4.3.24
Shelby Hartin
shelby.hartin@maine.edu
Packaging Corporation of America (PCA) has donated $1.6 million to the University of Maine to establish the UMaine Sustainable Packaging Initiative.
The UMaine Sustainable Packaging Initiative is a research-based public and private consortium that focuses on using forest-based materials to accelerate the transition to renewable and recyclable packaging made from forest fiber.
“As a UMaine graduate, I am happy to be part of PCA’s involvement in the UMaine Process Development Center. This investment will enable the PDC to expand research and development activities and industry support to include packaging grades. Sustainable packaging represents a huge potential for the paper industry; it is exciting to be a part of this change both as a PCA employee and a UMaine advocate,” said Barbara Hamilton, senior director of process control technology at PCA.
PCA’s donation will support the university’s Process Development Center (PDC). The PDC is a unique, open-access research facility that offers research and development technical services and resources in traditional pulp and paper, as well as emerging process technologies and material science. Funds will provide infrastructure improvements and new equipment to foster growth in becoming the leading R&D/pilot production lab for renewable packaging in the U.S.
“This gift is transformative for the PDC,” said center Director Colleen Walker. “Not only will the PDC be better able to serve company and university researchers developing and commercializing new forest-based solutions for packaging, but we are engaging our Black Bear students in this process to provide hands-on research learning experiences.”
PCA’s donation will also help leverage the $75 million matching challenge grant from the Harold Alfond Foundation to support the Maine College of Engineering and Computing, a signature initiative of UMS TRANSFORMS. The initiative is focused on attracting thousands of new engineering and computing students to the state and expanding educational opportunities in emerging fields such as artificial intelligence, renewable energy and advanced materials. The Maine College of Engineering and Computing is a statewide, integrated solution to providing the technical workforce and innovations critical to moving Maine’s economy forward and improving R&D for state-based industry.
“We are grateful to PCA for this generous gift that will allow the continued support of research and innovation at the University of Maine,” said UMaine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy. “This gift will position us as a world leader in sustainable packaging, as well as offer research learning opportunities to current and future students.”
PCA is a long-time supporter of UMaine through the UMaine Pulp and Paper Foundation. The foundation supports aspiring engineers who are interested in pursuing careers in the paper industry.
“The UMaine Pulp and Paper Foundation’s students have long benefitted from the extraordinary vision of PCA and its CEO and Chairman, Mark Kowlzan,” said UMPPF President Carrie Enos. “We are proud to connect PCA with our partners at the PDC as the University of Maine continues to build its reputation as a leader in cutting-edge uses for forest fiber.”
PCA’s donation is just one of several investments recognizing the leadership of the state and UMaine in the national forest sector. In October, Maine was designated a Forest Bioproducts Advanced Manufacturing Tech Hub by the Biden-Harris Administration through the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration. In March, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and U.S. Sen. Angus King announced they had secured $10 million in one-time Congressionally Directed Spending to build and equip the Forest Biomaterials Innovation Center, an extension of the existing UMaine Process Development Center, to enable researchers and entrepreneurs to develop new forest-based products utilizing wood and wood residuals. These investments represent many of the recommendations from FOR/Maine to create jobs and economic opportunities for Maine’s forest economy and rural communities.
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The University of Maine is a public land-grant research university in Orono, Maine. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the flagship university of the University of Maine System. The University of Maine is one of only a few land, sea and space grant institutions in the nation. It is classified among “R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity”.
With an enrollment of approximately 11,500 students, The University of Maine is the state’s largest college or university. The University of Maine’s athletic teams, nicknamed the Black Bears, are Maine’s only Division I athletics program. Maine’s men’s ice hockey team has won two national championships.
The University of Maine was founded in 1862 as a function of the Morrill Act, signed by President Abraham Lincoln. Established in 1865 as the Maine State College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts, the college opened on September 21, 1868 and changed its name to the University of Maine in 1897.
By 1871, curricula had been organized in Agriculture, Engineering, and electives. The Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station was founded as a division of the university in 1887. Gradually the university developed the Colleges of Life Sciences and Agriculture (later to include the School of Forest Resources and the School of Human Development), Engineering and Science, and Arts and Sciences. In 1912 the Maine Cooperative Extension, which offers field educational programs for both adults and youths, was initiated. The School of Education was established in 1930 and received college status in 1958. The School of Business Administration was formed in 1958 and was granted college status in 1965. Women have been admitted into all curricula since 1872. The first master’s degree was conferred in 1881; the first doctor’s degree in 1960. Since 1923 there has been a separate graduate school.
Near the end of the 19th century, the university expanded its curriculum to place greater emphasis on liberal arts. As a result of this shift, faculty hired during the early 20th century included Caroline Colvin, chair of the history department and the nation’s first woman to head a major university department.
In 1906, The Senior Skull Honor Society was founded to “publicly recognize, formally reward, and continually promote outstanding leadership and scholarship, and exemplary citizenship within the University of Maine community.”
On April 16, 1925, 80 women met in Balentine Hall — faculty, alumnae, and undergraduate representatives — to plan a pledging of members to an inaugural honorary organization. This organization was called “The All Maine Women” because only those women closely connected with the University of Maine were elected as members. On April 22, 1925, the new members were inducted into the honor society.
When the University of Maine System was incorporated, in 1968, the school was renamed by the legislature over the objections of the faculty to the University of Maine at Orono. This was changed back to the University of Maine in 1986.