FARMINGTON, ME (April 17, 2018) — The University of Maine at Farmington is proud to announce that Bill Green, award-winning broadcast journalist, feature reporter and host of the highly-acclaimed magazine program Bill Green’s Maine, will be the Commencement Speaker for the UMF Class of 2018. He will also receive an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters at this year’s ceremony, which will be held at 10:30 a.m., Saturday, May 12, on the UMF campus.
“Bill Green is a broadcasting legend in Maine,” said Kathryn A. Foster, UMF president. “He is a professional of the highest standards with a long history of excellence in his craft. His stories and insights about the Maine way of life, its places and people, are at once educational and endearing. We are so proud to have him address our 2018 graduating class.”
Bill Green, Keynote Speaker
A lifelong Mainer, Green was born in Bangor and was educated in Bangor schools and the University of Maine. While still in college, he began working behind the scenes in the news business, and three years later debuted as a sportscaster at WLBZ2. He went on to anchor weekend sports statewide with WCSH6 in Portland.
His interest in Maine and Mainers and his desire to understand and share the deeper story soon found him as a full-time feature reporter at the Portland station. In 2000, he started producing Bill Green’s Maine and has been covering all-things-Maine ever since. In 2015, he won a Regional Edward R. Murrow Award for feature writing and an Emmy for Outstanding Light Feature. The following year, Bill Green’s Maine won the Regional Emmy as Outstanding Magazine Program in New England.
Green is an inductee in the Maine Broadcasting Hall of Fame, the Maine Sports Hall of Fame and the Silver Circle of the New England Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
He is a registered Maine Guide and a senior warden at Trinity Episcopal Church of Portland. He and his wife live in Cumberland and have two grown children.
Bryce Neal, UMF Senior Speaker
Graduating senior Bryce Neal from New Gloucester will give the student address. A geology major, Neal was accepted last summer to do field research in Yellowstone with the National Science Foundation’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates program and investigated high elevation ponds in Maine as a UMF research assistant.
He also worked as an AmeriCorps volunteer with the Maine Conservation Corps, building and maintaining trails on Maine public lands and state parks; served with the University’s Rotaract organization and skied with UMF’s Nordic Ski Team. After graduation, Neal plans on doing geophysical fieldwork for the EarthScope project, an NSF funded project.
Foster and Eric Brown, provost and vice president for academic affairs, will confer degrees to this year’s graduates. James O. Donnelly, member of the UMS Board of Trustees, will deliver greetings to the graduates from the University of Maine System. University of Maine System Chancellor James H. Page will also be present.
Additional Event Details
The outdoor ceremony will be held behind the UMF Olsen Student Center and is free and open to the public. Guests of graduates are also welcome to watch the ceremony live in C131 in Roberts Learning Center.
In case of inclement weather, the ceremony will be held inside the UMF Fitness & Recreation Center. Admission to the indoor ceremony will be limited to those who have already received “Fitness and Recreation Center” tickets.
During the indoor ceremony, guests can watch the event live in C131 and C23 in Roberts Learning Center and in the classrooms and Bjorn Lobby in the UMF Theodora J. Kalikow Education Center.
The UMF Commencement ceremony will be webcast live at www.umf.maine.edu and broadcast live on Mount Blue TV community access Channel 11 at http://mtbluetv.org/, whether the ceremony is held indoors or outdoors.
DVDs of the ceremony will be available in early summer for a small fee from the UMF Ferro Alumni Center, which can be contacted at umfalumni@maine.edu.
EDITOR’S NOTE
Images can be found at:
https://www.umf.maine.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1/2018/04/RP178-062A.jpg
Photo Credit: Submitted photo
Photo Caption: Bill Green
https://www.umf.maine.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1/2018/04/RP178-062B.jpg
Photo Credit: UMF photo
Photo Caption: Bryce Neal, UMF senior speaker
