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A USM Alumna Reflects on Diversity

   When I graduated from the University of Southern Maine in May 2007, my mother was there supporting me, not as a spectator, but as a fellow graduate.     Being there with her was a testament to one of USM's most valuable and unique traits: an incredible, and almost surprising, diversity of ages, backgrounds, and ethnicities of its students.

   Did you know that the average age of a USM student is 27?  As a 22-year-old "traditional-aged" student, I sometimes felt like a minority.  I remember as a freshman, sitting in Payson Smith Hall on the first day of my statistics class.  As I watched students of many different ages filtering through the door, I had no idea which one was my professor.  At the time, that was a slightly uncomfortable feeling.  However, I came to embrace that feeling, because it became clear to me that the diversity among students is one of USM's greatest assets.

   During my four years at USM, I sat in classes with everyone from fraternity brothers, to older students attending night classes, to transfer students from away.  I worked alongside students from all over the world.  I partnered with Katso from Tokyo for a personal finance competition that took us all the way to Arizona.  Every year, I drove Sarah to the airport so she could return home to Minnesota for Christmas.  I teamed up with a student from Cambodia in an operations management class, brainstormed with an athlete from Morocco, conversed with a philosophy student from Chile, gave presentations with a man from Hong Kong, and even had the opportunity to live for a semester in a residence hall with a brilliant woman from Beijing, who spent many nights telling me stories from China, and teaching me a few words in her native language.

    There is a magnetic force at USM that opens doors to almost everyone.  For instance, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute provides continuing education classes for students over the age of 50.  While working in the School of Business office, I heard a woman in her 70s ask to observe a lecture because she was interested in earning a degree.  What an inspiration! These seniors bring a multigenerational richness to USM. The magnetic force is so strong that a doctor I know drove more than an hour to Portland on Saturdays to take Japanese courses. Not to mention, Sarah, my Minnesotan friend, who turned down an opportunity to transfer to Brown University, because of the sense of belonging she felt at USM.

   I shared that feeling, although I didn't fully realize it until after I was lucky enough to spend a semester studying in Edinburgh, Scotland.  Returning to USM was like kicking off a pair of high heels and sliding into my old LL Bean slippers.  USM is comfortable, and I give a lot of credit to my classmates for making it a warm, welcoming community that gives a powerful sense of belonging to a diverse body of students.

   I have heard so many students say, "USM is what you make of it," and I agree with that wholeheartedly. But, it is also important to celebrate what USM has made of us, and what it will make of students who attend in the future. 

   USM encouraged me, and my fellow students, to pursue so many great opportunities.  USM, with the support of my classmates, helped make me not only a student, but also an athlete, a musician, an entrepreneur, a community service volunteer, a champion, a traveler, a mentor, and a leader.  I graduated with a strong addiction to coffee, a high tolerance for stress, and a keener appreciation for everything and everyone around me.  Being immersed in USM's environment of highly motivated people with diverse histories and dreams has helped me to embrace my own. 
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by Lori Royer
Royer, of Lovell, Maine, graduated from the University of Southern Maine in 2007 with a major in business administration and a minor in music. She was USM's student commencement speaker,

   USM has been described as a place where what you want to be and who you are can come together. That's what happened to Sri Dhyana of Portland, a USM physics major with a minor in biochemistry who, as first recipient of USM's John S. Ricci Fellowship, spent last summer conducting research at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif. Dhyana, a member of Maine's National Guard who served in Iraq, plans to go on to graduate school after graduating this spring.

   Our interconnected campuses in Portland and nearby Gorham let you jump into the energy of a teaming port city full of shopping, art, music, dining and career-building opportunities. Rebecca Stockbridge, an '06 graduate from our unique Art and Entrepreneurial Studies program, never returned to her home state of Massachusetts, preferring to open her own Web and graphic design businesses - IbecCreative and MediCreative - in downtown Portland. Crediting the advice and mentoring her art and business professors gave her, this 26-year-old says of her early success that, "It sort of all snowballed, and the snowball stared at USM."

   Our students want to pen a poem, kick the winning goal, and sing an aria. Just ask soprano Ashley Emerson of Bangor, another '06 graduate who went on to sing in the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and made her Metropolitan Opera debut in "Le Nozze di Figaro." Other USM students want to walk on the beach, teach a new generation of thinkers, or introduce the next big idea - just like '07 graduate Andrew Bossie of Caribou did when he began working on a grass roots movement that turned into Opportunity Maine, a program passed by the Legislature to provide tax credits for college graduates who work in Maine after they finish college.

   The University of Southern Maine has 129 years of experience educating the people of Maine and northern New England, and is confident in its ability to produce skilled graduates with a firm intellectual foundation who go on to become confident, successful professionals actively contributing to the social and economic fabric of the state and the region. With more than 50 majors and more than 40 additional programs, 23 NCAA Division III teams, and nearly 100 clubs and organizations, you'll find a place where you can spread your wings.

   Citing its small class size, library, diverse student body, and dedicated faculty members, the Princeton Review again listed the University of Southern Maine among the 222 schools designated as the "Best in the Northeast." USM's distinction appears in the 2008 edition of "The Best Northeastern Colleges" (Random House, Princeton Review, August 7, 2007). The guide states, "USM's price tag would be much higher if dollars were equated with the faculty's dedication to the students."



   Interested in checking out USM? We're interested in meeting you. Visit www.usm.maine.edu for more information.