Community Member Supporting Favorite Program at UNE

After a distinguished career in academe, Carol Farley Kessler, Ph.D., retired as Professor Emerita of English, American Studies, and Women's Studies at Penn State Brandywine (located in suburban Philadelphia) and returned to Portland, where she had grown up. Having focused her research upon United States women, Dr. Kessler's interest in the Maine Women Writers Collection (MWWC) was inevitable. Housed in the Josephine S. Abplanalp '45 Library on the Portland Campus, the MWWC is a permanently endowed special collection of published and unpublished literary, cultural and social history sources by and about Maine women. Dr. Kessler has served on MWWC academic conference-planning committees as well as on its Advisory Board, and written background and biographical notes on several Maine writers who are represented in the collection. In 2011, she co-edited Charlotte Perkins Gilman: New Texts, New Contexts with Jennifer Tuttle, Ph.D., Dorothy M. Healy Professor of Literature and Health and faculty director of the MWWC. When Dr. Kessler wanted to make a significant gift for the MWWC, she worked with Joan Fischer, senior advancement officer to structure a bequest that will both meet her wishes and provide important support for the future programs of the Maine Women Writers Collection.

Individuals and businesses in our communities have been very generous in supporting our programs, making UNE both grateful and proud. Recent gifts include support for the Art Gallery, the Marine Science Center, the Deborah Morton Society, the George and Barbara Bush Distinguished Lecture Series, UNE Athletics, and scholarships for our students. Please call to talk about arranging a gift for a program you would like to support. We would be happy to help you.