ORONO — The Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions at the University of Maine is set to host a talk on how the Island Institute collaborates with coastal communities to build resilience.

The talk is to be held from 3 to 4 p.m. Monday, Feb. 28.

All talks in the Mitchell Center’s Sustainability Talks series are free. They will be offered both remotely via Zoom and in person at 107 Norman Smith Hall on the UMaine campus.

The institute works alongside Maine’s island and coastal leaders to build community resilience and share solutions for addressing the coast’s most critical issues, according to a news release from the university.

In this talk, Suzanne MacDonald, chief community development officer with the institute, will provide examples of the innovation unlocked by the institute’s place-based, relationship-driven approach in a time of increasingly rapid change. She will also discuss the internal systems and structures that they have developed to ensure responsiveness to communities and their emergent needs.

MacDonald oversees strategy development for the institute’s interconnected economic, social and climate resilience programs. She has been a catalyst and leader with several national and global networks focused on island sustainability. She chairs the Efficiency Maine Trust Board of Directors, and serves on various groups of the Maine Climate Council as well as on the steering committee of the Climate Strong Islands Network.

Registration is required to attend via Zoom; to register and receive connection information, visit umaine.edu.

Face coverings are required for everyone when indoors at a University of Maine System facility. For the latest health and safety guidance, visit umaine.edu/return.

Updates for this event will be posted to the event webpage. To request reasonable accommodation, contact Ruth Hallsworth at 207-581-3196 or [email protected].