University of Southern Maine: The Maine Humanities Council has presented the Constance H. Carlson Public Humanities Prize to professor Joseph A. Conforti. The prize was established in 1998 to honor Carlson, a founding member of the Maine Humanities Council and the first woman president of a University of Maine System campus. Conforti founded the American and New England Studies Program at USM in 1987, and served as its director for its first 10 years.