Unity Environmental University
{{Short description|Private university in Maine, U.S.}}
{{for|other colleges named Unity|Unity College (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox university
| name = Unity Environmental University
| native_name =
| image = File:Unity Environmental University logo.webp
| image_size = 160px
| caption =
| latin_name =
| motto = America's Environmental University
| type = Private university
| established = {{start date and age|1965|09|07}}
| accreditation = NECHE
| affiliation =
| endowment = $18 million
| president = Melik Peter Khoury
| provost =
| faculty = 200
| students = 9,100
| undergrad =
| postgrad =
| doctoral =
| other =
| city = New Gloucester
| state = Maine
| country = U.S.
| campus = Rural, multiple sites
| campus_size =
| free_label =
| free =
| colors = Green and white
| athletics_affiliations =
| nickname =
| mascot =
| logo =
| website = {{URL|www.unity.edu}}
| footnotes =
| staff =
}}
Unity Environmental University (formerly Unity College) is a private university in New Gloucester, Maine, United States. It offers in-person and online associate, baccalaureate, and master's degree programs on sustainability and environmental science. Unity is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education and is classified among "M3: Master’s Colleges and Universities – Small programs".
Initially founded as a residential institute in Unity, Maine, the university expanded into online education in 2016 which grew both its enrollment and number of academic programs.{{Cite web |date=2020-01-10 |title=Unity College adds five new degree programs to Distance Education |url=http://unity.edu/unity-college-news/unity-college-adds-five-new-degree-programs-to-its-distance-education-portfolio/ |access-date=2020-08-03 |website=Unity College |language=en-US}} The university moved its online program to the Pineland Farms campus in New Gloucester in 2019 and later relocated their administrative headquarters there.{{Cite web |last=Shelly |first=Molly |date=2019-12-11 |title=Unity College's Distance Education Department relocates to New Gloucester |url=https://www.centralmaine.com/2019/12/11/unity-colleges-distance-education-department-relocates-to-new-gloucester/ |access-date=2022-07-25 |website=Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel}}{{Cite web |title=Locations and Facilities |url=https://unity.edu/about/locations-and-facilities/ |access-date=2024-05-22 |website=Unity Environmental University |language=en-US}} It also operates a farm and indoor growing facility in Thorndike and an outdoor center in Moose River.{{Cite web |last=College |first=Unity |date=2018-03-07 |title=Historic Sky Lodge donated to Unity College |url=https://unity.edu/unity-college-news/historic-sky-lodge-donated-to-unity-college/ |access-date=2023-03-17 |website=Unity College |language=en-US}}
History
The college was founded in 1965 as the Unity Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences with a faculty of 15 and a student body of 39. The founders, a group of local business people, were looking for ways to counter economic decline in the town of Unity. Two years later, it changed its name to Unity College and in 1969 awarded degrees to its first graduating class of 24.{{Cite web |title=At A Glance {{!}} Unity College {{!}} America's Environmental College |url=http://www.unity.edu/about-unity/at-a-glance |access-date=2016-08-19 |website=www.unity.edu}} The college's founders had previously considered opening a bowling alley and a sock factory before settling on the college, which didn't adopt an environmental-oriented focus until 1977.{{Cite web |last=Donahue |first=Bill |date=2021-07-23 |title=Can the Soul of "America's Environmental College" Survive Digital Disruption? |url=https://downeast.com/issues-politics/unity-college-digital-disruption/ |access-date=2022-07-25 |website=Down East Magazine |language=en-US}} It built the first Passivhaus college residence in the U.S. in 2011 and became the first college in the country to divest its endowment of fossil fuels in 2012.{{Cite web |title=How A Small College Launched Divestment from Fossil Fuels |url=https://e360.yale.edu/features/interview_stephen_mulkey_how_a_small_college_launched_divestment_from_fossil_fuels |access-date=2022-07-25 |website=Yale E360 |language=en-US}}
File:Unity Environmental University at Pineland.jpg
Unity underwent a tumultuous period in the 1980s, when it was placed on probation by its accreditor. President Wilson Hess, a professor who was selected to lead the college in the middle of the crisis, led fundraising efforts to put Unity on a firm financial footing.{{Cite news |date=1990-08-06 |title=In Deep Financial Trouble, Maine's Unity College Faces Loss Of Its Accreditation |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1990/0806/a1col.html |access-date=2022-07-25 |work=Christian Science Monitor |issn=0882-7729}} The college received an unprecedented $10 million gift in 2011 and its endowment has since grown to $18 million.{{Cite web |title=Unity College Celebrates Decade of Divestment |url=https://unity.edu/about/reinventing-college/sustainability-science/divestment-from-fossil-fuels/unity-college-celebrates-decade-of-divestment/ |access-date=2022-09-28 |website=Unity College |language=en-US}} Unity began offering online education in 2016 with its first master's degree, in Professional Science.{{Cite web |last=Sudmeyer |first=Alecia |date=2016-06-14 |title=Unity College unveils online master's degree |url=https://unity.edu/unity-college-news/unity-college-unveils-online-masters-degree/ |access-date=2022-07-25 |website=Unity College |language=en-US}} It began offering undergraduate online programs two years later.{{Cite web |last=Sudmeyer |first=Alecia |date=2018-07-24 |title=Living up to our name through distance education |url=https://unity.edu/unity-college-news/living-up-to-our-name-through-distance-education/ |access-date=2022-07-25 |website=Unity College |language=en-US}} In 2020, Unity College closed its Unity campus due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. During the pandemic-related closure, the college announced it would pivot away from a traditional residential model and would consider selling its campus.{{Cite web |date=2020-08-04 |title=Unity College Considers Selling Waldo County Campus As It Transitions To Hybrid Learning Model |url=https://www.mainepublic.org/business-and-economy/2020-08-04/unity-college-considers-selling-waldo-county-campus-as-it-transitions-to-hybrid-learning-model |access-date=2022-07-25 |website=Maine Public |language=en}} The proposed sale of the Unity, Maine campus and pivot towards distance education frustrated alumni and some faculty, who accused the school of drifting from its environmental mission.{{Cite web |last=Curtis |first=Abigail |date=2020-08-10 |title=As Unity College Retools, Some Fear The School Has 'Lost Its Way' |url=https://www.mainepublic.org/business-and-economy/2020-08-10/as-unity-college-retools-some-fear-the-school-has-lost-its-way |access-date=2023-09-26 |website=Maine Public |language=en}} In 2021, President Melik Peter Khoury told the Morning Sentinel that the campus was "never listed for sale" and that it would reopen for the fall term, though two years later it was offered for sale as the school continued its shift towards online education and in-person education in New Gloucester and other sites.{{Cite web |last=Loftus |first=Sawyer |date=2021-06-04 |title=Unity College is abandoning plans to sell its campus |url=http://www.bangordailynews.com/2021/06/04/news/midcoast/unity-college-is-abandoning-plans-to-sell-its-campus/ |access-date=2022-07-25 |website=Bangor Daily News |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Schwartz |first=Natalie |title=Unity Environmental University explores campus sale amid online pivot |url=https://www.highereddive.com/news/unity-environmental-university-campus-sale-online-shift/688830/ |access-date=2023-09-26 |website=Higher Ed Dive |language=en-US}}
The institution moved its online offices from Unity to New Gloucester in 2019. In 2021, when the fate of the Unity, Maine campus was still uncertain, the college announced a new online and commuter junior college, which is also located in New Gloucester called the Technical Institute for Environmental Professions.{{Cite web |last=Writer |first=Edward D. MurphyStaff |date=2021-07-08 |title=Unity College to open environmental professions institute at Pineland Farms |url=https://www.pressherald.com/2021/07/08/unity-college-to-open-institute-at-new-gloucesters-pineland-farms/ |access-date=2022-07-25 |website=Press Herald}} The college also moved to New Gloucester. Residential students complete their general education courses online under the college's in-person model and can live on the University of Southern Maine campus forty minutes away in Gorham, Maine, where they can utilize USM's libraries and other facilities.{{Cite web |title=Unity College: Hybrid Learning |url=https://unity.edu/hybrid-learning/ |access-date=2022-07-25 |website=Unity College |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Housing And Dining |url=https://pineland.unity.edu/housing-and-dining/ |access-date=2024-08-07 |website=Unity Environmental University |language=en-US}}
On February 27, 2023, Unity College announced it would change its name to Unity Environmental University.{{Cite web |date=2023-02-27 |title=Unity College is changing its name to better reflect environmental mission |url=https://www.mainepublic.org/environment-and-outdoors/2023-02-27/unity-college-is-changing-its-name-to-better-reflect-environmental-mission |access-date=2023-02-28 |website=Maine Public |language=en}} The new name was introduced gradually over the next year.{{Cite web |last=College |first=Unity |date=2023-02-27 |title=Unity College Evolves into Unity Environmental University |url=https://unity.edu/unity-college-news/unity-college-evolves-into-unity-environmental-university/ |access-date=2023-02-28 |website=Unity College |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Unity Environmental University |url=https://unity.edu/evolution/ |access-date=2023-02-28 |website=Unity College |language=en-US}} In 2023, the university announced it had more than 7,500 full-time students across all of its educational units with its online programming being hailed as an "uncommon success story."{{Cite web |last=Moody |first=Josh |title=An Online Pivot Pays Off |url=https://www.insidehighered.com/news/tech-innovation/digital-teaching-learning/2023/06/16/online-pivot-pays-unity-environmental |access-date=2023-09-05 |website=Inside Higher Ed |language=en}}
Past presidents include Mitchell Thomashow, Wilson Hess, and Stephen Mulkey.{{Cite web |last=Bloch |first=Jessica |date=2010-03-15 |title=Ex-Unity College president to lead UMFK |url=http://www.bangordailynews.com/2010/03/15/news/exunity-college-president-to-lead-umfk/ |access-date=2022-07-25 |website=Bangor Daily News |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2013-01-23 |title=A Biographical Sketch of Dr. Mitchell Thomashow |url=https://wmich.edu/sustainability/thomashow |access-date=2022-07-25 |website=Western Michigan University |language=en}}
Academics
Unity is divided into Sustainable Education Business Units rather than schools and colleges like a traditional university. These are:{{Cite web |title=Enterprise Model |url=https://unity.edu/about/reinventing-college/enterprise/ |access-date=2023-09-26 |website=Unity Environmental University |language=en-US}}
- Distance Education
- In-person Learning
- Sustainable Ventures
- Technical Institute for Environmental Professions
The Technical Institute for Environmental Professions offers associate degrees, while the Distance Education offers both Bachelor of Science degrees and the Professional Science Master's Degree.{{Cite web |title=Program Search |url=https://unity.edu/program-search/ |access-date=2023-09-26 |website=Unity Environmental University |language=en-US}} Bachelor's degrees are also available from Unity Environmental University at Pineland.
Athletics
Unity had an athletics program and was a member of the Division II level of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA), primarily competing in the Yankee Small College Conference (YSCC) from 2008–09 until 2018–19.{{Cite web |title=History of the Yankee Small College Conference |url=https://www.yankeeconference.org/Archives/History |access-date=2024-03-27 |website=Yankee Small College Conference |language=en-US}} Known as the Rams, the athletics program featured both USCAA-sanctioned sports and club sports, including a Woodsman team.{{Cite web |last=Staff |date=2020-08-04 |title=Unity College sports on hold for 2020-21 |url=https://waldo.villagesoup.com/2020/08/04/unity-college-sports-on-hold-for-2020-21-1866322/ |access-date=2022-07-25 |website=Waldo County VillageSoup}}
Previously, Unity competed in up to nine intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports included basketball, cross country, soccer and track & field; while women's sports included basketball, cross country, soccer, track & field and volleyball. Additionally Unity had a number of club sports: woodsmen's team, ice hockey, indoor soccer, lacrosse, martial arts and ultimate frisbee; plus intramural sports.{{Cite web |title=Unity College Athletics |url=http://athletics.unity.edu/landing/index |access-date=2016-08-19 |website=Unity College Athletics}}
=Accomplishments=
The Unity College men's and women's cross-country teams both won the 1996 National Small College Athletic Association (NSCAA) National Championship. These were Unity College's first-ever men's and women's national championship teams. The team was coached by Mark Kibler. The NSCAA was the predecessor of today's United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA). In 1992 the Unity College women's cross country team won the NAIA Division 5 New England Championship.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date= |title=Johnson State Bulliton |url=http://www.jsc.edu/images/uploads/PDFs/JViews2014-2015-web.pdf |access-date= |website= |publisher=}}
References
External links
- [http://www.unity.edu/ Official website]
- [http://athletics.unity.edu/ Official athletics website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200201193101/http://athletics.unity.edu/landing/index/|date=February 1, 2020}}
{{Yankee Small College Conference}}{{Universities and colleges in Maine}}
{{authority control}}{{coord|44|36|14.05|N|69|19|50.90|W|display=inline,title}}
Category:Educational institutions established in 1965
Category:Universities and colleges in Waldo County, Maine
Category:USCAA member institutions
Category:1965 establishments in Maine
Category:Private universities and colleges in Maine
Category:Universities and colleges in Cumberland County, Maine