COA Honored with Regional Excellence Award

New England Board of Higher Education honors COA with Higher Education Excellence Award
March 5, 2010 - Boston, Massachusetts

The New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) announced today that the College of the Atlantic and Henry Bourgeois, executive director of the Maine Compact for Higher Education, will be honored at NEBHE's 2010 New England Higher Education Excellence Awards.

Each year, NEBHE presents Regional Excellence Awards to individuals and organizations that have shown exceptional leadership on behalf of higher education and the advancement of educational opportunity. The organization also presents State Merit Awards to honor the innovative work of organizations, institutions or individuals in each New England state.

College of the Atlantic, located in Bar Harbor, will receive The Robert J. McKenna award for program achievement, named for the former Rhode Island state senator and Newport, R.I. mayor. The college enriches the liberal arts tradition through a distinctive educational philosophy focused on human ecology. A human ecological perspective integrates knowledge  from all academic disciplines and from personal experience to investigate and ultimately improve the relationships between human beings and our social and natural communities.

The human ecological perspective guides all aspects of education, research, activism and interactions among the college's students, faculty, staff and trustees. 

College of the Atlantic is renowned for its innovative, interdisciplinary approach to higher education. Graduates go on to work in environmental studies, marine science, public policy, education and the arts�among many other fields. It is also one of only a small number of U.S. colleges dedicated to teaching natural history and the study of nature in its ecological and evolutionary context, with significant outdoor, hands-on instruction.

Bourgeois, co-founder and executive director of the Maine Compact for Higher Education, will receive the Maine State Merit Award. The compact is an independent, nonprofit corporation that was created in 2003 by the Maine Development Foundation and the Maine Community  Foundation. Comprising business, government, education and community leaders, the compact advances a vision that college is a "right and responsibility" of all Maine people. The compact is advancing five strategies to achieve its goal that Maine people will be the best-educated in  America.

Bourgeois also serves as president of the Alfond Scholarship Foundation, administered by the compact, which provides every child born in Maine with a $500 gift to establish a Section 529 college savings account.

NEBHE President and CEO, Michael K. Thomas commented, "College of the Atlantic practices what it preaches by being a national leader in implementing sustainability across the campus and the curriculum. Henry Bourgeois has served the state of Maine for  more than two decades and taken the lead in developing innovative programs that link investments in education and workforce development with Maine's long-term economic growth. NEBHE is proud to honor both of these winners."

The New England Higher Education Excellence Awards dinner will take place on Friday, March 5, at the Boston Marriott Long Wharf hotel.

NEBHE is a congressionally authorized, six-state agency whose mission is to promote greater educational opportunities and services for residents of New England. NEBHE programs are principally focused on the relationship between New England higher education and regional economic development. Additional information about NEBHE's New England Higher Education Excellence Awards is available online at www.nebhe.org.

COA student Brooke Welty with faculty member Doreen Stabinsky.