The original name of school was the Washington State Normal School. It was later renamed to the University of Maine at Machias. The prior name is still evident in several locations on campus most prominently on Powers Hall. In April 2016, the university announced that it would enter into a partnership with the much larger University of Maine in Orono. The agreement included the sharing of administrators between the universities.
The University of Maine at Machias is part of the University of Maine System. The university was founded in 1909. The campus occupies in rural downeast coastal Maine on the Machias River.
Student life
Activities
All student organizations are run independently through an elected process with oversight by a Student Senate. Students are responsible for meetings, financial organization, and group meetings and outings. Additionally, there are a great deal of unofficial activities on campus, ranging from hallway sports to movie nights in the lounge. UMM offers a wide variety of activities for all manner of students.
There are seven Greek organizations on campus, four fraternities and three sororities. Some organizations are nationally affiliated, while others are local and exist solely at the University of Maine at Machias. All groups are run independently and jointly form Greek Council, which oversees Greek life as a whole. The recognized Greek fraternities on campus are Psi Delta, Kappa Mu Alpha, Sigma Chi Lambda, and Omicron Delta Pi. The sororities located on campus are Epsilon Sigma Alpha, Kappa Alpha Kappa, and Phi Tau Phi.
The University of Maine at Machias is the home of Sunrise Senior College, which is one of 16 enrichment experience institutions in Maine for people 50 and over and their partners of any age. Founded in 2002 as part of the Maine Senior College Network, Sunrise Senior College offers most of its classes on the UMM campus. SSC has fall and spring semesters, but they only generally follow UMM's semesters—all of the SSC courses are shorter. The courses are not for credit, are taught by volunteers with expertise in their areas, and no one needs to be a college graduate to attend. For more information about Sunrise Senior College, visit its official website
Maine Blackfly Breeders Association Annual Convention
The University of Maine at Machias has for many years been host to the annual Maine Blackfly Breeders Association convention in March. Convention-goers are asked to bring limericks, jokes, stories and songs for annual contests. Exhibits, art, crafts and other items also are sought. Special guests in March 2009 were members of the UMM Ukulele Club. Bloody Merry, an 8-foot-long black fly who made her debut at the 2007 convention, was in attendance, gently flapping her wings and posing for admirers. Breeders also heard the latest buzz on the association’s attempts at establishing a blackfly farm in Washington County, first discussed at last year’s event.
