Academic Regalia at Graduation, Explained
University commencements are exciting celebrations of student achievement, and they also provide faculty, students, and their families a visible connection to the birth of the modern university way back in the 12th century.
The black robes worn by graduating students and their faculty are known as academic “regalia,” and while undergraduate graduation robes may all seem the same, at the graduate level regalia tell a rich story of the graduate’s academic journey. That is, they do if you know what to look for!
Master’s regalia meaning
At the master’s level, regalia consists of a simple black gown. What distinguishes a master’s level gown from a baccalaureate gown are the sleeves. Master’s level gowns usually have long, extended sleeves. Historically, those… Read more >> Tags: CGPS | College of Graduate and Professional Studies | Commencement | Graduation
How to Register for Online Classes
This post is for matriculated students. The steps outlined below will walk you through how to register for your online classes. You must have your Nor’easter ID and password for this. If you are in the Applied Nutrition, Education, Health Informatics, Public Health, or Social Work programs, continue on with the tutorial below.
For Science Prerequisites for Health Professions (SPHP) students – a special note
SPHP lectures and labs are individual online math and science courses for students who wish to enter a health professions program but may need just one or two courses to fill a gap in their transcript. These courses are taken as needed and do not require students to be enrolled in… Read more >> Tags: CGPS | registration | tool | UNE Online
Connect with UNE Online!
Ever wonder where you can connect with us online? We’ve got some options for you!
Below is a comprehensive list of the social channels we manage. The College of Graduate and Professional Studies has a lot going on, so we have a lot to share.
For the most part, LinkedIn is business-related content, Facebook is news, YouTube hosts our video collection, Twitter is up-to-the-minute info, and Instagram is just plain fun.
Like or follow us on whatever channels you find interesting in to keep a pulse on the latest.
UNE Online: College of Graduate and Professional Studies
Facebook: UNE Online
Twitter: UNE Online
LinkedIn: UNE Online
YouTube: UNE Online
Instagram: UNE Online
UNE Online: Vision Blog
> > Direct link … Read more >> Tags: CGPS | College of Graduate and Professional Studies
2018 Commencement at UNE Online
The College of Graduate and Professional Studies congratulates the class of 2018!
Each spring, the College of Graduate and Professional Studies (CGPS) holds a college-wide commencement ceremony to honor doctoral and master’s-level graduates and celebrate the successful completion of their studies.
CGPS Commencement does not replace the university-wide commencement held at Cross Insurance Arena each May. Rather, it is a special time to come together to meet fellow students, faculty, Program Managers, and Student Support Specialists for the first time, and celebrate the fact that our graduates have completed this phase of their journey.
About the 2018 UNE CGPS Commencement Ceremony
In years past, the CGPS Commencement Ceremony used to be called the “hooding” ceremony. CGPS Commencement, as it is… Read more >> Tags: CGPS | UNE Online
CGPS Commencement 2018 – Friday, May 18
Each spring, the College of Graduate and Professional Studies (CGPS) holds a special commencement ceremony to honor doctoral and master’s graduates and celebrate the successful completion of their studies.
Sometimes referred to as a “Hooding Ceremony,” this special CGPS-only commencement is not meant to replace the university-wide commencement. Rather, it is a special time to come together to meet fellow students, faculty, program managers and student support specialists for the first time, and celebrate the fact that our graduates have completed this phase of their journey.
What is CGPS Commencement like?
The CGPS Commencement ceremony itself is similar to a graduation in that faculty and students are dressed in academic regalia. There are opening remarks, a keynote speech, and then… Read more >> Tags: CGPS | Commencement
UNE Online's 2018 Portland, ME City Guide & Map
Portland is a bustling city on Maine’s southern coast, renowned for its restaurant scene, a plethora of breweries, beautiful coastline and opportunity for hiking, biking, kayaking, skiing and most anything having to do with getting outdoors to experience nature.
Our team at UNE Online has curated this post with their top recommendations for what visitors should see, eat, drink and do while they are visiting our vibrant city. Other than visiting our Portland campus, of course!
Download the 2018 UNE Online Portland City Guide (PDF)
We’ve updated last year’s recommendations and this year’s map to include some of the amazing new spots that have opened up since we published last year’s guide. To take a look at some of the… Read more >> Tags: CGPS | Graduation | UNE Online
Learning efficiently: 6 steps to success in your online graduate education
The best thing about a self-paced program is that its self-paced. That’s also the worst thing about online learning. You’re a working professional, and odds are, you’ve worked from home before. Studying at home, just like working from home, is wonderful, convenient, and comfortable. It’s also easy to get off track.
6 strategies for success in online graduate classes
1. Turn off the distractions
It’s tempting to play music or have a television on as background noise, and for some people, it can help set a relaxing environment, but the minute you find yourself distracted by it – turn it off. It may also help to visually pare down your study environment. I also came across some distraction-free writing tools… Read more >> Tags: CGPS | Enrollment | student success | student support | UNE Online
Two CGPS Staff Presented at International Education Conference EDULEARN
Barbara Fortier, Program Manager for the Science Prerequisites for Health Professions, and Olga LaPlante, Instructional Designer for the Masters of Science in Social Work program, collaborated to present at the international conference, EDULEARN17 in Barcelona, Spain, recently.
While everyone here was celebrating America’s birthday on July 4th, Barbara and Olga were presenting their research paper entitled “Building a Community One Group at a Time.” The presentation went well and elicited some good discussion regarding student feedback on group work in online courses. Although the presentation was during the last grouping of a long day, it was well attended.
Their presentation focused on students’ perceptions of working in groups within online courses. They conducted their own original research, and the paper… Read more >> Tags: CGPS
Hooding Ceremony 2017
The College of Graduate and Professional Studies congratulates the class of 2017!
Each spring, the College of Graduate and Professional Studies holds a Hooding ceremony to honor doctoral and master’s graduates and celebrate the successful completion of their studies.
The Hooding ceremony is not meant to replace the university-wide commencement. Rather, it is a special time to come together to meet fellow students, Faculty, Program Managers and Student Support Specialists for the first time, and celebrate the fact that our graduates have completed this phase of their journey.
About the 2017 UNE Hooding Ceremony
The hooding ceremony itself is similar to a graduation in that faculty and students are dressed in academic attire. There are opening remarks, a keynote speech,… Read more >> Tags: CGPS | Graduation | Hooding | Online Graduate School
NECHE (NEASC) Accredited - What it means & why it’s important
The University of New England has been continuously accredited by NEASC since 1966. Our dedication to accreditation affirms UNE’s culture of continuous reflection and assessment in our learning community as well as helping UNE set and pursue its strategic goals.
In 2018, NEASC separated its higher education commission out into an individual organization called NECHE. This restructuring does not affect UNE’s accreditation status; from our perspective, it is simply a name change.
About NECHE
The New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE) is now the federally recognized regional accreditor for the six New England States after assuming the business functions of the Commission previously managed by NEASC. The Commission states that its “dual role of quality assurance and quality improvement… Read more >> Tags: accreditation | CGPS | Enrollment | NEASC | UNE Online
5 Secrets of a Successful Online Student
Getting an advanced degree online requires drive… and plenty of discipline. The majority of UNE Online graduate students have a full-time job in addition to their schoolwork, and so purposefully have to carve out a space to get coursework done. Taking online courses requires time management. With in-person classes, you have to actually drive to a classroom and sit there next to other students and your instructor. With online education, there are no physical location requirements.
Online school helps you maximize your time. Most likely, that’s why you chose this path, or are at least seriously considering it. You can fit your education in between other important obligations, but you also know you have to prioritize.
The following are five… Read more >> 
Tags: CGPS | Online Graduate School | Online Learning | UNE Online
Meet Our Team: Hayley Kinsella
At UNE Online students are our top priority, and their success is what drives each and every one of us to do what we do.
We’d like to share a little bit about the people that are dedicated to making that happen every day.
Meet Hayley Kinsella
Hayley is a Senior Student Support Specialist who has been working at UNE for about three and a half years. Hayley’s favorite part of her job is graduation, and finally meeting in person the students who she’s worked with virtually throughout their student journey at UNE.
When she’s not at work, Hayley can be found scouring the beach for sea glass, walking her golden retriever, or rooting for the New York Rangers.
What… Read more >> Tags: CGPS | student support | Student Support Spotlight
U.S. News & World Report Recognition for Online Graduate Education
UNE Online is thrilled to share that we’ve been named one of the top 100 Online Programs in Graduate Education by U.S. News & World Report in their 2017 rankings.
The online Graduate Education Programs at the University of New England are dedicated to advancing and developing reflective and resourceful teachers and school leaders who are competent, caring and qualified.
Recognized as one of the Best Online Graduate Education Programs by U.S. News & World Report, UNE’s online graduate degrees in Education provide students with the knowledge and skills to become leaders and shape the future of education.
U.S. News & World Report calculated their rankings based on the following five categories:
Student Engagement – weighted 35%
Quality… Read more >> Tags: Awards | CGPS | recognition
Science Prerequisites for Health Professions - Why These Courses are Unique
UNE Online offers many great degrees and certificate programs; however, did you know that we also offer individual science prerequisite courses? From Microbiology to General Chemistry, these courses can be taken anywhere in the world! Students who enroll in our science prerequisite courses are typically students who wish to enter a health professions program but need one or two courses to fill a gap in their transcript.
Have we caught your attention? Keep reading to learn more!
How are these courses set up differently than courses in matriculated programs?
Our science prerequisite courses have a 16-week completion time and they have no due dates, meaning students can complete earlier if desired!
Another great aspect of these individual courses is the… Read more >> Tags: blackboard | CGPS | Enrollment | Online Learning | Science Prerequisites for Health Professions | SPHP
Embrace Opportunity
Think about using the start of this new year as a springboard for change…
What are your passions? Your ambitions? When are you going to take that first step? How are you going to stay the course?
In what part of your life would you like to shine more brightly? One of the most common traits throughout all of our UNE Online students is passion. Passion for work, passion for a long term goal, passion for excellence, passion for helping others. Passionate people have a sort of electric energy about them. They’re motivators, leaders, and paradigm shifters. Passionate people get things done.
How do you become a passionate person? You start. You start somewhere.
Make a decision for you
So… Read more >> Tags: CGPS | College of Graduate & Professional Studies | UNE Online
UNE Online Presents at AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education
Victoria Hartig, marketing manager for the UNE’s College of Graduate and Professional Studies (CGPS), had the honor of being selected as a speaker at the American Marketing Association’s Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education this year, presenting on best practices for digital marketing strategy.
Higher education’s largest marketing event
This national AMA conference took place November 15-18, 2015 in Chicago, and attracted more than 1,300 higher education institutions who came together with the goal of growing their skills and knowledge of building strategic marketing campaigns to increase student enrollments.
Sharing best practices
Victoria’s presentation, titled ‘Marketing to your Ideal Candidate,’ covered the strategy, tactics, and digital marketing assets necessary to build and manage successful campaigns specifically targeted to higher… Read more >> Tags: CGPS | Events & Conferences | Online Learning | UNE Online
In Celebration of National Distance Learning Week at UNE Online
A history rooted in innovation
As a continuously evolving institution, the University of New England has one of the most unique histories in higher education. Established as Westbrook College in 1831, the University merged with St. Francis College (est. 1939) in 1996 to become the University we know today – UNE. From this rich history has grown a collaborative, innovative institution comprised of six colleges all with student-centered missions. UNE is known for being an innovator in the realm of healthcare education, but we are also so much more. In the College of Graduate and Professional Studies, as UNE Online, we are an important part of UNE as an innovative, student-centered online college.
Our day-to-day operations are set up to… Read more >> Tags: CGPS | Online Learning
UNE creates new track and presents at ACTEM 2015 Conference
I think we can all agree that the use of technology plays a vital role in education – not just online education, but education as an entire discipline. There’s a need for educators to be kept up to date on current best practices, and learn how to get the most out of their classroom technology. For many educators, attending conferences is one important way to keep current.
Significant change for the better
Two years ago, UNE Instructional Designer Corey Butler felt that higher education was underrepresented in the Maine’s only technology in education conference, ACTEM. So he initiated a conversation among his colleagues at UNE to see what they could do about that.
Last fall, the entire Instructional Design Services… Read more >> Tags: CGPS | Events & Conferences | IDS | Instructional Design | Online Learning
College Acceptance: How UNE Online creates a more inclusive environment for
When looking for colleges, whether online or the more traditional brick and mortar, many students look at tangible areas. Questions often asked are: ‘How much will this cost?’ ‘How long is the program?’ ‘Are there residency requirements?’ ‘Is there a decent professor to student ratio?’ The list goes on and on.
One question that is rarely asked of an institution is ‘How will you make me feel like an individual?’ On top of this, nobody ever asks ‘How will you respect and work with my identities and create an inclusive environment?’ Whether social identities (religious, gender, race, etc.) or personal identities (parent, athlete, full time employee, etc.), these are often areas that a person must work with to create… Read more >> Tags: CGPS | Enrollment | Online Learning
UNE Online recognized as experts in student retention best practices
Michelle Littlefield, our Director of Strategic Marketing Initiatives and Elizabeth Benz, Senior Student Support Specialist, had the honor of having been selected to present on student retention best practices at the prestigious 2015 UBTech and UBThrive conference.
UNE online programs are housed in the College of Graduate and Professional Studies. As the newest college at UNE, CGPS has blazed the trail for several industry best practices.
We work very hard to streamline all processes, regardless of how longstanding they are. And our non-traditional approach caught the eye of UBTech.
The UBTech Conference, produced by University Business, is an annual higher education leadership conference for professional growth, new technology implementation, practical success strategies, and high-level networking.
UNE’s industry-leading approach to… Read more >> 
Tags: CGPS | student support
UNE recognized for Best Online Graduate Programs
The University of New England has been recognized as one of the best online graduate schools by OnlineMastersPrograms.org for Best Online Master’s Programs in 2015.
UNE achieved top rankings for both the Master of Public Health and Master of Social Work programs.
The Best Online Graduate Programs ranking is valuable because it assists potential post-secondary online students in finding what they need to identify a reputable master’s program, succeed in the program, and land a career that makes the most of their higher education.
Evaluated among thousands of online education programs, UNE’s online MPH and online MSW programs were reviewed based on a range of competency areas that include:
Dedication to online education
Investment in academic support services
Rigor of… Read more >> Tags: Awards | CGPS | Enrollment | recognition | UNE Online
UNE named to Forbes' list of America's Top Colleges for 2014
The University of New England has been named to Forbes‘ list of America’s Top Colleges for 2014, a list that Forbes says is based on “output” and “return on investment.”
Forbes‘ acknowledgment of the value of a University of New England degree follows similar recognition by Affordable Colleges Online, a website reporting on higher education affordability, which recently ranked UNE second in student return on investment (ROI) among 43 public and private colleges and universities in Maine.
Forbes explains that “what sets our calculation of 650 colleges and universities apart from other rankings is our firm belief in “output” over “input.” We’re not all that interested in what gets a student into college, like our peers who … Read more >> Tags: Awards | CGPS | Enrollment
Skip the admissions process with these online courses
When do you NOT need to go through admissions?
UNE Online’s Science Prerequisites for Health Professions classes are our exception to the admissions process rule. They do not require an admissions process at all. Simply log in, register for the class, pay, and begin on the first or third Wednesday of the month. All of our classes are instructor-led, high-quality courses. They are taken a la carte, as you need them, so you can do just one class or a couple of classes at once. You can take as many of these courses as you need over time.
Filling gaps – efficiently
UNE has a strong history of preparing students for the health professions, and we were finding that a… Read more >> Tags: Admissions | CGPS | Online Learning | Science Prerequisites for Health Professions | SPHP | UNE Online
UNE named to U.S. News & World Report’s 2015 "America's Best Colleges"
The University of New England is included among the “Best Universities” in the North that offer a full range of undergraduate and master’s programs according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2015 “America’s Best Colleges” listing. UNE rose 15 spots in the top tier of this category, and is now ranked higher than it has ever been previously.
“UNE continues to focus on delivering quality education together with unique experiences that provide meaningful and proven value to our students,” said UNE President Danielle N. Ripich, Ph.D. “We are pleased that U.S. News & World Report recognizes that, and our 2015 Best Colleges listing reflects UNE’s commitment to delivering an outstanding return on investment.”
A recent survey of the UNE… Read more >> Tags: Awards | CGPS