FARMINGTON — The 20-year anniversary of the University of Maine at Farmington-Beijing University of Technology Exchange Program was recently celebrated on the UMF campus. Chinese dignitaries and exchange students joined UMF administrators, faculty and staff; Jim Breece, University of Maine System vice chancellor; local legislators; educators and community leaders as they honored the importance of the enduring joint venture.

In recognition of the program’s 20 years of international education and cultural exchange, the event featured the awarding of a Governor’s Proclamation and a Maine state flag to Hou Yibin, professor, vice president and dean of the College of Software Engineering at BJUT, and members of the Chinese delegation by Maine legislators Rep. Tom Saviello and Rep. Lance Harvell, with Sen. Walter Gooley in attendance.

In addition, UMF awarded a commemorative plaque to the delegation and received a photo album documenting the program’s history from Zunan Cai, retired director of the International Exchange Program at Beijing University of Technology and the first visiting professor from Beijing to teach at Farmington.

“It’s an honor to celebrate 20 years of close collaboration with our friends from Beijing,” said Theodora J. Kalikow, University of Maine at Farmington president. “This program has enriched us all with new knowledge, new friendships and a vision of how we can all work together towards a common goal.”

Begun in 1989, through the efforts of Zunan Cai, then vice-director of the International Exchange Program, and Gari Muller, UMF professor of French and then chair of the University of Maine System’s International Studies Council, the program originated to provide regular, inexpensive Chinese language instruction. As its partnership with BJUT evolves in significance and scope, UMF continues to be the only university in the University of Maine system that offers Mandarin for academic credit.

Today’s exchange program continues to offer faculty and students from both the Maine and Beijing campuses opportunities to learn critical world language skills and have enriching cultural experiences that help foster collaborative relationships. Each academic year, faculty and students travel halfway across the world to both teach and learn. Faculty members become a part of their adopted communities and work with schools and local organizations, and students learn new skills that will help shape their futures.

During the program’s 20-year tenure, 11 UMF faculty members and close to 40 UMF students have worked and studied in Beijing, while 20 Chinese faculty members and more than 30 Chinese student scholars have taught and learned at UMF.

In 1989, a major Chinese painting exhibit of 130 scrolls representing a cross-section of contemporary Chinese traditional painting was displayed at UMF with mini exhibits throughout the state. In 2005, Marilyn Shea, UMF professor of psychology, and Ming-Ming Pu, UMF professor of linguistics, took nine local middle and high school teachers on a month-long Fulbright-Hayes study abroad project that made a tremendous impact on Chinese studies in the Western Maine school districts of Jay and Dixfield.

In the future, UMF aspires to build on its partnerships with its friends from China, UMS colleagues, the Maine state government, kindergarten through grade 12 public education and Maine organizations and businesses to increase its role as a center to promote the study of Mandarin and Chinese culture. Preliminary conversations are currently underway regarding the vision of establishing a Confucius Institute, a public institution aimed at promoting Chinese language and culture, at UMF that will serve all of Maine and potentially parts of Northern New England. The institute will help prepare the educational and business communities to develop closer ties with China.

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