FARMINGTON — The University of Maine at Farmington will host a celebration of the 30th anniversary of the UMF Honors Program. This milestone brings together current Honors Program students, accomplished alumni and engaged faculty to commemorate the significant contributions the program has made and continues to make in the lives of UMF students and graduates.

The festivities will begin with a free and open to the public keynote speech by Robert Pinsky — distinguished author, translator, teacher and former United States Poet Laureate — at 11:45 a.m. Friday, April 15, in Lincoln Auditorium in the Roberts Learning Center. A reception and banquet will be held later that day.

The UMF Honors Program is a supportive community of highly-motivated students, faculty and staff brought together by a common interest in challenging and enriching the undergraduate student’s intellectual and experiential learning. It is open and welcoming to high-achieving students throughout the university who have shown exceptional creativity, resourcefulness and a passion for knowledge.

Since the first Honors Scholars graduated in 1986, the UMF Honors Program has grown from a fledgling endeavor first begun in 1981 to a far-reaching program with extensive academic and real-world experience opportunities. In addition to enhanced course work, students can participate in a wide range of experiences, from informal gatherings and field trips to short-term group excursions and travel courses, professional seminars and opportunities to present at regional and national conferences.

“Students in one of our Honors courses recently returned from Dublin, Ireland,” said Eric Brown, UMF professor of English and director of the Honors Program. “What better way to get the flavor of James Joyce and understand his writings than to actually walk in his characters’ footsteps.”

Honors students receive various levels of recognition, with Honors Scholars — UMF’s highest academic distinction — completing at least 20 credits in Honors while also writing and defending an Honors Thesis in a broad range of subjects. UMF’s Honors Program numbers nearly 200 students from across academic disciplines.

Pinsky is an American poet, essayist, literary critic and translator. Recognized as one of America’s foremost poet-critics, he was named as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, or U.S. Poet Laureate, in 1997. He served three one-year terms until 2000. During that time, he founded the Favorite Poem Project, a program dedicated to celebrating, documenting and encouraging poetry’s role in Americans’ lives.

His books of poetry include “Selected Poems” (2011),”Gulf Music” (2008), “Jersey Rain” (2000) and “The Want Bone” (1990), among others. His best-selling translation “The Inferno of Dante” (1994) was a Book-of-the-Month-Club Editor’s Choice and received both the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Harold Morton Landon Translation Award. His prose books include “The Life of David” (2005).

Among his awards and honors are the William Carlos Williams Prize, the Harold Washington Award from the city of Chicago, the Italian Premio Capri, the PEN-Volcker Award and the Korean Manhae Prize. He recently received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the PEN American Center.