Page 5 - The Bell Tower - Winter/Spring 2014

A NEW FACE ON CAMPUS
The University has named Dr. Robert M. Dixon of Atlanta, Georgia, as interim vice-president for academic affairs. Dr. Dixon’s appointment began in January.
Dr. Dixon has more than four decades of experience in management, research, and teach- ing. He has served as a professor, provost, vice president, dean, department chair, and profes- sor, and as a director of a private sector engi- neering firm.
His extensive administrative experiences in education and business have given Dr. Dixon insight into the major problems, and significant differences encountered in managing academic and business organizations. He has maintained an active interest and involvement in the field of teacher education through his consulting work with various public school systems in different parts of the country.
Dr. Dixon has engaged in research on nuclear reactions, and he has taught both undergradu- ate and graduate level physics courses in a num- ber of colleges and universities. His research
on nuclear reactions has primarily been in many-body scattering theory, and has centered on the use of connected kernel equations in the analysis of nuclear reactions. Dr. Dixon also is proficient in the field of applied mathematics.
Vice president Dixon received a doctoral degree in theoretical nuclear physics at the University of Maryland; a master’s degree in nuclear physics at Rutgers University in New Jersey; and earned a bachelor’s degree with physics and mathematics – with high honors – from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.
Updated Tuition Rates
UMFK will institute a new tuition rate for its current and future out-of-state and international students beginning with the fall 2014 semester. The new rate will provide the campus with a competitive edge in attracting and retaining students from beyond Maine’s borders.
Under the new pricing structure, out-of-state and international tuition will be reduced by 40 percent to $330 per credit hour. Currently, out-of-state and international students are charged $552 per credit hour. The in-state rate that Maine students pay will remain unchanged at $220 per credit hour.
Any increase in the out-of-state or international student populations will provide the campus with a new revenue source, above and beyond state subsidies.
The new out-of-state and international student tuition rate is modeled on the existing New England Board of Higher Education, or NEHBE, tuition rate offered to students from the Canadian provinces and used in reciprocity with other New England states.
The current out-of-state and international rate was established many years ago when in-state tuitions were subsidized through state appropriations at a rate of approxi- mately 60 percent. In today’s market, however, in-state tuitions are subsidized at a rate more closely approaching 35 percent. Historically, students from outside of Maine were charged higher tuition rates, so as not to provide them with a subsidy paid for by Maine taxpayers.
By continuing to charge out-of-state and international students the original rates established many years ago has put UMFK at a competitive disadvantage in attracting and retaining students from beyond Maine’s borders.
Exhaustive analysis of the financial impact of the reduced rate has shown that the campus must increase its enrollment of out-of-state and international students by approximately 20 students in order to break even. The campus firmly believes that the UMFK admissions office staff is up to the challenge of meeting – and exceeding – that goal.
Staff members and advisor have been meeting with the campus’ currently-
enrolled out-of-state and international students to review how the new tuition rate initia- tive will affect them.
The University offers a high-quality educational experience; a fact attested to by The Princeton Review, Colleges of Distinction, and U.S. News & World Report for much of the past decade. It is anticipated that the new out-of-state and international tuition rate will make UMFK much more attractive to the prospective out-of-state and international student populations.
UMFK has a long history of warmly embracing students from beyond the borders of Maine. Out-of-state and international students contribute to the diversity of the student body on many levels. We look forward to seeing their representation on campus increase in the coming years.
Josh Kurensky, Business Class of 2016
South Africa
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