FARMINGTON — Approximately 625 new students and faculty at the University of Maine at Farmington gathered Tuesday morning for convocation in Dearborn Gymnasium.

The students arrived four days early to settle in, Maya Kasper, associate director of student services, said before the assembly.

Classes begin for all students Wednesday.

Upperclassmen dressed in orange T-shirts directed the new students, of whom nearly 500 are freshmen and the rest transfers. They come from 13 states and Brazil.

Attending a public liberal arts college such as UMF is not political, Associate Provost Rob Lively told the students. It’s about living a life of fruition through gaining a sense of the good life, realizing the values you hold dear and deciding what kind of community you want to live in and contribute to, Lively said.

“We’re not here to tell you what to think. We’re here to teach you to think,” he said.

Students were challenged to do just that by Julia Daly, associate professor of geology, who spoke during the academic welcome Tuesday.

Holding a piece of cardboard with four letters spelling DOOM, Daly encouraged the students to start thinking about global warming. Some people automatically think doom at the mention of global warming but if that’s true, then “we might as well walk out now, game’s over,” she said as she drew a line through the word.

“We’re making such a big impact in such a short time. That’s why we should be concerned,” she said.

There may be some technical, geoengineering solutions, including putting a trillion umbrella shaped reflectors into the atmosphere to block the sun, a costly idea, or adding moisture to clouds to reflect the sun, she said.

It becomes a social and political issue that does involve them, she told the students. As educators, how do you talk to your students about adapting to a world that is different from what you grew up in? she asked.

She challenged the students to think and talk about it.

Provost Daniel P. Gunn told students he hoped in their four years they would throw themselves into their academic life and find something they love as Daly has.

Daly, who holds a doctoral degree, has worked with UMF teacher Tom Eastler to study the meanderings of the Sandy River and found ways to involve many students in the research, he said.

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