I attended an “ivory tower” university in Athens, Ohio, and earned a degree in sociology in 1971 (“Off Campus: USM will survive and prosper by becoming a ‘metropolitan’ university,” Sept. 8). I was involved in the community in many ways, including as a tutor in an elementary school.

Soon after, I moved back to Maine and I wanted to go to graduate school, but found that there was no program in American studies in Maine that I could afford in terms of both time and money.

But in 1988, the University of Southern Maine created its own program in American and New England Studies.

In 2003, I was accepted into the program. I worked as a retail salesclerk while commuting from my home in Norway. Taking one course at a time, including an internship at Maine Preservation in Portland, I received my master of arts degree in 2008.

Since then, I have led the group that formed the nonprofit Norway Landmarks Preservation Society, which moved Norway’s 1850 “Gingerbread House” and saved it from demolition. I was elected to Oxford County government, where I serve as register of deeds (Eastern District). Most of my classmates are similarly engaged in communities all over Maine.

I wish to thank the professors of the American and New England Studies program who were already helping students find a way to combine “the career-oriented professions with the liberal arts.”

I cannot believe that this lively program, linking the rich cultural life of all of Maine’s cities and towns, will be abandoned in favor of the silo of Greater Portland. Talk about an ivory tower.


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