Maine NEW Leadership

NEWLeadership Feat

Educate • Engage • Empower

Maine New Leadership Maine NEW Leadership is a six-day, non-partisan, residential, public leadership training program, provided at no cost to undergraduate college women from a variety of public and private, four- and two-year institutions throughout Maine. To be eligible, undergraduates must either be from Maine or attending college in Maine. Graduating college seniors are eligible to apply.

The 2013 session will be held May 30-June 4, 2013 at the University of Maine in Orono. The application form can be downloaded here. Applications must be postmarked or hand-delivered by March 21, 2013. Information on course credit is provided below.

Maine NEW Leadership Video. The video below shares the basic components of the Maine new leadership program and highlights the perspective of several graduates. Alumnae reveal that the experience was life-changing, drastically increasing their confidence, leadership skills, and initiative. All have become civic leaders in some way since their attendance at Maine new leadership. Please consider a donation to this important program, which is improving the lives of all Mainers through the ripple effect of our graduates civic leadership.

Maine New Leadership

Course Credit:

WST 498 Directed Study in Women’s Studies.
Students may earn academic credit through the University of Maine for participation in Maine NEW Leadership; additional research and writing will be required. Contact Professor Amy Fried, Department of Political Science, 5754 North Stevens Hall, Orono, ME 04469, 207-581-1797, amy.fried@umit.maine.edu

POS 498 Independent Study in Political Science.Students participating in Maine NEW Leadership can earn course credit through the Department of Political Science at the University of Maine. Students will need to conduct additional research and writing. Contact Professor Rob Glover, Department of Political Science, 5754 North Stevens Hall, Orono, ME 04469,207-581-1880. Email: robert.glover@umit.maine.edu

WST 399 – Topics in Women & Gender Studies.
0001-LEC (2613) Students may earn academic credit through the University of Southern Maine for participation in Maine NEW Leadership. Contact Professor Wendy Chapkis, Chair, Women & Gender Studies, University of Southern Maine, 94 Bedford Street, Portland, ME 04104, 207-780-4757. Email: chapkis@maine.edu.

In 2008, The Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center was selected to become the seventeenth member of a national network of Development Partners in the National Education for Women (NEW) LeadershipTM program, initiated in 1991 by the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) at Rutgers University. With its focus on helping to build leaders within Maine communities, University of Maine Cooperative Extension became a co-sponsor of NEW Leadership in 2008. UMaine Extension has supported UMaine’s land-grant public education role for over 90 years by conducting community-driven, research-based programs in every Maine county.

By participating in the program, a diverse group of college women from Maine will gain a greater awareness of their leadership potential, skills, and opportunities in civic life and public office. NEW Leadership will ensure that new generations of Maine leaders understand the importance of running for office, taking part in campaigns, and engaging in public policy development. With the skills they have learned and the networks they have developed, participants will be empowered and energized to emerge as political leaders. As one graduate of the CAWP NEW LeadershipTM program concluded,

“NEW Leadership has had a huge impact on my life. It changed my career goals and opened up new options and opportunities for me.”Further, whether they engage at the campus, local, or state level, students are then less likely to migrate out of state when they graduate. NEW LeadershipTM addresses the historic as well as contemporary under-representation of women in American politics. Maine NEW Leadership will provide women college students in Maine with the opportunity to learn about women’s voices, perspectives, and contributions in all political arenas, through the application of a broad, inclusive definition of politics and the engagement of speakers from a variety of political offices and organizations. By bringing NEW Leadership to Maine, we will continue a tradition of strong female political leadership while empowering a new generation of women capable of leading Maine politics.


Contacts

Hon. Mary Cathcart, Co-Director mary.cathcart@umit.maine.edu

Rebekah Smith, Esq., Co-Director rebekah.smith@umit.maine.edu

Eva McLaughlin, Program Coordinator eva.mclaughlin@umit.maine.edu; (207) 581-1646

NON-DISCRIMINATION NOTICE

The University of Maine does not discriminate on the grounds of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, including transgender status and gender expression, national origin, citizenship status, age, disability, genetic information or veteran’s status in employment, education, and all other programs and activities. The following person has been designated to handle inquires regarding nondiscrimination policies: Director, Office of Equal Opportunity, 101 North Stevens Hall, Orono, Maine 04469, 207.581.1226.