The four out-of-state academics will visit the campus in early December.
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.
For charter school fans in Maine, a couple of new options
A performing arts high school in Sidney and an elementary school in Lewiston-Auburn are tentatively approved for the fall of 2016.
University of Maine System had $18 million operating loss in last fiscal year
Officials blame rocky financial markets and severance costs after staffing cuts; trustees approve a conceptual plan for a center for online learning.
Bowdoin says new rules, awareness led to increase in rape reports in 2014
School officials say the figures can be misleading because not all of the 17 reported rapes occurred last year.
Bowdoin campus on edge after report of rape in college-owned apartment
The student didn’t know her attacker, says the college, which reported 17 rapes in 2014, some of them from prior years.
UMaine in Orono expects $7.2 million budget gap for next fiscal year
The gap is about the same as in the current $242 million budget, which officials handled without cutting staffing or programs.
New president aims to rebuild, stabilize, ‘heal’ USM
Despite a projected $6 million budget gap, no staff or program cuts are expected for at least a year.
University of Southern Maine seeks approval to open international high school
The two-year high school would be open to students from abroad who would pay tuition and be housed on USM’s Gorham campus.
Poland man surrenders after barricading himself in house following domestic incident
Police spent hours outside the home of Michael Winslow Sr., 65, who now faces a variety of domestic violence charges.
Thompson, Vendil and Seeliger win Portland school board seats
Sarah Thompson beats Paul Okot, Jenna Vendil edges Josephine Okot and Seeliger runs unopposed.