{"id":4489,"date":"2016-10-27T09:49:15","date_gmt":"2016-10-27T13:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/?p=4489"},"modified":"2025-08-16T18:02:57","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T22:02:57","slug":"truly-north-of-ordinary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/2016\/10\/27\/truly-north-of-ordinary\/","title":{"rendered":"Truly \u2018North of Ordinary\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"new-entry-sign-south-entrance-1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When a place with which you feel a strong connection receives praise it often invokes a feeling of pride. If UMPI students take a look at this year\u2019s ratings UMPI\u2019s place on the list should definitely invoke those feelings.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with the category of \u201cBest Regional College.\u201d This year UMPI was rated number 27 in the north, which includes all of New England. Dr. Ray Rice, provost and current interim president of UMPI, said that UMPI is up 19 places from 2014.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s against both private and public schools,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Next, UMPI was rated number 15 for public schools (colleges) in the north. Finally, and maybe the most exciting, UMPI was named number seven for the third year in a row for least debt for graduates. In fact, UMPI has not raised its tuition rates for six years, which has never been done by a university system in the country. Rice was very pleased with this year\u2019s results. And he is looking forward to the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d love our least debt to be number one,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sometimes we may feel that being in northern Maine we are tucked away from the rest of the world. Rice did comment on the fact that since we are located so far north UMPI is not very well known in outside sectors. But that is why this year\u2019s ratings are so encouraging.<\/p>\n

\u201cBest Regional Colleges was such a jump,\u201d Rice said.<\/p>\n

He also mentioned that these good ratings help to attract people to come to the campus.<\/p>\n

In addition, even though it was not on the list of ratings, UMPI was also named in the top 10 safest schools in Maine. This should be especially encouraging to those who are attending classes here as well as to those who are contemplating coming here. It shows that UMPI knows how to take care of its people.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a reflection of the hard work that the faculty and staff have been doing,\u201d Rice said.<\/p>\n

He looks forward to improving the campus. He said that ideas are always welcome. The faculty and staff here really do want to make students\u2019 experiences here the best that they can be.<\/p>\n

The fact that UMPI has so many students that are not local is also a testament to the reach of the school. Brandy Smith, a second-semester student from Liberty, Maine, spoke about her UMPI experience so far.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really like the small campus,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She said that she had originally planned to go to Fort Kent, but when she found out about UMPI, she decided to check it out. She was especially happy when she found out that UMPI had a program in Professional Journalism and Communication, her current concentration.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I need help, I can get in touch with the professor and get the help I need,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a pretty great school and I\u2019ve enjoyed my time here so far.\u201d<\/p>\n

So the next time you take a walk on campus or even just as you are walking from classroom to classroom, take a moment to appreciate your alma mater. You really do belong to a pretty great university.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When a place with which you feel a strong connection receives praise it often invokes a feeling of pride. If UMPI students take a look at this year\u2019s ratings UMPI\u2019s place on the list should definitely invoke those feelings. Let\u2019s start with the category of \u201cBest Regional College.\u201d This year UMPI was rated number 27 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":205,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7381],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/205"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4489"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8941,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4489\/revisions\/8941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}