Student ambassadors urge students, faculty, and staff to verify their vaccination status by the 5 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 20 to become exempt from COVID-19 arrival testing and quarantine practices
One fully vaccinated student at each of the UMS universities and Maine Law will win a $1,000 Shot Clock Scholarship, must be verified before the Shot Clock winds down at 5 PM on Friday
Orono, Maine — The University of Maine System “Shot clock” expires at 5 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 20. Students and employees who verify their fully vaccinated status on the secure UMS portal before the deadline will be exempt from arrival testing and quarantine requirements. Individuals participating in an on-campus experience who are not fully vaccinated will be required to participate in asymptomatic testing and other safety practices to isolate cases of COVID-19 infection and the spread of disease.
Nearly 14,600 community members have verified their status, an increase of approximately 10,000 individuals since Chancellor Malloy and university leaders launched the Shot Clock campaign on July 16. Each uploaded image is visually inspected by university officials who are processing about 400 vaccination uploads daily.
“COVID is here to stay,” said Chancellor Malloy. “The science tells us we can stay together more safely and confront surges if we get vaccinated. We have verified 10,000 individuals over the last month to protect our students, employees, and communities. The outreach and education will continue until every member of our in-person community is fully vaccinated with the best available defense against infection and disease.”
Earlier this month the University of Maine System announced that it is expediting vaccination requirement plans for its on-campus population amid growing concerns about the severity and infectiousness of the Delta variant. The determination was reached following consultations with faculty and stakeholders, and the UMS Science Advisory Board chaired by University of Maine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy.
On-campus students will be required to be fully vaccinated this fall against COVID-19 and the University of Maine System is in ongoing discussions with labor partners about requiring vaccination for on-campus faculty and staff. The Maine Community College System and Maine Maritime Academy have joined the University of Maine System in announcing a COVID-19 vaccination mandate. Over 650 universities and colleges, including many of Maine’s private institutions, are requiring vaccination this fall.
Shot Clock Ending, Scholarships Expanding to Eight Awards for Final Weekly Drawing
The University of Maine System has been awarding a $1,000 Shot Clock Scholarship weekly to a student who has verified their COVID-19 vaccinated status. The scholarship awards will be expanded for the final week to award a $1,000 scholarship to one verified student from each of the University of Maine System universities and the Maine School of Law.
Dozens of Shot Clock student ambassadors and past winners of the Shot Clock Scholarship are joining Student Trustee Irene Neal, Chancellor Malloy, and University leaders to urge students, faculty, and staff to get vaccinated and to verify their status by 5 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 20. The Shot Clock ambassadors are taking part in a media event and using their social media channels to encourage vaccination and verification.
“Please take just a few moments today to upload your vaccination status, or, if you are not yet vaccinated, please take some time to make an appointment to be vaccinated as soon as possible.” said Irene Neal, a UMFK nursing student and the UMS Student Trustee. “The primary way we can move towards safely gathering together as we did prior to the pandemic is through widespread vaccination of our communities.
“Vaccination is not only something that protects the individual; it also serves to protect the health of those around them, especially those who are vulnerable from a health perspective including the immunocompromised, those with contraindications to getting the vaccine and the elderly. Therefore, as an inherently communal and highly social species, it is our individual and collective responsibility to become vaccinated as soon as possible to mitigate further and preventable suffering from COVID-19.”
25 Vaccination Clinics and Partnerships Planned for Arrival
The University of Maine System universities are planning more than 20 different on-campus or community-based COVID-19 vaccination arrival partnerships in support of students, faculty and staff.
About the University of Maine System
Established in 1968, the University of Maine System (UMS) unites six distinctive public universities, comprising 10 campuses and numerous centers, in the common purpose of providing quality higher education while delivering on its traditional tripartite mission of teaching, research, and public service.
In 2020 UMS became the first and only statewide enterprise of public higher education in the country to transition to a unified accreditation for the system. Much different than a merger or consolidation, unified accreditation is a new operating model for the University of Maine System that removes the primary barrier to inter-institutional collaboration.
A comprehensive public institution of higher education, UMS serves more than 30,000 students annually and is supported by the efforts of more than 2,000 full-time and part-time faculty, more than 3,000 regular full-time and part-time staff, and a complement of part-time temporary (adjunct) faculty.
Reaching more than 500,000 people annually through educational and cultural offerings, the University of Maine System also benefits from more than two-thirds of its alumni population residing within the state; more than 123,000 individuals.
The System consists of seven main campuses: The University of Maine (UMaine), including its regional campus the University of Maine at Machias (UMM); the University of Maine at Augusta (UMA); the University of Maine at Farmington (UMF); the University of Maine at Fort Kent (UMFK), the University of Maine at Presque Isle (UMPI); and the University of Southern Maine (USM). The System also includes a UMA campus in Bangor, USM campuses in Gorham and Lewiston-Auburn, the University of Maine School of Law, and the University of Maine Graduate and Professional Center.
Please follow these links to the UMS Logo, UMS and individual university style guides and an image and biographical information for Chancellor Malloy.
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