Page 41 - The Bell Tower - Fall 2014

Presidential Lecture Series
Noted scholar and former UMFK faculty member, Dr. Mark Richard presented at the UMFK’s annual Presidential Lecture Series in June. Dr. Richard discussed his book “Loyal but French: The Negotiation of Identity by French-Canadian Descendants in the United States.”
His topic of discussion was The Ku Klux Klan Confronts Maine’s French Speakers in the 1920s. Dr. Richard’s research brought to the light the lesser-known period of Maine’s history when the Ku Klux Klan threatened to become its major political power. His work challenges prevailing notions of “assimilation.”
Loyal but French portrays the French-Canadian history of Lewiston, from the 1880s through the 1990s, in this light. With a wealth of dates, the insights of a professional his- torian, and the sensitivity of a “local,” Richard offers a new conceptualization of ways that immigrants become Americans.
Dr. Richard received a Ph.D. in history at Duke University (Durham, North Carolina) in 2001 and a master’s degree from the University of Maine in 1994.
He currently is professor of History and Canadian Studies at State University of New York, College of Plattsburg (New York). Previously, Richard served as assistant professor of social studies of education and social sciences at UMFK.
Dr. Richard is working on a book-length manuscript, Not a Catholic Nation: The Ku Klux Klan Confronts New England Catholics in the 1920s, which is under review by a university press. Not Foreigners but Americans: A Case Study of French-Canadian Descendants
in Lewiston, Maine, will be published by Je Me Souviens, a publication of the American- French Genealogical Society.
In 1998, Richard received the Fulbright Research Grant to Canada from the U.S. Fulbright Program. He also received a research grant from the “Le Club français” in 2004.
Richard’s professional affiliations include the Association for Canadian Studies in the United States and American Council for Québec Studies, for which he also serves as secretary.
He has presented throughout the United States and Canada. In 2012, Dr. Richard spoke at a conference of the American Council for Québec Studies in Sarasota, Florida on The Ku Klux Klan in the Franco-American Sentinelle Crisis.
Launched in 2010, The UMFK Presidential Lecture Series provides a platform for intel- lectual discourse among campus and community participants and endeavors to meet part of UMFK’s Strategic Plan for Excellence. The series, which is aimed at fostering an environment of academic inquiry and excellence, brings to campus a variety of renowned scholars, speakers, authors, and poets who stimulate an ongoing dialogue about social issue. The series is supported through grants provided by the Libra Foundation.
ARYANA RETIRES AFTER 28 YEARS AT UMFK
Dr. Rameen Aryana began teaching full-time at UMFK in 1986 chemistry and physics. Dr. Aryana had a strong interest in students’ learning and understanding of difficult concepts, without decreasing the standards.
He was a professor who believed in student success in his classes and is often noted by his former students as a fair professor.
While a professor at UMFK, Aryana was a project director and co- author of a $100,000 grant awarded by the National Science Foundation. He was responsible for the organiza- tion of an environmental technology program. Dr. Aryana also established the St. John Valley Science Project through grants from the Maine State Department of Education. His success brought improvements and additional science equipment to both UMFK and to the St. John Valley, with the goal
to enrich the science curricula of the area’s public schools.
Throughout his tenor at UMFK, Dr. Aryana served as chair of the Natural and Behavioral Science Division,
the Advisory Board, and the Faculty Assembly. He also was an active mem- ber on the Blake Library Committee and the Honors Committee. In the community, he served as a member of the St. John River Project Steering Committee and established a state-of- the-art science resource center at Dr. Levesque School, which served teach- ers throughout the St. John Valley.
Dr. Aryana retired after 28 years of teaching at UMFK this past May. He now resides in the Midwest with his family.
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