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Unity college expanding to Southern Maine, focusing on environmental workforce

The ‘Freeport Building’ is located at Pineland Farms in New Gloucester and will be open to students looking to join the environmental, trades workforce and beyond.

NEW GLOUCESTER, Maine — Unity College has announced it will be expanding into Southern Maine by opening the 'Technical Institute for Environmental Professions'.

It will be located at Pineland Farms in New Gloucester and is currently under renovation. 

Unity College President and CEO, Dr. Melik Khoury said this will mean more jobs, families and young people coming to the area. 

“The idea would be providing a streamline for an affordable, very flexible approach to offering these upscale programs for those who are looking to get into the workforce faster,” Dr. Khoury said. “We’ve also been very careful with this sort of program to lean into a very affordable tuition that’s very different than a more traditional for your institution.”

The “Freeport Building’ will house a variety of classrooms and labs for students. Khoury says the institute aims to offer reasonable tuition rates and is really career focused. A career center will be located onsite to help students line up a job for after graduation.

Those jobs could range from the solar power industry to becoming a vet tech.

“Maine itself has an abundance of natural resources, everything from oceans to the northern Maine woods.” Dr. Khoury said. “What better state to be a world attraction for environmental sciences and sustainability.”

The technical institute is already getting praise from Maine’s House of Representatives. Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives, Ryan Fecteau said in a statement:

“The Unity College Technical Institute announcement is a tremendous step forward for career and technical education in Maine. We can be proud that this expansion will provide more access and affordability so students are prepared for good jobs in environmental engineering, veterinary technology, the solar industry, and other areas of growth in New England. This move diversifies educational offerings at a time when students of all ages seek new pathways toward a career. Unity College’s Technical Institute will provide an attractive alternative to a four-year degree that will attract new people to Maine and help Mainers pivot or grow in their own careers.”

“I personally think every institution should be a science institution because it’s more than just the politics it’s really about humanity,” Dr. Khoury said. “I have one goal, graduate as many environmental students as possible; we need people to be in the workforce who know how to interact with people, with commerce and most importantly with the only planet we have.”

The Unity College Technical Institute  is expected to officially open its doors this Fall. You can learn more information on their website.

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