PHIPPSBURG — Rep. Kim Olsen, R-Phippsburg, served as a faculty in residence from June 1 to June 6 for Maine NEW Leadership, a six-day, nonpartisan public leadership education program provided at no cost to 28 college women from a variety of backgrounds, ages, races and majors throughout Maine.

“Sponsored by the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center at the University of Maine, the program helps participants learn skills and develop networks that empower them to become civic and public leaders,” a release from Olsen states.

Highlights of the week included a day at the State House in Augusta; a dinner and tour at the Margaret Chase Smith Library in Skowhegan; and a dinner at Penobscot Valley Country Club in Orono, with keynote speaker Lilly Ledbetter, whose fight for fair pay from Goodyear led to Congress enacting the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009.

The 28 participants in NEW Leadership this year included female students from University of Maine system campuses, Maine community colleges, Bowdoin College, Bates College, Colby College, Husson University, Thomas College, Carnegie-Mellon University and St. Lawrence University.

The NEW Leadership program originated at the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University in New Jersey. In 2009, the University of Maine’s Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center brought the program to Maine, and 106 students have graduated from the program in its first four years.

“What a great opportunity for these students to learn how to become more effective and involved leaders in their communities,” Olsen, who stayed in the residence hall and served as a mentor and role model for the students, said in the release “Being chosen as a mentor is a huge honor and I am thankful to have been a part of this very full and informative week.”