UMaine celebrates workforce achievements with state legislature

ORONO, Maine (WABI) - More than 80 Maine legislators took the bus to school Wednesday for a hands-on look at some of the newest innovations at the University of Maine.

The biennial bus tour across Eastern Maine began with a focus on UMaine’s workforce development, including the all-new Ferland Engineering Education and Design Center.

University officials spoke to the Maine jobs, products and partnerships that have been created, particularly across the engineering and the forest products industry.

Officials say the hands-on work of UMaine students is shaping the future of the state’s economy.

”We want to be sure that our legislative colleagues know that the resources here at the University of Maine and across the University of Maine System are really serving the state, and I’m so pleased that we have partners here,” University President Joan Ferrini-Mundy said. “Students are heavily involved in all of this work, in everything that the legislators are seeing. We engage undergraduates and graduate students who can then become the workforce of tomorrow.”

The group will visit UMaine Machias Thursday including its marine field station, the Downeast Institute.

Copyright 2023 WABI. All rights reserved.