Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center

This episode is an interview with Liam Riordan, Adelaide and Alan Bird Professor of History at the University of Maine, where he has been on the faculty since 1997. Riordan was the past director of the University of Maine McGillicuddy Humanities Center and is a past board member of the Maine Humanities Council. To celebrate […]

In preparation for election day on November 8, 2020, this episode presents William D. Adams—the tenth chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities—reading his essay “The Urgency of Democracy.” [00:00:00] Eric Miller: In preparation for election day today, we are hosting William D. Adams, the 10th chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. For a […]

In commemoration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day on October 10, 2022, this episode features Gail Dana-Sacco reading her article entitled “Indigenous Voices Charting a Course Beyond the Bicentennial: Eba gwedji jik-sow-dul-din-e wedji gizi nan-ul-dool-tehigw (Let’s try to listen to each other so that we can get to know each other)” from Maine Policy Review’s special issue commemorating Maine’s […]

In this second episode of Maine Policy Matters Season 2, Eric Miller interviews Amanda Rector, the Maine state economist since 2011. Rector describes what it was like to be the state economist during the pandemic, how things turned out compared to how she originally thought they would turn out, the effects from the federal response […]

What’s a state economist to do in the middle of an unprecedented global pandemic? When everyone is asking for answers, but they are hard to find? In this episode of Maine Policy Matters, Amanda Rector, the Maine state economist since 2011, shares her thoughts on the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic’s economic […]

President Donald Trump signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act into law on March 27, 2020. Contained within the bipartisan legislation was the establishment of direct cash payments for many Americans amounting to $1,200 with an additional $500 for each child. As Congress moves towards bipartisan agreement on a “phase 4” relief […]

In our first episode, instead of focusing on one particular aspect of Maine policy, we sat down with executive editor of Maine Policy Review, Dr. Linda Silka, to discuss its role as an invaluable resource for policymakers, business leaders, researchers, and educators. Since its inception in 1991, MPR has published over 800 articles and has well over 2,000 […]