CAHS NEWSLETTER SPRING '26 | | (L-R) State Rep Parnell Terry; Kelly Hrenko, Associate Dean; Jane Kuenz, Dean CAHS; Jacqueline Edmondson; Dannel Mallory, UMS Chancellor; Trish Riley, Chair UMS Board of Trustees | | A Message from Dean Kuenz | | |
Greetings!
In March, the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences formally adopted a set of core values developed over the last year that emphasize the centrality of the Liberal Arts, the value of human dignity, and the necessity of courageous learning and civic responsibility. You can read the full version here.
Institutional statements often default to platitude, but we intend these values to be concrete obligations toward what we study and why in a world that is often indifferent to complexity and value itself. Not a tidy mission statement but a set of difficult, ongoing tensions, these values recognize the university in general and the liberal arts specifically as the place for both deep, silent inquiry and loud, transformative action.
In this issue, you will see these values at work. The centrality of the liberal arts is embodied in the decades of teaching, research, and service of the late Leonard Shedletsky and our three retiring faculty. It is reaffirmed and reimagined in initiatives, such as the Polymath Pathways, the Public Humanities Lab, and the recent Blue Humanities forum. Each balances the historical, ethical, and critical perspectives necessary to understand the past and the present with the flexible, creative, and practical skills needed to create and navigate the future.
| |  | |
The Lab’s commitment to public-facing collaborative scholarship and practical, workplace skills models the civic responsibility required of any public institution of higher education. Students traveling abroad to learn and share their research demonstrates “courageous learning” beyond the classroom in the form of global civic dialogue. This dialogue culminated in April with the appearance of Ukrainian poet Ilya Kaminsky, this year’s O’Brien Poet, whose reading and discussion of literary art underscored the high stakes of “critique, creation, and meaningful collaboration” in a time of war.
By engaging with the lived experiences of others, all of this work foregrounds the “crises of our time.” It centers “the value of human dignity” and prepares students for hard work and “citizenship in the deepest sense." This is the courageous learning necessary to move from the neutrality of the bystander to the responsibility of the citizen. I invite you to see these updates as evidence of a College that chooses the brave work of making a better world.
| |
Sincerely,
Jane Kuenz
Dean, College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences
| |
- Remembering Lenard Shedletsky
- Looking Ahead with CAHS
- CAHS Connects: Community Events
- Global and Experiential Learning
- Student Spotlight
- Faculty Retirement
- Tenure and Promotion
- Contact Us
| | | Remembering Leonard Shedletsky | | CAHS lost a beloved faculty member, Leonard Shedletsky (Communication), this semester. Teaching and research were not just his career – they were his passion, his hobby, and his life’s work. A member of the Department of Communications for more than four decades and promoted to full professor in 1991, Professor Shedletsky published over 30 journal articles and six books, including his final book, Rationalist Bias in Communication Theory (2021). Leonard’s obituary honors his life and the joy he shared with others. | | |
New Visual Arts Building
The spring semester kicked off with a ceremonial groundbreaking for the new Visual Arts Building, the first major academic building constructed on the Gorham campus in nearly two decades. Scheduled to open in Fall 2027, the facility will unify most visual arts programs under one roof, supporting art majors and non-majors alike while fostering public engagement with southern Maine’s extensive arts organizations.
| |
Polymath Pathways
This Fall, CAHS will launch Polymath Pathways, five multidisciplinary undergraduate programs that allow students to earn two full majors in the usual four-year window. Each pathway pairs a traditional liberal arts major with a pre-professional or science program to maximize career options and versatility. The Pathways match Philosophy & Finance; History and Geography/GIS-Anthropology (GIS); Philosophy & Biology; English and Marketing; and Art and Psychology. Browse our polymath programs here.
| |
Public Humanities Lab
Associate Deans Ashley Towle and Kelly Hrenko secured MEIF funding to transform the fifth floor of Glickman Library into a Public Humanities Lab. This cross-disciplinary lab will connect students and faculty with Maine's cultural and technology partners for research and teaching that will amplify USM’s public-facing research while honing students’ career-readiness skills.
| | CAHS Connects: Community Events | |
Blue Humanities Event
The University of Southern Maine and the University of Maine hosted the second annual Blue Humanities Forum, a regional gathering of scholars, artists, scientists, and students exploring the intersections of the arts, humanities, and the marine sciences. Anchored by a keynote lecture from Professor Steve Mentz from St. John’s University, the forum highlighted Maine’s leadership in this emerging area. Participants engaged in cross-disciplinary and institutional panels and interactive breakout sessions, about ocean-centered research and curriculum.
|
O'Brien Poetry Event
Established by an endowment from Katharine O’Brien, this signature event hosted by the Department of English and the Stonecoast MFA featured Ilya Kaminsky, a National Book Award finalist for his 2019 Deaf Republic Director of the Creative Writing Program at Princeton University. Kaminsky engaged students and the public in an open discussion before reading his work to a full house in the McGoldrick Center.
|
Center for Compassion
The Bertha Crosley Ball Center for Compassion hosted a day-long workshop led by Buddhist scholar Brooke Lavelle and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Paloma Schultz. Organized by Vishali Mamgain (Economics), the event combined embodied activities, group reflections, and martial practices designed to help participants deepen their understanding of the “spiritual warrior” archetypes of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and their own meditative practices.
| | Global and Experiential Learning | | Interested in earning credit with a Travel Course? Contact this office or the professors below for more information about these upcoming opportunities: | | Puerto Rico Winter 2026: Drs. Michelle Vázquez Jacobus and Jono Anzalone (Social and Behavioral Studies) led students through Puerto Rico’s cities and coastal ecosystems to study the intersection of environmental justice and tourism in fragile marine environments. They engaged with faculty at Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, and activists at Grita PR, whose street murals tell stories of Puerto Rican resistance. A highlight was the Three Kings Day Festival in Juana Díaz, a celebration of community faith and tradition. | | | Journey Through the Civil War and Reconstruction 2026: Drs. Ashley Towle (History and Women & Gender Studies) and Adam Schmitt (History), stepped beyond the classroom and into the places where the nation’s most transformative conflict unfolded: the Lincoln Monument, Arlington Cemetery, and Civil War battle sites at Harpers Ferry, Antietam, and Gettysburg. They explored the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the American Civil War Museum, engaging in history firsthand and learning how Civil War memory continues to be contested and reinterpreted. | | | Coming Summer 2026: Travel to South Africa with Dr. Tara Grey Coste (Leadership and Organizational Studies) to continue the work of The Montague Project. This multi-decade global leadership lab in South Africa offers students a rare opportunity to study organizations in an international arena | | |
Jared Lemon (Theatre) earned Best Performer in a Play (Non-Professional) for his role in Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors. These annual, audience-voted awards celebrate excellence across Maine’s theater scene, and this recognition highlights the hands-on training and performance opportunities offered through USM’s Department of Theatre and Osher School of Music.
Students Leo Djonouma (Political Science) and Bernadette LaForte (Political Science) will present papers from their French Politics class at the 32nd International Conference of Europeanists’Undergraduate Symposium.
| |
The senior editorial staff of Island Ink, led by Amy Amoroso (English) joined writers, teachers, editors, and publishers for four days of events and exhibitions at the Associated Writing Programs Conference in Baltimore. Congratulations to Grace McLellan (Geography-Anthropology), Aidan Foss (History), Marin McPhee (Psychology), and Hailey Gagnon (English).
| | Faculty Retirement: Honoring Years of Service | | Mary Anne Peabody (Social and Behavioral Sciences): A leader in play therapy and child-centered approaches to mental health, Professor Peabody published extensively and held significant leadership roles in national organizations, including serving as President of the National Association for Play Therapy. | | Dennis Gilbert (Communication and Media Studies): A member of the faculty since 1983, Professor Gilbert’s expertise included long-form journalism, fiction and creative nonfiction. He frequently taught through the Maine Touring Artists Program and on several occasions at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. For six years, he was the director of the Bates College Summer Creative Writing Program. | | |
Mark Silber (Social and Behavioral Sciences): A dedicated teacher and scholar, Professor Silber is known for his interdisciplinary work, including his book The Complete Book of Everlastings, which reflects his interdisciplinary interests in writing and design.
| | CAHS Dean's Office extends congratulations to the following faculty members on their promotions at USM: Dr. Elizabeth Goyunova has been promoted to Full Professor, and Drs. Joe Lasley (Leadership and Organizational Studies), Ragini Saira Malhotra (Sociology and Criminology) and I. Dami Alegbeleye (Leadership and Organizational Studies) have been tenured and promoted to Associate Professor. We deeply appreciate your dedication to the college and wish you continued success in your new roles. | | |
Support the CAHS Fund
Scan the QR code to go to the donation page or click below!
| | | | | |
