The University of Maine at Machias (UMaine Machias or UMM) is a

public college A public university or public college is a university or college that is in owned by the state or receives significant public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private university. Whether a national universit ...

Machias, Maine Machias is a town in and the county seat of Washington County in Down East Maine, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 2,060. It is home to the University of Maine at Machias and Machias Valley Airport, a small publi ...

. It is part of the

University of Maine System The University of Maine System (UMaine System or UMS) is a state university system in the U.S. state of Maine. It was created in 1968 by the Maine Legislature and consists of eight institutions, each with a distinct mission and regional character. ...

. The institution was founded in 1909 as a

normal school A normal school or normal college is an institution created to train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high school level, turni ...

for educating teachers, and offers studies in recreation, English, education, social sciences, and

physical science Physical science is a branch of natural science that studies non-living systems, in contrast to life science. It in turn has many branches, each referred to as a "physical science", together called the "physical sciences". Definition Phy ...

s, including a marine biology program. Enrollment is approximately 800 students.UMM Facts
University of Maine at Machias (UMM). Accessed 2018-01-10.

History

The original name of school was the Washington State Normal School. It was later renamed to the University of Maine at Machias. The prior name is still evident in several locations on campus most prominently on Powers Hall. In April 2016, the institution announced that it would enter into a partnership with the much larger

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine or UMO) 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. It is classifie ...

in Orono. The agreement included the sharing of administrators between the institutions.

Academics

The University of Maine at Machias offers 12 undergraduate majors.

Campus

The University of Maine at Machias is part of the

. The university was founded in 1909. The campus occupies in rural downeast coastal

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...

on the Machias River.

Student life

Activities

All student organizations are run independently through an elected process with oversight by a Student Senate. Students are responsible for meetings, financial organization, and group meetings and outings. Additionally, there are a great deal of unofficial activities on campus, ranging from hallway sports to movie nights in the lounge. UMM offers a wide variety of activities for all manner of students.

Greek organizations

There are seven Greek organizations on campus, four

fraternities A fraternity (from Latin ''frater'': "brother"; whence, " brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club or fraternal order traditionally of men associated together for various religious or secular aims. Fraternity ...

and three

sororities Fraternities and sororities are social organizations at colleges and universities in North America. Generally, membership in a fraternity or sorority is obtained as an undergraduate student, but continues thereafter for life. Some accept gradua ...

. Some organizations are nationally affiliated, while others are local and exist solely at the University of Maine at Machias. All groups are run independently and jointly form Greek Council, which oversees Greek life as a whole. The recognized Greek fraternities on campus are Psi Delta (a local chapter of the Alpha Delta), Kappa Mu Alpha, Sigma Chi Lambda, and Omicron Delta Pi (a co-ed fraternal organization). The sororities located on campus are Epsilon Sigma Alpha, Kappa Alpha Kappa, and Phi Tau Phi.

Sunrise Senior College

The University of Maine at Machias is the home of Sunrise Senior College, which is one of 16 enrichment experience institutions in Maine for people 50 and over and their partners of any age. Founded in 2002 as part of the Maine Senior College Network, Sunrise Senior College offers most of its classes on the UMM campus. SSC has fall and spring semesters, but they only generally follow UMM's semesters—all of the SSC courses are shorter. The courses are not for credit, are taught by volunteers with expertise in their areas, and no one needs to be a college (or even high school) graduate to attend.

Maine Blackfly Breeders Association Annual Convention

The University of Maine at Machias has for many years been host to the annual Maine Blackfly Breeders Association convention in March. Convention-goers are asked to bring limericks, jokes, stories and songs for annual contests. Exhibits, art, crafts and other items also are sought. Special guests in March 2009 were members of the UMM Ukulele Club. Bloody Merry, an 8-foot-long black fly who made her debut at the 2007 convention, was in attendance, gently flapping her wings and posing for admirers. Breeders also heard the latest buzz on the association’s attempts at establishing a blackfly farm in Washington County, first discussed at last year’s event. (The blackfly farm would harness the power of black flies to provide renewable energy.)

Athletics

Maine–Machias (UMM) athletic teams were the Clippers. The university was a member of the

United States Collegiate Athletic Association The United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) is a national organization for the intercollegiate athletic programs of 72 mostly small colleges, including community/ junior colleges, across the United States. The USCAA holds 15 natio ...

(USCAA), primarily competing in the

Yankee Small College Conference Yankee Small College Conference is a Division II conference in the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA). The conference consists of two-year and four-year schools from Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York State. The confere ...

(YSCC) from 2011–12 to 2019–20. The Clippers previously participated in the Sunrise Athletic Conference of the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its st ...

(NAIA) from 2002–03 to 2010–11. Maine–Machias (UMM) competed in five intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports included basketball and soccer; while women's sports included basketball, soccer and volleyball.

Suspension

On July 21st, 2020, Machias suspended all sports due to financial losses and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Clubs/intramurals

The university also offers several club and

intramural sports Intramural sports are recreational sports organized within a particular institution, usually an educational institution, or a set geographic region. The term, which is chiefly North American, derives from the Latin words ''intra muros'' meaning " ...

References

External links

Official website

Official athletics website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Machias Educational institutions established in 1909 Machias, Maine University of Maine System University of Maine at Machias Universities and colleges in Washington County, Maine USCAA member institutions 1909 establishments in Maine University of Maine Machias