PORTLAND, Maine — The University of Southern Maine has received $1 million in gifts that will guarantee incoming USM honors students the chance to study briefly in Iceland as part of a new course being developed by the university.
The university announced the funding during a news conference Thursday, during a visit by Ari Kristinn Jonsson, the rector of Reykjavik University in Iceland’s capital city, and other delegates.
“This program will provide a significant opportunity for our students to broaden their horizons, to engage in the wider world and better equip them with the necessary knowledge and skills to play key roles in the expanding and strengthening of our economy here in Maine,” USM President Glenn Cummings said.
The study abroad trips will funded by a $450,000 endowment from the estate of alumna A. Carolla Haglund and a $482,000 grant from the Maine Economic Improvement Fund.
Honors students attending USM in the fall of 2016 will be eligible for a four-week course in the summer of 2017, including two weeks in Iceland. That course is still being developed, but it will focus on the humanities and be taught by Honors College faculty, according to USM spokeswoman Danielle Vayenas.
Haglund graduated in 1951 from Gorham State Teachers College, before it became the University of Southern Maine, and went on to serve as the dean of women at Framingham State College in Massachusetts. She died in 2007.
In October 2015, a delegation of 40 Maine education and government officials traveled to Iceland in hopes of building ties between the Pine Tree State and the nation of about 323,000 citizens.
This week, Iceland’s delegation returned the favor, visiting the Portland area and touring the International Marine Terminal, Bristol Seafoods and a Hannaford grocery store to trace the path of how a fish gets from the North Atlantic to a kitchen table.
The university said it’s working to develop more partnerships between Iceland and organizations throughout the state.
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