of Building a before we’re ready to Beacon, and requested a unveil the new strategic new strategic plan – one plan in its entirety. But What is the societal and individual need? that would serve through I’m personally very Examples: Learners, Clients, Consumers, Partners, Foundations, Investors, Donors, etc.

2025 – be developed. excited to share this Unity College 2025, the next with everyone in May strategic plan, will shift the 2019.”

What educational products are needed? higher education decisionExamples: Course, Experience, Degree, Product, Service, etc. making paradigm toward an Now, when Dr. audience-first approach.

Khoury references the traditionally “The new strategic plan yawn-inducing phrase How and where is it delivered?

Examples: Online, Campus, Location, Hybrid, etc. puts responsiveness to “strategic plan” to our audiences – those we faculty and staff know well, those we are during professional just introducing ourselves development, the new What is needed to accomplish? to, and those we haven’t iterative approach will Academics, Advancement, Diversity, Facilities, Business, Human Resources, Information Technology, Student Success, and Sustainability met yet – above all else,” spring to mind instead said Unity College President of the dated binder Dr. Melik Peter Khoury. hiding deep in a corner “This is a novel approach office closet.

Where and with whom does the work reside?

Examples: Admissions, Schools, Financial Aid, Operations, Career Services, etc. in higher education, but

Audience Program

Modality

Function Unit

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MEETING POTENTIAL STUDENTS WHERE THEY ARE UNITY COLLEGE MAKES FOCUSED EFFORT TO INCREASE TRANSFER S T U D E N T P O PU L AT I O N December 28, 2017 - The path to a college degree is not always a straight line. Transfer students, although difficult to track in government data, make up over a third of today’s college students. Of the 3.6 million students who entered college for the first time in fall 2008, 37.2 percent transferred to a different institution at least once within six years. And of those, almost half changed their institution more than once, totaling 2.4 million transitions from one institution to another between 2008 and 2014.

“More and more of today’s students are looking to blaze their own path to a degree, and there is really no reason higher education institutions can’t do a better job of meeting them where they are,” Unity College President Dr. Melik Peter Khoury said. “Circumstances change. And in today’s higher education, it’s absolutely necessary to be more flexible in order to better serve our students.”

Unity College’s new Assistant Director of Admissions/Transfer Counselor Rachel Kahn has personal experience with changing ideas and circumstances over the course of her education.

While she originally pursued a degree in vocal performance in New York City, Kahn eventually realized her heart was in education. She transferred four

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times before landing at Siena College to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in History Education, and is currently finishing her master’s degree in Higher Education Administration at Southern New Hampshire University.

Kahn enjoys working with collegebound students — especially nontraditional students — and fostering relationships between students and schools to create access to higher education.

“This position and this population really speak to my heart. I know first hand how transfer students have complicated, specific challenges — transferring credits, figuring out course schedules, working through financial aid,” Kahn said. “This is so scary for so many students. I want them to be able to call me any time and know they’ll hang up the phone feeling better because they talked to me. I want them to be confident we will figure it out together.”

“Making these students feel comfortable, competent and enthusiastic about the choice to attend Unity College is so important. They should be excited about the future and what’s coming next for them.”

Kahn will manage all transfer student recruiting activities at Unity College, and be responsible for all aspects of the admissions recruitment cycle, including travel to two-year colleges, community colleges, college fairs, communicating with transfer counselors, college faculty, prospective students and parents. In the coming months, Kahn will also be developing new partnerships with transfer personnel and faculty members at two-year and community colleges, hoping to open more avenues for transfer students interested in Unity’s unique approach to experiential, environmental education.

57 transfer students joined the Unity College community this fall, growing the on campus transfer population

Conservation Law Enforcement Student Morgan Jeane holds a fawn during her summer job as a Deputy Game Warden with the Maine Warden Service.

by over 54 percent. Ranging in age from 18 to 51, and coming from as far as California, Oregon, and Louisiana, Unity College’s transfers are a real reflection of the college embracing a new age of college students.

“Unity College has to be able to reach students at any point in their educational evolution — freshman, transfer, working adult — so when they decide an environmental college is a key aspect of their future career, we have to have an entry point,” President Khoury said. “We stand at the ready to help students wherever they are in their lives.”

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UNITY COLLEGE TURNAROUND CONTINUES WITH SIXTH CONSECUTIVE YEAR OF RECORD ENROLLMENT A M E R I C A’ S E N V I R O N M E N TA L COLLEGE ACHIEVES I NDUS TRY- DEF Y ING GROWTH THROUGH E X PA N D E D SE RV I CE TO MISSION AND NEW AUDIENCES September 20, 2018 - The news for small, private institutions of higher education hasn’t been good, as several schools in recent months have shuttered their doors, or are struggling to draw in and keep students, as indicated in the August 11 article in The Boston Globe.

Though the trend for many colleges is sloping downward, Unity College has increased its student enrollment in fall 2018 for the sixth consecutive year, growing 43 percent from a modern-era low of 540 in 2012 to the record-breaking count of 773 this fall.

The previous record was 2017’s fall enrollment of 733.

Despite Unity College’s continued success over the last several years, the outlook was not always so

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positive. The college nearly closed in the 1990s and struggled to stabilize enrollment throughout the early 2000s, but a precipitous enrollment decline between 2011-2012 signaled to the college’s board of trustees that a dramatically different approach to leadership was necessary.

“We’ve all seen the news, and it kills me to see small, private colleges close, merge, or downsize, one after another,” said Dr. Melik Peter Khoury, President of Unity College. “Not only because that could very easily have been us, but because every college brings something unique in service to society. Just as in ecological systems, the loss of diversity in our schools is a loss for us all.”

“At Unity College, we are trying to create a new model for success that other colleges can adopt and adapt to fit their own needs,” Dr. Khoury continued. “We’re working

to get more responsive to the needs of society, to find new audiences that need America’s Environmental College, and to bring our made in Maine education and services to them, no matter where they are.”

One way that Unity College has been reaching new audiences is through its online programs. It has offered online master’s programs since 2016, and classes for the new online bachelor’s program began in October. Created specifically for nontraditional adult learners, the curriculum was designed in partnership with industry leaders to help students develop the skills for which employers are looking.

Degrees include Environmental Studies, Environmental Criminal Justice, Sustainable Business Management, and Wildlife Conservation.

“Our online master’s program has exceeded expectations in terms of

enrollment since we launched it, and we’re certainly hoping to see that level of success with our online bachelor’s programs,” said Dr. Amy Arnett, Chief Distance Education Officer at Unity College. “These programs are tailored to adult-learners who require flexibility, enabling people like working adults to earn a Unity College degree, even if they live halfway across the world.”

Not only did the College open its doors to new audiences through Distance Education, it is also working to redesign and redefine the early college experience for residential students through its First Two Years initiative, scheduled for a fall 2020 launch. Along with helping students achieve personal and professional goals, the program is also expected to improve even more on the College’s admirable 73 percent first-to-secondyear retention rate.

“This is a truly ambitious undertaking that will shape the future for Unity College and our students,” said Dr. Khoury. “The goal will be to create an even more immersive and intensive, yet flexible, curriculum for students that will be unique to Unity College, but may also help reimagine the way higher education is conducted throughout the country. It’s very exciting, and we’re working hard toward the 2020 launch.”

“Investment in our flagship residential programs here in Unity has been good for our students and good for Maine,” said Chief Advancement Officer, Erica Hutchinson. “Three-quarters of our students are from out of state. As there are fewer and fewer young people graduating high school in Maine, it’s important that Unity has a strong national draw. It also helps us achieve our mission as America’s Environmental College.”

“Unity College is working to refocus the attention of higher education back on the students, where it belongs,” said Dr. Erika Latty, Unity College Chief Academic Officer. “Undergraduate research opportunities, internships, partnerships, real-world sustainable enterprises — these are the immersive learning experiences that make the difference for Unity students.”

For its commitment to reimagining higher education, Unity College was named No. 3 (tie) for innovation by the 56 peer colleges in U.S. News and World Report’s north regional school category. In spring of 2018, the Association of Governing Boards, higher education’s trustee organization, named Unity College one of five recipients of the John W. Nason Award for innovation.

magazine.unity.edu/enrollment

Redesigning the First Two Years Unity College Flagship is working to redesign and redefine the early college experience for residential students.

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Unity College professor discovers another new species of tardigrade

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EVEN AS TA R D I G R A D E S MAKE WAVES IN POP C U LT U R E , T H E R E I S ST I L L M U C H TO BE DISCOVERED ABOUT THE W O R LD ’S S M A LLE ST KNOWN ANIMAL Barnacles may be an odd -- and smelly -- parcel for most people to receive.

But for Dr. Emma Perry, Professor of Marine Biology at Unity College, it’s exciting, presenting yet another opportunity to learn more about tardigrades, or possibly even discover a new species.

For those unfamiliar with tardigrades, commonly referred to as water bears, they are microscopic (.039 inches, on average), invertebrate organisms with eight legs. “They look like gummy bears with an extra set of legs,” Perry said.

Though tardigrades have grown somewhat in popularity thanks in part to being featured in the recent Marvel blockbuster “AntMan and the Wasp,” they still receive little attention when it comes to research.

is that?” said Dr. Melik Peter Khoury, President of Unity College. “Dr. Perry continues to give our students all kinds of opportunities to practice real science and real research, not just simulations in a classroom. It gives Unity College students new and practical skills in the sciences, which can easily be applied to their career or to further education.”

The newly described species is called Echiniscoides rugostellatus because of its rough back and star-like tips. In 2015, Perry and her students collected tardigrades on Allen Island, making national headlines by discovering a tardigrade species that is the same genus as this one. “This one is more integrated, in that we have scanning electron microscope images, we have slides, we also have DNA sequences, so that’s more than we had on the last one,” said Dr. Perry.

Tardigrades can be found all over the world, and are known for surviving in some of the harshest environments on Earth. Tardigrades have been found in the Antarctic, some of the highest mountaintops, and in the deep sea.

They have even survived exposure to the space vacuum during a study by the European Space Agency.

The water bears have certainly been a hit with students. This summer, Sarah Neitzel, a Marine Biology major, even had the chance to present her work at the International Tardigrade Symposium in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Neitzel evaluated the taxonomic status of the tardigrade Diphascon pingue brunvicense.

Dr. Perry, however, is bringing tardigrade research to the forefront with her students, recently working with them to identify a new species of tardigrade. This tardigrade is the second that Dr. Perry has discovered with her class.

“Imagine: You’re a young undergraduate interested in science, and you can contribute to discovering a new species of tardigrade. How cool

“We know very little about marine tardigrades, and even less about those on the West Coast than the East Coast,” said Dr. Perry. “The West Coast is almost unknown, in that you can count the number of West Coast tardigrade studies on one hand.”

This particular tardigrade was collected by a colleague from barnacles off a pylon in Port Townsend, Wash. He scraped them up, wrapped them in a napkin, and shipped them to Dr. Perry. From there, Dr. Perry searched through the sample and removed any tardigrades.

In addition to working with undergrads on research projects, Dr. Perry and her students recently helped middleschoolers at the FM Gaudineer School in New Jersey with a project for NASA. The children’s interest in tardigrades was piqued, of course, after seeing them on the first season of “Star Trek: Discovery.”

As tardigrades continue to work their way into pop culture, young scientists have taken notice and are becoming

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increasingly interested in the microanimals, as well as other facets of marine science. “Getting the word out about tardigrades helped us encourage these young women to get into science,” said Dr. Perry. “So, as long as it’s charismatic, for the most part, it’s all good.”

Meanwhile, as Dr. Perry continues to inspire and help guide her students in their classes and with their research, she

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patiently waits for the next slightly stinky package to arrive in the mail. It may very well contain yet another new species, just waiting to be discovered.

To watch Dr. Perry’s 2015 presentation on her first discovery of a new tardigrade species:

magazine.unity.edu/tardigrades

Discovering a New Species The newly described species, called Echiniscoides rugostellatus, was discovered in Port Townsend, Wash., and was named “rugostellatus� because of its rough back and star-like tips. In 2015, Perry and her students collected tardigrades on Allen Island, making national headlines by discovering a tardigrade species that is the same genus as this one.

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In the Field and Stream Dr. Emma Perry works with Unity College students in Sandy Stream.

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From Maine to Curacao Sign me up! In May of 2018, Unity College Professors Dr. Emma Perry and Deanna Witman offered a group of students the chance to travel to Curaรงao and study Tropical Marine Biology and Digital Media Production. They studied the marine culture of Curaรงao, including visiting aquariums

and museums, snorkeling with sea turtles and other marine animals, studying the coral reefs, and identifying various plants and animals.

See all the photos and blog posts from their latest trip, visit ucme.wordpress.com.

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C O RW I N T O G RA D UAT ES : ‘YOU ARE THE SOLUTION’ Television host, conservationist Jeff Corwin meets, mingles, and addresses Unity College Class of 2018 July 1, 2018 - Growing up just outside of Boston, the only time Jeff Corwin, an Emmy Awardwinning conservationist and TV host, got the opportunity to see nature was when he was visiting family elsewhere. When he was 6, staying with his grandparents, his passion for conservation was sparked when he discovered something mystifying underneath a log. At least, it was mystifying to a 6-year-old.

“It was long, it was scaly, it was legless ...” Corwin hinted to Unity College graduates during his commencement address.

Some graduates responded enthusiastically by shouting out “Garter snake!”

Though the snake latched onto a young Corwin, and his grandmother told him to get rid of it, he remained fascinated by it, even naming her Gladys. He studied the snake in her natural environment for two years. One day, while observing Gladys, his grandparents’ neighbor took a spade and decapitated her. He was devastated.

“That was the day I became a conservationist,” Corwin said.

“That was the day I realized that good people make bad decisions because they lack information.”

For many of the young nature and wildlife enthusiasts, it was Corwin who helped them first discover their interest in

becoming a conservationist. On Saturday, May 12, 100 students graduating from America’s Environmental College not only got to meet Corwin, they also received some sage advice as he delivered the commencement address.

Corwin and Unity College President Dr. Melik Peter Khoury didn’t sugarcoat it for graduates, highlighting the many obstacles they will undoubtedly face as they embark on the next chapter of their lives, but reassured them that with their education and steadfastness, they have the ability to not only change the world, but to also change minds.

The excitement was palpable as graduates lined up, and Erin Raatz, a Parks and Forestry Resources major just days away from a road trip to her job as a naturalist interpreter at Sequoia National Park in California, reflected on just how fast the last four years went.

“Oh my gosh, I am so excited,” said Raatz, who was honored with the 2018 Trustees Award.

“This came much sooner than I ever could have imagined, but I feel very prepared. And I feel like I’ve had the perfect launching pad, and I’m ready to go.”

Parents, family members, and loved ones whooped and applauded as the Class of 2018 marched into the crowded auditorium. “I’m astounded by your ability to pick yourselves up in the face of adversity,” said Dr. Khoury as he kicked off the ceremony. “It’s that resilience

that has brought you here to this moment today.”

Not only did Dr. Khoury laud the graduates seated in front of him, he also had some kind words for Corwin, the guest of honor. “His television series have reached, moved, and inspired many, some of whom I know for a fact are among the 2018 Graduating Class of Unity College,” Dr. Khoury said before bestowing Corwin with an honorary Doctorate of Sustainability Science.

In addressing the graduates, Corwin gave them an overview of the bad news, as well as the good.

The bad part? Endangered or extinct species, black market wildlife trade, habitat loss, pollution, and the prospect of more plastic in our oceans than water. “The good news,” Corwin said, “is you. You are the solution.”

With a Unity College degree in hand, graduates become environmental ambassadors, wherever their career or further education may take them.

Corwin concluded: “I believe someone here has hope to do incredible things in their future.

All of you -- the next generation of environmental stewards -have the hope to move forward, and as you do, remember: Explore the world, find your own adventure, and make a difference. We’re counting on you.”

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LIVING UP TO OUR NAME THROUGH DISTANCE EDUCATION A M E R I C A’ S E N V I R O N M E N TA L COLLEGE REACHES THE ENTIRE COUNTRY — AND BEYOND — T H R O U G H D I S TA N C E E D U C AT I O N Unity College has long been known as America’s Environmental College, and this fall, it will continue to live up to that moniker, extending its reach to students throughout the country and the world through its new Distance Education undergraduate programs.

“For decades now, Unity has been working hard to live up to the environmental commitments implied in calling ourselves ‘America’s Environmental College’,” said Dr. Melik Peter Khoury, Unity College President. “But there’s more to being America’s Environmental College. Unity College is committed to serving all of America — and the world. No matter who. No matter where. Anyone who wants or needs an education from America’s Environmental College should be able to access one. These new undergraduate online programs are a big part of living that commitment.”

The four bachelor’s degrees currently offered through Distance Education are: • • • •

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Environmental Criminal Justice Environmental Studies Sustainable Business Management Wildlife Conservation

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“These degrees are intentionally designed for adults who may have families or work full-time and might not be able to attend classes in person, or for those who live across the country — or even the globe — and have an interest in earning a Unity College degree,” said Dr. Amy Arnett, Chief Distance Education Officer at Unity College.

“Our Distance Education program is created to offer flexibility, so that students can reach their goals at a pace that fits their lifestyle, or even put their education on pause if they need to and pick it back up when they’re ready.”

“This is an opportunity for working adults to earn a degree with Unity’s distinctive sustainability focus,” said Dr. Melik Peter Khoury, Unity College President. “In turn, Unity College’s Distance Education curriculum was designed in partnership with industry leaders who know what skills and abilities employers need right now and in the future, which adds significant value to their degree.”

Because these programs are designed for nontraditional adult learners, all students enrolling in the College’s Distance Education undergraduate programs must have graduated from high school at least three years ago.

The Distance Education team offers a high-level of support from the time a student inquires about a program all the way through until they graduate and begin their

professional careers. “The idea is that we serve as a one-stop shop for each student,” said Heather Stetkis, Distance Education Concierge at Unity College. “Students have their own Concierge as the primary point of contact for anything they might need including financial aid, course registration, academic support, and career planning.”

Unity College Distance Education offers five terms each year, eight weeks per term, with two terms in the fall, two in the spring, and one in the summer. Admissions are rolling, so a student can start a program at any term. “If you come in at 30 credits, you’ll be able to earn your bachelor’s degree by completing nine credits (three courses) per term, and can finish in two years, if that fits in with their schedule,” said Dr. Arnett. “And with each major, students can easily transition into one of our online graduate programs and earn their master’s degree.”

The College also offers a military differential of 10 percent for all active duty military as well as veterans. For more about Unity College’s online undergraduate opportunities, visit online.unity.edu.

magazine.unity.edu/distance

Your World.

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Keep serving your country and earn a degree from Unity College. + Residential or online + Degree completion option + Special military rates + Career services + Degrees in: Adventure Therapy Conservation Law Enforcement Environmental Criminal Justice Sustainable Business Wildlife Conservation

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unity.edu/military 1-833-UnityGo

Image credit: Vecteezy.com

A reason to shell-ebrate

FROM BIG NIGHT TO T H E B I G DAY, UNITY COLLEGE’S TURTLE-LOVING GREG LECLAIR HAS E X E M PL I F I E D W H AT A UNITY COLLEGE E D U C AT I O N C A N OFFER YOUNG CO N S E R VAT I O N I S T S July 1, 2018 - It’s a chilly night in April, and the sun fell just a couple hours ago. The weather isn’t quite ideal for the Unity College Herpetology Club’s first ever organized Big Night, where students volunteer to help amphibians cross the road to their breeding pools. It’s a little colder than Greg LeClair (‘18), a wildlife biology major, would like, and the key ingredient — rain — is in the

forecast, but there’s no sign of it yet.

Even so, Greg hands out reflective vests to the eight other volunteers, who are going to venture out to locations Greg has scouted for activity. Not only will they help wood frogs, newts, and salamanders cross the road, they’ll also study them. That is, if the rain ever shows up.

Soon enough, Greg gets his wish as a drop of rain touches down. It’s enough to inspire the crew, who pack up their gear — construction cones, flashlights, and headlamps — and pile into a cargo van to begin their first organized Big Night.

During his four years at Unity College, Greg left a substantial mark.

“I was chatting with a fellow faculty member just a couple days ago and he mentioned, when discussing a recent Unity recruit, that this student had the potential to be the next Greg LeClair,” Dr. Matt Chatfield, Associate Professor of Conservation Biology, recalled during an end-of-the-year awards presentation. “As if Greg is the standard to which we are holding all of our promising new students. That is the impact that Greg has had on our school.”

“One of the great joys of being president of America’s Environmental College is that I get

to meet, and have some small part of helping lead, amazing people like Greg,” said Unity College President Dr. Melik Peter Khoury.

“These are individuals, young and old, who are passionate — some might say obsessed — about learning and about doing the right thing for some of the world’s most vulnerable animals. What an honor for me.”

In addition to coordinating the school’s first ever Big Night event, Greg, who served as president of the Herpetology Club, received the student award for Scientific Engagement in the Ecology & Management Program, as well as the Marshall Gerrie Award. What he’s likely best known for, however, is his work with wood turtles.

In the spring of 2015, Greg and other Unity College students began working a wood turtle research project, which was developed by Dr. Chatfield and Dr. Cheryl Frederick, Associate Professor of Captive Wildlife Care and Education, through a partnership with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Greg and others would search for turtles in various locations in central Maine, where they would mark them; collect data such as shell size, claw size, sex, and sometimes even take DNA samples; and then send them back on their way.

“He is ALWAYS thinking,” said Dr. Chatfield, who also served as Greg’s work-study supervisor, thesis advisor, and internship sponsor. “Thinking about new projects, thinking about how to improve a project, thinking about what has been done in the field and where there are gaps that need to be filled. This is what it means to be a scientist. This is the best that Unity can and does produce.”

The Herpetology Club pulls over to the side of a pretty inactive

road, where students spring from the van and into action. Greg stations two members of the team as bookends of the roadway to watch for and warn of vehicles. The rest of the club is on the lookout for some sign of amphibians trying to cross the road to get to their spring breeding pool.

Sadly, the first stop of the night is pretty quiet — more crickets than spring peepers. The team forges on, tromping around some of the dampest areas along the road in search of activity, headlamps and flashlights swooping hither and thither. Still nothing, even as the rain intensifies.

Greg is ready to call it, but just as the crew begins to pack up its orange cones and turn off their flashlights, he spots something blending in with the wet pavement. “Hey, we’ve got a frog!” he yells out to the club in a rush of excitement. Greg scoops it up, holding it in his hands with his headlamp pointed in its direction so that he can study it.

Everyone, including Dr. Chatfield, gathers around him, as he carefully examines the wood frog.

“Is it a male or female?” Chatfield asks.

“I think it’s a female,” Greg responds, closely eyeing the frog’s tiny hands, based on her tiny thumbs and small tympana, which are the external eardrums behind the eye.

He snaps a photo of it, and brings her across the road safely to her destination.

“Onto the next stop?” Greg asks the group, as they pile back into the van for what will be a busy night — and season — for the club.

magazine.unity.edu/turtles

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helps prepare our students for opportunities like this. Many of our students are Red Sox fans, so I would say these students and their faculty are batting a thousand this summer.”

Along with Keegan, Unity College students Marc D’Elia, Nicholas Johnson, Emily Tripp, Morgan Jeane, and Will Reinsborough, were selected for the summer positions. It’s a feather in the cap for a program that has seen an abundance of success throughout the year, and continues to grow, introducing an online Conservation Law Enforcement graduate program in the fall.

Six for Six Keegan Nelligan (‘18) preps for a day on the job as a Deputy Game Warden with the Maine Warden Service.

STUDENT SUCCESS

Batting a Thousand

U N I T Y CO L L E G E CO N S E R VAT I O N L AW STUDENTS FILL ALL SIX DEPUTY GAME WARDEN POSITIONS THIS SUMMER July 1, 2018 - Decked out in their new forest-green uniforms, six Unity College students majoring in Conservation Law Enforcement lined up in front of a whiteboard, standing underneath the words “To succeed, you have to believe in something with such a passion that it becomes a reality.” For these students, that passion has indeed become a reality, as they were chosen in May to fill all six of the 2018 Maine Deputy Game Warden positions for the summer.

“This is such an honor,” said Keegan Nelligan, one of the Unity College students. Entering into his senior year this fall, it has been a lifelong dream of 38

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Keegan’s to become a Maine Game Warden, and getting this position brings him one more step closer to making that a reality. “My experience at Unity College has definitely helped prepare me for this moment, and I can’t wait to get started on this journey for the summer, and for whatever comes after that.”

“In my time here, I’ve never seen anything quite like this,” said Dr. Melik Peter Khoury, President of Unity College. “I’m very proud of all six of these students, and I know the hard work and dedication they’ve put forth to achieve this. It also speaks volumes about our Conservation Law program, which

“Our Conservation Law program is truly primed for growth, and you can point to the success stories like this and other remarkable outcomes as proof of that,” added Khoury.

When many students enter Unity College’s Con Law Program, they know exactly what career path they want to follow. Others, however, discover it well into their time at the College.

Trish Paskerta, who graduated from Unity in May 2018, was in the latter bunch.

“Really, I found what I wanted to do in my senior year, when I attended the National Park Service Seasonal Law Enforcement program,” Trish said. She studied in Colorado for four months, and it turned out, it was exactly what she had been looking for. “The more I learned about the National Parks Service, the more I thought it would be a good fit for me.”

Once she completed the training, she landed a job as a Law Enforcement Climbing Ranger at

Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming.

fortunate. It’s not common to see someone with that experience right out of the gate.”

“This job gives you the best of both worlds, combining “We’re seeing a lot of students the responsibilities of a park pursue this, and they’re getting ranger and law enforcement,” a unique experience out of Trish said. “I do the duties it,” said Zach Falcon, Assistant of a law enforcement officer, Professor of Conservation Law like patrolling, traffic control, and Environmental Policy. “It’s responding to any also opening up a complaints, and path for many of “ M Y E X P E R I E N C E our Conservation on top of that, AT U N I T Y I have climbing Law students that COLLEGE HAS duties. In fact, they might not about a week ago D E F I N I T E L Y have thought of I summited Devils H E L P E D P R E P A R E previously.”

Tower, which was ME FOR THIS interesting.”

With so many M O M E N T, A N D I engaged students CAN’ T WAIT TO While Austin G E T S T A R T E D O N in the College’s Harding also Con Law major, THIS JOURNEY completed it’s no wonder that FOR THE the program the Conservation SUMMER, AND in Colorado, Law Club is one F O R W H A T E V E R he returned to of the largest and COMES AFTER Maine’s Acadia most active on T H AT.” National Park campus. Over the landing a job years, the club has as Park Ranger become known (Protection), where he oversees for its civic engagement efforts duties ranging from responding on and off campus, and in April to injured hikers and car received the 2018 President’s accidents, to stopping cars for Campus Leadership Award from speeding or dangerous driving. the Maine Campus Compact, a

nonprofit coalition of 18 colleges and universities.

Dr. Khoury nominated the club, emphasizing the students’ involvement and commitment to the community. “This group of students is highly engaged on campus, and off,” said Dr. Khoury.

“Every year, they put hours and hours of work into community service, splitting wood, hosting the annual game dinner, and engaging in regional projects.

This award is terrific recognition, not only for our Con Law club, but for our club system, Student Government, and the faculty sponsors and Student Success team that support them.”

The club averages anywhere between 30 to 35 students who volunteer more than 1,000 hours in the community, including cleanup days for the Maine Forest Service and Maine Warden Service. They also host the annual Wild Game Dinner at the Unity College Center for the Arts, which to date has raised more than $100,000 for various nonprofits.

magazine.unity.edu/con-law

“If you had asked me my first year at Unity, I would’ve seen myself more as a general cop or a game warden,” Harding said. It was Assistant Professor Lori Perez who first suggested he look into the National Parks program.

“It checked off a lot of things for me. It checked off my internship and gave me experience,” Harding said of his first summer at Acadia National Park. “It gave me law enforcement experience before I graduated, and while a lot of Unity College graduates do have that, others across the country aren’t always that

Keeping the Park Safe Austin Harding, who worked this summer as a Park Ranger (Protection) at Acadia National Park, patrols the scenic tourist destination on Mount Desert Island.

UNITY MAGAZINE STUDENTS IN THE NEWS

STUDENTS inthe News Frisco Faces Off Jaela Bills (‘19) with Frisco, our three-month old “ambassador” ferret.

DO WHALES COME AND GO With the Tide?

Laurel Sullivan (‘18) overlays tidal and whale sighting data from Bay of Fundy to find out Whale watching. For some it may bring to mind school field trips or coastal vacations. Fanny packs and binoculars. Long stretches of ocean and searching eyes, with the hope that maybe, just maybe, one of the largest animals on earth will appear in the waters below.

NAI awards Unity College student full scholarship to national conference The leading professional organization dedicated to interpreting the natural and cultural resources of our world,

unity.edu/news the National Association for Interpretation, awarded Jill Brigham (‘20) one of two undergraduate scholarships for their national conference in Spokane, Wash. At the conference last fall, Brigham participated in workshops, networked with interpretive professionals from across the country, received advice from keynote speakers, and represented Unity College on the national stage.

But for Laurel Sullivan (‘18), whale watching is both all of these things and none of these things at once.

Whale watching isn’t just a pastime for Laurel — it’s Conservation.

Science.

“There’s nothing like it. It’s why I do what I do,” she says emphatically, describing the inherent awe in the arch of a whale’s massive body, stretching as high as a building into the sky, before it crashes gracefully back down into the water. “I’m at my happiest when I’m watching whales and when I’m on a boat in the middle of the ocean.”

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magazine.unity.edu/whales Wandering Whales Laurel Sullivan (’18) and Dean Pieter deHart review her bathymetric maps.

STUDENTS IN THE NEWS UNITY MAGAZINE

FULL-TIME STUDENT. FULL-TIME SHERIFF’S DEPUTY.

From On Duty to In Class Mariza Gionfriddo (‘17) worked as a full-time Sheriff’s Deputy for the Waldo County Sheriff’s office throughout her senior year as a Conservation Law Enforcement student.

When people around Waldo County saw a sheriff’s cruiser consistently following a Unity College van around town this fall, calls were made. What exactly were these students up to that required a consistent police escort?

The answer: geology. And unless you counted that the driver of the cruiser was a deputy for the Waldo County Sheriff’s office ready to start work the moment her class was over, their lab work wasn’t exactly police business.

“Sometimes I show up to class in uniform. Sometimes I’m in my cruiser half dressed,” Mariza Gionfriddo (‘17) said. “I felt really awkward the first few weeks because people didn’t know why I was wearing my uniform … But now it’s just my normal.”

In addition to being a full-time Conservation Law Enforcement student at Unity College, Gionfriddo also works full-time Sheriff’s Deputy for Waldo County. Gionfriddo, for her part, loves it. Since working as a reserve officer for Old Orchard Beach two summers ago, she has been eager to get back in the field.

“Once you get into law enforcement, if it’s for you, you miss it once you’re done,” she said. “Being in school, I missed it a lot. And I wanted to get back into it without having to miss out on completing my degree.”

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UNITY MAGAZINE UNITY ALUMNI

CO N S E R VAT I O N L AW ENFORCEMENT ALUMNI B R I N G CU R R E N T, R E A L WORLD EXPERIENCE TO UNITY COLLEGE COURSES December 5, 2017 - As Josh Macri

(‘19) and Sydney Hazzard (‘20) approach the hunters, both must quickly assess the situation at hand.

Canada geese lay everywhere. A home, maybe 100 yards away, sits dangerously close to the grass where two men emerge, guns resting casually on their shoulders as they walk forward. They don’t look happy. Macri and Hazzard slip their faces into calm, collected expressions as Macri asks, “How’s everyone doing today?”

students often find themselves working alongside state fish and game wardens; forest rangers; marine patrols; federal enforcement officers for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Bureau of Land Management; and environmental enforcement

they get they’re coming up here,” Assistant Professor of Conservation Law Enforcement Lori Perez said. “Our students really value it. It reaffirms things for them — they’re learning about the law and putting it into use, and then they get feedback from officials who have been doing things for ‘X’ amount of years.”

A L U M NI T HAT D O N ’ T JUST GIVE BACK — THEY COME BACK

To top it all off, they’re being watched.

Off to the side of the encounter and making assessments of his own stands a man closely noting every word, every gesture, of the field experience in front of him: Sgt. Aaron Cross of the Maine Warden Service.

The geese are plastic.

The guns are fake.

And the hunters are actually work-study students doing their best to be combative and standoffish. But Sgt. Cross? He’s about as real as it gets.

It’s just another day in the Conservation Law Enforcement program at Unity College, where

officers for the Environmental Protection Agency and state environmental agencies. It’s all a part of the package. More often than not these campus visitors are alumni, returning to the community that helped them get where they are today.

“It seems like every chance

“They take it to heart, and it helps them see a future in this field. Students see our alumni and think, ‘That’s what I want to be. That’s what I can become.’

These guys have all been in their shoes, so they’re perfect role models.”

Guidance from alumni role models is something all Unity students experience at one point or another in their education, regardless of major.

It’s not uncommon to run into alumni on campus from all walks of life, from biologists to entrepreneurs and zookeepers to lawyers. Those networking opportunities are key to Unity’s thriving career placement numbers — according to a recent alumni survey, 70 percent of Unity College graduates are employed full-time or pursuing graduate degrees. Unity College alumni know, firsthand, how capable these college graduates are.

magazine.unity.edu/alumni

UNITY IN THE NEWS UNITY MAGAZINE

GIVING T UES DAY

NOV 27 THERE ARE MANY WAYS T O GI V E T O UNITY COLLEGE CHOOSE YOURS.

unity.edu/give

THE WOOD TURTLE, A MAINE ‘SPECIES OF SPECIAL CONCERN,’ INSPIRED GIVING MORE THAN $25,000 IN GRANTS AND GIFTS IN SUPPORT OF THE UNITY COLLEGE WOOD TURTLE STUDY

January 31, 2017 - For Unity College’s Dr. Matt Chatfield and student researcher Greg LeClair, there is nothing slow-moving about wood turtle research.

That includes raising the funds necessary for the next phase of study.

The Unity College Wood Turtle Research Project, started in 2015, will continue into 2018, thanks to generous grants from the William P. Wharton Trust and the Davis Conservation Foundation, in addition to a number of donations given as part of the national #GivingTuesday campaign.

The grants and gifts, which total more than $25,000, will allow students and Associate Professor Dr. Chatfield the opportunity to continue important research into these elusive, endangered vertebrates. In a partnership with Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIF&W), Dr. Chatfield and Unity College students initiated a markrecapture study and a radiotelemetry and habitat mapping project on a nearby wood turtle population.

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Taking the study to the next level, the William P. Wharton Trust grant ($15,000) and the Davis Conservation Foundation grant ($10,000) will provide funding to initiate a nesting beach camera survey that would substantially expand upon the existing habitat mapping study. Among turtles, the wood turtle is especially at risk due to widespread decline throughout much of its range.

The wood turtle is listed as a species of special concern, vulnerable, threatened or endangered in 14 of the 17 states and provinces in which it occurs.

In Maine, the species is currently listed as a species of special concern, and as a Priority 1 species of greatest conservation need in Maine’s Wildlife Action Plan (MDIF&W 2015).

“Mentoring on critical research projects is essential training for the next generation of wildlife biologists and environmental problem-solvers,” said Dr. Melik Peter Khoury, President of Unity College. “This project helps fulfill the ambitious mission of the College: to provide an environmental science education undergirded by the liberal arts, while empowering students through invaluable experiences on a local, yet globally-relevant conservation project. We are grateful that the William P. Wharton Trust, the Davis Conservation Foundation, and others support our efforts.”

“We believe this project has a high likelihood of success,” says Dr. Chatfield, who points out that early successes in marking and capturing wood turtles has given them the opportunity to locate a significant number of nesting turtles to observe. Continued

partnership with the MDIF&W is also a key contributing factor.

“Our partnership has grown stronger during our collaboration over the past two years, and we are grateful for the opportunity our students have to work with field biologists. They are learning basic wildlife biology techniques and related techniques that may reach far beyond the internship, work study, volunteer or even thesis experience that they achieve here. My hope is that some of them will end up working with MDIF&W, continue studying the wood turtles, or maybe continue this research in a master’s or Ph.D. program.”

magazine.unity.edu/give

UNITY ALUMNI UNITY MAGAZINE

Keeping an Eye on Wood Turtles Erin O’Leary (‘20) and Kathleen Carey (‘19) measure a wood turtle in the field as part of an ongoing mark-recapture study and a radio-telemetry and habitat mapping project at Unity College.

Support UNDERGRADUATE Research at UNITY donate online

donate by phone

donate by mail

Go to: www.unity.edu/give

Call: 207-509-7145

Use the enclosed return envelope

Your support helps fund student research experiences in the field and in the lab.

Your support creates scholarships that give students access to an experiential education at Unity College.

Your support ensures that our world will have optimistic, educated individuals committed to solving the world’s most pressing environmental problems.

UNITY MAGAZINE 2018

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Community Weekend Alumni Zach Schmesser and Dr. William Hafford.

Engage Today We want to hear your story.

What’s youR STORY?

Unity College alumni are different.

You know it. We know it. You’re leaders. You’re conservationists.

You’re champions of sustainability.

You’re doing your part to make the world a better place.

We’re working to transform higher education while making sure the value of your Unity College degree keeps increasing.

To get started, contact: Unity College Alumni notes are now online! Always available for you to update your information and check out what is happening with your classmates. Go to:

unity.edu/notes

Erica Hutchinson Chief Advancement Officer ehutchinson@unity.edu (207) 509-7145 UNITY MAGAZINE 2018

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90 Quaker Hill Road Unity, Maine 04988

Top 9 Ways for Alumni to

engage Share my story with Unity College – send Unity College an email, write a letter, or make a phone call.

Highlight my Unity College affiliation on LinkedIn, Facebook, and other social networks.

Share my alma mater’s progress and the good news about current students and other alums with my social networks.

Create Internships within my organization for Unity College students.

Represent my organization at Unity College career fairs; consider graduates for open positions.

Visit Unity College and give a presentation on my accomplishments since graduation.

Choose Unity College as one of my top three charitable giving priorities.

Share my alumni pride at local high school and community college recruiting events.

Suggest Unity College Distance Education to someone considering a graduate degree or certificate.

Contact Erica Hutchinson, Chief Advancement Officer, to get started today! ehutchinson@unity.edu (207) 509-7145

Partner with America’s Environmental College today.

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