Students from abroad would live on the Gorham campus and take existing USM courses at a cost of $36,000 per student.
Noel K. Gallagher
Noel Gallagher covers K-12 and higher education issues statewide. Her stories are a mix of breaking news and trend stories. In recent years, they’ve ranged from why college costs so much, the launch of the state’s first charter schools, how a school welcomed a transgender student and why Maine schools have a hard time finding teachers. She’s enough of a news nerd to enjoy sitting through legislative education committee meetings and hours-long school board meetings so you don’t have to.
The Maine Press Association has honored Noel’s work, but she says she writes for the readers, in the firm belief that an informed citizenry is key to a healthy democracy.
Noel is a California native who has worked at wire services, online websites and newspapers across the country. She was in Washington D.C. during the early Clinton years, covering AIDS activism in 1990s San Francisco, documenting the business of wine in Sonoma County and riding out the boom and bust cycle of the early Internet era in early 2000s Silicon Valley. She arrived in Maine at the beginning of the recession and wrote quite a bit about the downturn here.
In her free time, Noel writes the occasional cookbook review, spends an inordinate amount of time at the Portland Public Library and hangs out with her three fabulous kids and wonderful husband. She is not a former member of the band Oasis.
As UMaine System plans new graduate center, location a hot topic
Some want it on USM’s campus in Portland while others suggest downtown, but the leader of the effort, Eliot Cutler, says the ‘what’ must come before the ‘where.’
UMaine Fort Kent names new president
John Short, dean of the University of Wisconsin Fond du Lac, will take office April 1.
Maine legislators hear conflicting views on Common Core tests
The Education Committee weighs testimony on bills that would drop the five-year-old math and English standards and delay statewide testing for a year.
Public hearings to spotlight Maine’s Common Core math and English standards, testing
The public can comment Monday on proposed bills aimed at creating new standards and delaying assessment.
LePage attacks media for casting him in negative light
Supporters rally to his defense as the governor chastises the media for not helping in the war on drugs.
Good Will-Hinckley has three finalists for president
The search follows a political firestorm that started when the school’s board, under pressure from Gov. Paul LePage, withdrew its offer to hire House Speaker Mark Eves as president.
Maine’s new virtual charter school sees 25% enrollment drop since opening
The Maine Charter School Commission may explore ways to better inform students about what to expect, perhaps with a ‘tryout’ week.
New Mexico man charged with domestic assault in Newfield
His former girlfriend says he choked her and threatened to burn her alive in her parents’ barn.
Portland sets new mark for warmest December on record
The average temperature of 38 degrees is 9 degrees above normal and breaks the previous record of 34.8 degrees, set in December 2001.