FARMINGTON — The University of Maine at Farmington will hold a celebratory dedication of the newly renamed Loraine J. Spenciner Curriculum Materials Center at noon on Friday, May 6.

The presentation will take place in the Bjorn Lounge of the Theodora J. Kalikow Education Center, the building in which the Curriculum Materials Center is located. It will include the presentation of the first Loraine Spenciner scholarships. The event is free and open to the public.

Spenciner was an early developer of UMF’s distinctive Early Childhood Special Education Program. She was internationally recognized for her extensive work at the college level preparing pre-service educators to use assistive technology to enable all children to learn together. An expert in helping children with disabilities succeed in the regular classroom, she was inspired at how technology can level the educational playing field.

Her interest in the use of assistive technology in the classroom connected her to the Maine Department of Education’s Maine CITE Program that helps make assistive technologies available to Maine citizens who need them. It also helped connect her with grant funding that supported the development and continuation of the assistive technology collection currently housed in the Curriculum Materials Center.

This valuable resource center originated from Spenciner’s assistive technology contributions and a donation of more than 7,000 books contributed by Marcia Nash, former UMF education faculty member.

The Loraine Spenciner Scholarship Fund was established at UMF in 2015 through the lead generosity and intent of Spenciner, as well as through contributions from her family, former colleagues and friends, to advance solutions to the ever-present need for qualified early childhood special education and special education teachers in educational settings from birth through grade 12.

A dedicated instructor, scholar and adviser until her retirement in 2014, Spenciner passed away last October.

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