The Greater Portland area has just about every
quality you can ask for in a place to live, but I’ve always thought
there’s one element that’s missing. In the most densely populated
region of the state, in Maine’s wonderful urban center, there is no
truly distinguished college or university. The flagship campus of the
University of Maine System should be in downtown Portland, or there
should at least be a strong college like Bowdon, Bates or Colby in the
area, but the best we have around here is half of USM–a school that has
some good programs, but is grossly underfunded and has failed to create
a strong academic community or fully take advantage of the area’s
resources.

    But for those who care about local higher education
there was some good news this week. The University of New England
announced they will locate their pharmacy college in Portland, where
they plan to build it into one of the nation’s leading pharmalogical
research institutions, and at Southern Maine Community College, a
committee established by the governor announced that Maine should
vastly improve its community college system–meaning SMCC will likely be
receiving additional funding to support its growth.

    It might not be the founding of a new Ivy League
school, but both of these developments are great news for everyone in
the area. When they are strong, colleges and universities offer
countless benefits for the surrounding communities. This month, for
example, SMCC is hosting a visiting professor from Nigeria–Dr Afis
Ayinde Odalosu. Not only is Dr. Odalosu greatly enhancing the the
breadth of SMCC student’s experience, but he is also visiting local
public schools to speak and traveling around the state to give
lectures. When the new UNE school opens, the state’s shortage of
pharmacist will be satiated and Maine’s push to attract medical
research will be given a boost.  The growth of both schools will
also serve as a general economic engine for the surrounding local
economies.

    Soon, SMCC will open a new residence hall, allowing
300 more students to live right on campus, in the heart of South
Portland. Maybe that will help SMCC attain what USM lacks–a centralized
academic community. SMCC will continue, ideally, to grow into a
bustling campus where increasingly bright students and distinguished
academics are drawn, attracted to the beauty of the campus and the
downtown-like-areas that will soon grow in Knightville and Willard
Square. Every time I walk onto the SMCC campus I’m amazed that I’m at a
community college. Most similar schools I’ve been to throughout the
country are consist of a bleak string of buildings in some unnoticed
corner of town, offering only the most basic of course options. SMMC
has the most the most beautiful location of any school in the state,
and offers marine biology courses, a new art program, and a range of
other unique classes and extracurricular activities. And best of all,
it’s got one of the nicest beaches in the region.

    The University of Maine is not going to give up
their status as the flagship university of the state system, and all
the money that comes with that designation, but if Maine is going to
plug the infamous brain drain and build a twenty-first century economy,
we have to figure out more ways to maximize the potential of our only
truly cosmopolitan area. If they keep growing and raising their
reputation and resources, SMCC, USM, UNE, and smaller programs like the
Maine College of Art and the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies may
just fill the academic void in the Greater Portland Region.