Stimulation - Knowledge - Interaction - Fun | | Ovens, Hulls Cove, Photo credit: Kathleen Hall | | |
Hello!
This June, I succeeded Mike Hastings as president of Acadia Senior College. Mike left ASC in great shape and our future looks bright.
Our mission is to educate, but also to have fun and communicate with each other. Our success, I believe, is thanks to several factors:
- Most importantly, our island community has a wealth of individuals who have rich backgrounds and who are willing to share as course leaders and speakers.
- Each event I have attended has been enriched by our engaged members who contribute and enhance the topics at hand.
- Our hard working volunteers have faithfully created and nurtured the programs we bring to you.
Thank you all for that!
This year looks exciting. We have 21 courses this Fall term. On September 11, we'll honor our founder, Jim Clunan, with the James and Dorothy Clunan
Lecture with guest speaker, Dr Nirav Shah. I consider him one of my heroes. Dr. Shah headed our state Centers for Disease Control (CDC) with integrity and honesty and we trusted him. He led a state effort that produced the greatest immunization record and lowest mortality rate in the country during the COVID pandemic. Most recently, Dr. Shah served as second in command at the National CDC and now returns to Maine. Welcome home, Dr. Shah!
One of our initiatives will be to improve our meeting audio experience, especially for those with hearing impairment. Look for a brief questionnaire to help us understand the depth of the problem. Please take a minute to fill it out and help us help you.
I look forward to seeing you at this year's ASC events.
Cheers,
Jeff Dunn
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Online registration opens Wednesday, July 23rd at 9:00 a.m.
We have 21 classes to choose from!
Class descriptions are on the ASC website:
https://www.acadiaseniorcollege.org/courses
The fall term begins on August 25th.
You must be a member to enroll in courses. Not a member yet? Join online!
Are you a member of another senior college, or
an instructor using a course credit?
Contact us before registration opens.
207-288-9500
learn@acadiaseniorcollege.org
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Tips for Registering
(AKA Avoiding Disappointment)
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Remember the old days when you camped outside the ticket office for days to get seats to see your favorite band in concert? ASC instructors are like rock stars: many of the classes fill up immediately upon opening of registration. Class sizes are limited and registration is first come, first served. Fortunately, today, you just have to camp in front of your computer for a few minutes to get a coveted seat.
For complete details, visit the How to Enroll page on the Acadia Senior College website. For those who want the Cliff Notes, here are a few tips.
To help ensure you can enroll in the courses you most want, it's important to be ready as soon as registration opens, promptly at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, July 23.
- Test your login before registration opens to make sure it works and you remember your user name and password.
- Once registration opens, follow these steps to enroll:
- Make sure you are logged into the site as a member.
- Click the Enroll button below the course description.
- If you don't see the Enroll link, click the Refresh button on your browser.
- Once you have selected your courses, click "Go to your cart" in the orange message box in the upper right corner of the screen (or the Enrollments or Cart link if the message box is no longer visible).
- Proceed to the payment screen, enter your credit card information and click Submit Card Payment, or indicate you will pay by check, in which case, we will hold your space in the class for seven days. Mail your check promptly to ASC, PO Box 214, Hulls Cove, ME 04644 (Note: new address).
- If your courses are full, join the wait list. You may still have an opportunity to take the course.
| | Unless otherwise noted, morning classes run 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. and afternoon classes from 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. Click on a link to learn more about the class. | | | September 11, 2025
Clunan Lecture Series
Speaker: Dr. Nirav Shah
Stay tuned for more information!
| | Welcome New Board Members! | | |
Jeff Dunn, President
Jeff is a retired pediatric cardiac surgeon, hospital Administrator and volunteer extraordinaire.
For 40 years, Jeff, his wife (Linda) and family spent summer vacations on Molasses Pond, Maine, and Mount Desert Island. In 2015, they made MDI their permanent home. Jeff served on the Board of Directors of Jackson Laboratory, headed its National Council, and served as a board member of Maine AllCare, advocating for universal healthcare for all. Currently, he’s a member of the MDI Hospital Board Quality and Safety Committee, and, of course, an active member of Acadia Senior College. As president, Jeff will continue to participate on several committees.
Jeff’s professional bona fides include Senior Registrar of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery at The Great Ormand Street Hospital for Sick Children, London, England, and Professor and Chief of Cardiac Surgery at St. Christopher's Hospital For Children and Temple University, in Philadelphia, PA, as well as serving as a volunteer for numerous organizations.
Jeff and Linda have two children, Kate (with Ian and Ran), who lives in Baltimore, and David (with Jessica and Leighton), who lives in London. Jeff enjoys plein air watercolor painting, traveling and reading trashy mystery novels of no social value.
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Virginia Drewry
Although Virginia grew up in the Upper South and has deep family roots there, she has also long felt the pull of New England. Virginia and her late husband happily continued his family’s tradition of spending part of each summer on or near MDI, ultimately building a home in Brooksville.
After earning a BA in religion from Williams College, Virginia studied ethics and the sociology of religion at Yale, trained as a community organizer in the DC area, and worked in neighborhood stabilization and on state and national equal rights campaigns before completing a law degree at the University of Virginia and practicing law in New York and DC. She is a member of the ASC Racial Justice Reading Group and is active in environmental, educational and social justice organizations.
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Michael Pancoe
Michael and his wife (and fellow ASC board member), Ellie, are relative newcomers to Bar Harbor, settling here in 2024. Before retiring, Michael was affiliated with multiple hospitals in Bangor, Maine, as an interventional radiologist.
In addition to sailing, Mike collects maps and serves as Vice Chair of the MDI Historical Society. He’s also on the Board of the Temple Beth El Cemetery in Bangor.
| | A Fond Farewell (But Not Goodbye) | | |
Dear friends,
After seven wonderful years as ASC Administrator, it’s time for me to begin a new chapter –retirement! It has truly been a pleasure and a joy to work with such a vibrant, curious, and inspiring community. I’ve loved our conversations, classes, emails, events and all the moments in between.
Even though I’m stepping down, I won’t be going far. I’m looking forward to staying involved with ASC and seeing you in classes and at events.
In retirement, I plan to spend more time doing the things I love – gardening, volunteering, biking, hiking, kayaking, quilting and learning to play the cello!
Thank you, everyone, for your support and friendship. Please stay in touch – I hope to see you out and about!
All the very best,
Janice
| | More Learning Opportunities | | |
Did you know that as members of Acadia Senior College, you are eligible to register for classes offered by any of the other 16 Senior Colleges in Maine without paying an additional membership fee? Each college offers a variety of classes and presentations, some of which are free and many are on Zoom. To learn more, read and subscribe to the MSCN newsletter.
You can also visit the What's Happening? page and subscribe to receive email notices for presentations from other Maine senior colleges (Click the Log In link to sign up).
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Acadia Senior College
PO Box 214
Hulls Cove, ME 04644
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