FARMINGTON – Special education faculty members from the University of Maine at Farmington and the University of Southern Maine will convene at 4 p.m. Friday, Sept. 17, in the North Dining Hall of Olsen Student Center at UMF.

They will talk with teachers from western Maine about a collaboration between the two University of Maine System campuses that brings graduate courses in special education to the Farmington campus.

The collaboration, which brings to UMF six of the courses required for the USM master’s degree in special education, was established last year to meet the needs of teachers in western Maine who find it difficult to travel to Portland to take courses while still working full-time in western Maine.

Faculty from both campuses look forward to their second successful year of collaboration and are eager to meet with those who are interested in learning more about the program. A schedule of the classes for the next year will be handed out at the meeting.

The classes offered at UMF are open to all teachers, regardless of whether teachers are interested in working toward a master’s degree.

Some teachers may plan to accumulate the credits toward Maine state certification in special education, and others may wish to learn more about working with the children with special needs in their regular classroom.

More information may be obtained by calling Valerie Soucie at 778-7502.