Charting New Waters: The Blue Humanities Forum Connects Arts, Science, and Community 

On April 10, 2026, the University of Southern Maine and the University of Maine welcomed a dynamic community of scholars, artists, scientists, students, and public partners to Portland for the second annual Blue Humanities Forum.

The Blue Humanities Forum is a University of Maine System–wide initiative that resulted from UMaine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy’s effort to assess research and pedagogical interests across the System around sustainable ecologies and climate resilience. The Forum has emerged as a space for rethinking how we study and engage the ocean, not only as an object of scientific study, but as a dynamic cultural, historical, and ecological force. UMaine MARINE and USM Digital Humanities convened the Forum to position UMaine System universities at the forefront of blue humanities research. The University of Maine’s Portland Gateway played a key role in leading discipline-agnostic conversations about water and the oceans. 

Tides of Change: A Blue Humanities Forum showcased the growing energy of the blue humanities, an innovative, interdisciplinary field connecting the arts and humanities with marine and environmental sciences. Supported by the Osher Map Library, the University of Maine’s Clement and Linda McGillicuddy Humanities Center, UMaine MARINE, and USM’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences and Department of English, the forum highlighted Maine’s leadership in this emerging area.

The program featured engaging panels, interactive breakout sessions, and forward-looking curriculum conversations, anchored by a keynote lecture from Professor Steve Mentz, a leading voice in the blue humanities. Participants explored new approaches to ocean-centered research and teaching while building connections across institutions and disciplines.

Highlights

• Opening remarks by Katrina Armstrong (UMaine MARINE)
• A featured talk on Ocean by Professor Steve Mentz (St. John’s University)
• A presentation on “Convergence Thinking” by Anne Heberger Marino (Associate Director, University of Maine Portland Gateway)
• An interdisciplinary panel with Matthew Bampton (USM), Steve Norton (Island Soundscape Project), Karen Miller (UMaine), and Hillary Smith (UMaine), facilitated by Pips Veazey (Director, University of Maine Portland Gateway and Maine EPSCoR)
• A Blue Humanities curriculum session led by John Muthyala (USM)

Breakout sessions generated momentum around new collaborations, grant initiatives, and art–science projects, reinforcing the forum’s role as a catalyst for statewide partnership.The day concluded with the Osher Map Library Distinguished Lecture by Professor Steve Mentz, “Keywords in the Blue Humanities: Buoyancy, Asymmetry, & the Poetics of Water,” leaving participants inspired to expand the reach and impact of blue humanities work in Maine and beyond.