Dean and Campus Director
A message from Megan Walsh, Dean and Campus Director
November 24, 2025
Dear Members of the UMaine Machias Community:
If you have driven through Machias lately, you will see that our Season’s Greetings sign is up on college hill. That means that a chill is in the air, our campus winter events will be here soon, and our students are beginning to think about their final exams. I’m delighted to report that this fall we are serving over 1,110 students, including those enrolled in UMaine Machias programs, high school students in Early College classes, and students in UMaine programs taking our online courses. Whether they live on campus or join us online, our students continue to impress me with their persistence, intellectual curiosity, and desire to build a better world.
This past summer and fall have been marked by enhancements to our academic offerings and to our campus. We welcomed the first cohort to our Downeast Nursing program, which is delivered in partnership with the University of Maine at Augusta (UMA). This program allows students to pursue a four-year bachelor of college studies and bachelor of nursing degree while living and working in Machias. Students take coursework on campus and online, will do advanced training at UMA’s simulation lab center in Ellsworth, and will do local clinical rotations at Down East Community Hospital and Calais Community Hospital.
Brenna Alley, a first-year Downeast Nursing program student from Jonesport, ME, described her reasons for choosing the program:
I love Downeast Maine. I love its people… I am convinced that there is no place better to learn how to deliver that care than right here at UMM, at the university that sits at the heart of my region.
In addition to building new options for local students, we are also attracting more students from out of state. Nearly half of our incoming first-year class this fall are out-of-state students. Most of them live in Dorward Hall, which is currently undergoing a renovation to the back deck. Once completed, the building will get more light and be better protected from the effects of Nor’easters. Students in Dorward also now have access to a state-of-the-art kitchen, which includes an automatic shut-off stove and ADA-accessible countertops. For students facing food insecurity, whether they live on campus or commute, we opened a food pantry in Torrey Hall, which was made possible by a gift from the University Credit Union.
This past summer and fall we held many outstanding activities and events. We again hosted Wildcat Weekend for over 100 high school volleyball players and held four weeks of summer camp for over 50 local children. Our student life staff have been scheduling regular movie nights for students and community members in the Performing Arts Center. Polar Express will be shown Dec. 5 (and I understand a student organization will be selling hot chocolate). The list of arts events, including shows in our galleries and live music, continues to grow. Earlier this month, we featured The Westerlies: Paradise, a free concert supported by the Collins Center for the Arts at UMaine in Orono. The Robinson Ballet will be back by popular demand with the Nutcracker on December 13.
Our students, as well as the 350+ community members who use the Reynolds and Murdock Fitness and Aquatics Center, now have access to an updated fitness center, including upgraded lighting and flooring and a newly installed single-use restroom. Anyone entering and leaving the building will also notice the remodeled conference room, which now bears the names of Richard and Elsie Larson, former faculty members, longtime Machias residents, and stalwart friends of our university. We are so grateful for their generosity, which has helped us make the improvements necessary to once again hold commencement in our basketball gym.
I want to close with the announcement of an exciting piece of recent news. I am thrilled to share that Sen. Susan Collins has secured $750,000 in federal dollars for UMaine Machias as part of an appropriations bill recently signed into law. Our university has never received a funding allocation of this kind. The money will be spent on upgrades to the Reynolds Center for a study center for high school students enrolled in college classes. I am excited to support our local learners through a dedicated space very soon.
As we close out the year, I want to thank you for your continued support of our remarkable university and to wish you a heartfelt season’s greetings.
Megan Walsh, Ph.D.
Dean and Campus Director
University of Maine at Machias
About Megan Walsh
Megan Walsh is Dean and Campus Director of the University of Maine at Machias. She joins the University of Maine and UMaine Machias communities from St. Bonaventure University.
Walsh was a member of the St. Bonaventure community for more than a decade. In addition to holding the rank of professor of English, she served in several administrative roles, including as director of St. Bonaventure’s Honors Program.
In 2021–22, Walsh was acting dean of the School of Arts and Sciences. She helped obtain external funding to support computer science and cybersecurity technology upgrades, as well as a new technological literacy learning module.
As chair of the Department of English, Walsh led multiple curricular revisions, including the development of a new Literary Publishing and Editing B.A. Program.
Walsh is the author of The Portrait and the Book: Illustration and Literary Culture in Early America (University of Iowa Press, 2017) and numerous articles and reviews. She earned a Ph.D. in English from Temple University.
To reach the Dean’s office, please call 207-255-1210.