UNIVERSITY OF MAINE Graduate School Celebrating 100 Years

In 2023, the University of Maine Graduate School is celebrating 100 years of advancing educational opportunities and impacting the workforce and economic development in Maine and beyond. Responsible for providing oversight for over 150 degree programs, the Graduate School facilitates the realization of nationally recognized graduate programs and educational partnerships, and provides financial and academic support to a growing and diverse student body.

UMaine has granted graduate degrees since 1881, when the Maine State College (now the University of Maine System) Board of Trustees awarded the first Master of Science degree to Walter Balentine in the subject of agriculture. At the time, graduate degrees were only offered in five disciplinary areas: agriculture, chemistry, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, and science and literature, reflecting Maine’s land grant mission of providing public education in agriculture and the mechanic arts. Some of Balentine’s postgraduate studies included time at Wesleyan, the Connecticut State Experiment Station, and a research fellowship to study agricultural chemistry in Germany. In 1882, Balentine became a professor of agriculture, and in 1885 was named founding director of the first Agricultural Experiment Station in Maine, supporting the growth of agricultural pursuits in the region and throughout the world.

Percia Vinal White was the first female graduate student from UMaine, earning her Master of Arts degree in science and literature in 1882. White, a native of Orono and one of the first women undergraduates at the University of Maine, was a writer of short stories, publishing under the name A. Steele Penn. At the age of 79, her novel “Wearers of the Hemlock” was published. A businesswoman, White carried on her husband’s insurance business for 15 years after his passing. White was also very involved in her community as an active member of many clubs and organizations, such as the Women’s Club of Orono, the Current Events Club of Millbridge, The Order of the Eastern Star, and the Maine Writers’ Research club, where she contributed articles for books published by the club.

Over the years, three University of Maine presidents have received graduate degrees at the University of Maine. Harold Sherburne Boardman earned a graduate degree in civil engineering in 1898 and served as dean of the University of Maine Technology College before serving as the seventh president from 1926–34. Caribou native Winthrop Libby earned his graduate degree in agricultural economics in 1933 and served as the dean of the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture and director of Cooperative Extension before he served as the 11th president from 1969–73. The remaining University of Maine graduate alumnus to serve as president was Frederick Hutchinson of Atkinson, Maine. President Hutchinson received an M.S. degree in agronomy from UMaine in 1958 before earning his Ph.D. from The Pennsylvania State University in 1966. He returned to the University of Maine to serve as dean of agriculture, and went on to become provost and senior vice president at The Ohio State University before returning to the University of Maine as its 16th president.

In 1923, the year the Graduate School was founded, 20 graduate degrees were conferred under the first Graduate School dean George Davis Chase. Chase received his Ph.D. from Harvard University and then spent a year in Germany at the University of Leipzig before being appointed an assistant professor at Cornell University and later as an associate professor at Wesleyan University. He joined the University of Maine faculty in 1905 as professor and head of the Department of Classics.

Chase’s commitment to graduate education is evident throughout his career at the University of Maine. In 1938 during Chase’s last Commencement as dean, a resolution of congratulations was shared, stating that George Davis Chase “has done more than any man to develop and maintain in the University the high standard of graduate scholarship and research which chiefly entitle an institution of higher learning to be considered a university.”

In the early years, the Graduate School was located in a variety of historical buildings on campus, including North Stevens Hall, Fogler Library and Winslow Hall, before eventually moving into the first floor of Stodder Hall in 2009, where it is located today. The first doctoral degree was not conferred until 1960, when a Ph.D. in chemistry was awarded to Basil S. Farah.

Today the university’s graduate student population contains representation from 74 countries and conferred a recordbreaking 769 graduate degrees during the previous school year. The Graduate School now offers over 150 graduate programs, over 50 of which are available online with more developing in emerging areas. As a leader in workforce development, the Graduate School is laser-focused on making a global impact while staying locally relevant.

UMaine is designated an R1 university by the prestigious Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. The R1 designation signifies “very high research activity” the highest possible tier a doctoral research university can achieve in the Carnegie Classification. Updates are completed every three years. Only 146 (3.7%) of the nation’s 3,982 degreegranting postsecondary institutions in the United States are classified as top-tier doctoral research universities.

The research and creative achievement at the University of Maine are at the cutting edge of innovation. For example, UMaine boasts the world’s largest 3D printer, which, using biobased materials, has so far printed 3Dirigo, the world’s largest 3D-printed boat, and BioHome3D, the world’s first 100% biobased 3D-printed home.

“Our research and graduate studies set us apart with the distinctiveness and leadership that enhance our national competitiveness,” said Kody Varahramyan, Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate School.

In 2022, the university established the Graduate Centennial Impact Fund to advance graduate education at the University of Maine and to help meet critical needs, including for graduate fellowships. More information about the Centennial Campaign is available through the Graduate School’s Centennial website (umaine.edu/gradcentennial).

As we look to the future, the Graduate School will continue its long history of anticipating real-world needs, while generating dynamic solutions that make long-term impacts on the workforce and economic development needs of Maine and beyond.

To learn more about the Graduate School’s history, share your own story, and stay updated on upcoming centennial events, please visit umaine.edu/gradcentennial.

University Of Maine Degrees

The University of Maine offers curricula in a wide variety of academic fields leading to baccalaureate, master’s and doctoral degrees. The baccalaureate or bachelor’s degree is awarded to undergraduate students who complete the required program in their respective departments. Master’s and doctoral degrees are awarded to students who complete prescribed graduate study. A Certificate of Advanced Study (C.A.S.) and Education Specialist (EdS) are available for specified graduate study beyond the master’s degree.

Undergraduate degrees with Latin honors are conferred at Commencement for the following attainments of rank: summa cum laude: 3.7 GPA; magna cum laude: 3.5 GPA; cum laude: 3.3 GPA. The university bases the GPA on the student’s work at the University of Maine, and that must amount to at least 60 credits or 50% of the total degree credits required in the program of study, whichever is greater.

Students graduating from the Honors College are conferred baccalaureate degrees with the designation of honors, high honors or highest honors. In order to receive a degree with honors, a student must complete the honors general education curriculum, which includes the four-course civilizations sequence, as well as a tutorial and two semesters of research leading to the successful defense of the honors thesis.

Degrees are awarded at the end of the semester or session in which degree requirements have been completed, not necessarily accompanied by Commencement ceremonies.