UMF celebrates 27th annual Arts Night and Symposium Showcase and welcomes the community, April 13-15
FARMINGTON, ME (April 8, 2026)—The University of Maine at Farmington welcomes the community to a day-long celebration of real-world student research, innovation and creative projects with its 27th annual Arts Night and Symposium showcase, April 13 – 15, 2026. All events are free and open to the public.
“Symposium day gives students an opportunity to share their work and their passion—to present a finished product and speak of its importance,” said Joseph McDonnell, UMF president. “At UMF, we do not measure an education by the credits amassed or the grades obtained, but by the work produced. We educate with the adage: Don’t tell me, show me.”
Arts Night kicks off with the popular Pixel Hunter Student Film and Animation Festival Mon., April 13, featuring a selection of experimental short films and animations created as year-end projects in UMF’s Art & Design program. On Tues., April 14, Arts Night events showcase the performing and creative arts with a variety of art installations, performances, presentations and new media projects. These include the senior student capstone exhibit “Beyond the Frame: Art & Design Senior Exhibition” running from April 9 – May 9.
ARTS NIGHT: all events scheduled in Emery Community Arts Center:
Monday, April 13, 7 p.m.
Pixel Hunter Student Film and Animation Festival
Tuesday, April 14, 5-6:30 p.m.
Arts Night Performing and Creative Arts – Performance Space
Students from Honors 377 present Theatre as Public History
Students from 252 Directing will present scenes from “The Importance of Being Ernest” by Oscar Wilde and “Bug” by Tracy Letts
“One Last Breath,” interpretive lyrical dance by Ginny Stokes
April 9-May 9, Mon.-Sat., 12-7 p.m.
Senior Capstone Exhibit “Beyond the Frame: Art & Design Senior Exhibition”
SYMPOSIUM DAY
UMF Symposium Day is held throughout campus on Wednesday, April 15, from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Presentations are a spring celebration of undergraduate research and student achievement that is supported throughout the year by dedicated faculty and staff mentors. Individual and course-based Symposium projects will be presented by students from diverse academic disciplines across campus. Students will share their original research findings, analysis and creative work in lectures, demonstrations and interactive poster sessions.
Some of the interesting and compelling UMF Symposium topics that will be explored include:
A biology study by first-year to senior students on ticks in the Farmington area and the diseases they carry
A forensic psychology study exploring Native Americans and the criminal justice system
Bridging the gap between affordable healthcare and small business
he Underground Railroad and quilt codes
Modern global ethics of archaeological excavation
Understanding emojis and the effects of age, gender and personality
Using book-making to build content knowledge in elementary education
And many more, including presentations by the 2025-26 Michael Wilson Scholars & Fellows.
UMF Trustee Professor Presentation
UMF is also proud to recognize Michael Schoeppner, UMF associate professor of History and this year’s UMF Trustee Professor—an annual distinction created to recognize exemplary faculty members and promote excellence in academic programs. His lecture will be in the UMF Lincoln Auditorium in Roberts Learning Center from 11:20 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Schoeppner will present, “The Invention of Illegal Immigration: A Scrapbook of Surveillance and Defiance,” a lecture that examines the invention of illegal immigration in the nineteenth-century United States. Schoeppner is widely published on the history of race, migration and the law. He is a 2025-26 research fellow with the American Council of Learned Societies and the Andrew Mellon Residential Fellow at the Massachusetts Historical Society.
UMF Walter Sargent Award
Awarding of the Walter Sargent Undergraduate Research Mentor Award will take place at 11:55 a.m., in Lincoln Auditorium in Roberts Learning Center, immediately after the UMF Trustee Professor lecture. In 2013, the award was named to honor the late Walter Sargent, a UMF history professor, who built a culture of undergraduate research in his discipline. The award will be presented to a UMF faculty member who exemplifies Sargent’s dedication to inspiring and supporting his student’s undergraduate research.
A program with a schedule of presentations is available at: https://farmington.edu/symposium
More on University of Maine at Farmington
A nationally recognized regional public university, the University of Maine at Farmington is known for its commitment to teacher preparation, the creative arts, health and science, environmental studies, business and public service. Located in the heart of Maine’s four-season outdoor recreational region, UMF provides a challenging but welcoming academic community—here in Farmington and online—that prepares students for enriching professional careers, engaged citizenship and an enduring love of learning.
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EDITOR’S NOTE:
Image: https://farmington.edu/app/uploads/2026/04/RP256-034C.webp
Photo Caption: Students share their original research findings, analysis and creative work in lectures, demonstrations and interactive poster sessions.
Photo Credit: UMF Image
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