The University of Maine at Augusta’s Leadership Team, along with members of Maine’s Department of Corrections, plan this month to dedicate a hand-carved table built by residents of the Maine State Prison and gifted to UMA.

The event, free and open to the public, is scheduled for noon Wednesday, Feb. 22, at the UMA Augusta campus in the Katz Library, 20 Jewett Drive.

The table was built by prison residents who also are UMA graduates. It recognizes, honors and thanks UMA’s faculty and administration for its long history and commitment to higher education in Maine’s prisons, according to a news release from Dan Philbrick, interim director of Prison Education (Academics).

The table is made from various hardwoods and supported by two columns of hand-carved “textbooks” depicting academic courses and individual faculty names. It is estimated that more than 1,100 hours went into its creation by the prison craftsmen.

The dedication event will include short presentations by UMA Interim President Joseph Szakas, Department of Corrections Commissioner Randall Liberty, faculty who teach at the prisons, prison residents and artisans who built the table, and some graduates of UMA’s Prison Education Partnership.

The event also will be available for remote viewing at umalibguides.uma.edu.

UMA’s partnership began at the prison in 2006 with generosity from Doris Buffett and her Sunshine Lady Foundation. Since its inception, UMA academic programming has expanded to all adult correctional facilities in Maine.

UMA’s partnership program enrolls 196 male and female students seeking associate and baccalaureate degrees. In 2016, UMA became a lead institution in the national Second Chance Pell Experiment, an initiative that provides need-based Pell Grants to incarcerated individuals through the U.S. Department of Education and that funding continues today.

For more information about the event and UMA’s Prison Education Partnership, call Philbrick at 207-282-4111, ext. 7433.

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