Higher learning     

    The greater Portland area has just about every quality you can ask for in a place to live, but I’ve always thought there’s one element that’s missing. In the most densely populated region of the state, in Maine’s wonderful urban center, there is no truly distinguished college or university. The flagship campus of the University of Maine System should be in downtown Portland or there should at least be a strong college like Bowdoin, Bates or Colby in the area, but the best we have around here is half of USM – a school that has some good programs, but is grossly underfunded and has failed to create a strong academic community or fully take advantage of the area’s resources.
    But for those who care about local higher education, there was some good news this week. The University of New England announced they will locate their pharmacy college in Portland, where they plan to build it into one of the nation’s leading pharmalogical research institutions and at Southern Maine Community College, a committee established by the governor announced that Maine should vastly improve its community college system – meaning SMCC will likely be receiving additional funding to support its growth.
    It might not be the founding of a new Ivy League school, but both of these developments are great news for everyone in the area. When they are strong, colleges and universities offer countless benefits for the surrounding communities. This month, for example, SMCC is hosting a visiting professor from Nigeria – Dr Afis Ayinde Odalosu. Not only is Dr. Odalosu greatly enhancing the breadth of SMCC student’s experience, but he is also visiting local public schools to speak and traveling around the state to give lectures. When the new UNE school opens, the state’s shortage of pharmacists will be satiated and Maine’s push to attract medical research will be given a boost. The growth of both schools will also serve as a general economic engine for the surrounding local economies.
    Soon, SMCC will open a new residence hall, allowing 300 more students to live right on campus in the heart of South Portland. Maybe that will help SMCC attain what USM lacks – a centralized academic community. SMCC will continue, ideally, to grow into a bustling campus where increasingly bright students and distinguished academics are drawn, attracted to the beauty of the campus and the downtown-like areas that will soon grow into Knightville and Willard Square. Every time I walk onto the SMCC campus I’m amazed that I’m on a community college campus. Most similar schools I’ve been to throughout the country are consist of a bleak string of buildings in some unnoticed corner of town, offering only the most basic of course options. SMMC has the most the most beautiful location of any school in the state and offers marine biology courses, a new art program and a range of other unique classes and extracurricular activities. And best of all, it’s got one of the nicest beaches in the region.
    The University of Maine is not going to give up their status as the flagship university of the state system, and all the money that comes with that designation, but if Maine is going to plug the infamous brain drain and build a twenty-first century economy, we have to figure out more ways to maximize the potential of our only truly cosmopolitan area. If they keep growing and raising their reputation and resources, SMCC, USM, UNE and smaller programs like the Maine College of Art and the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies may just fill the academic void in the greater Portland Region.