University of Southern Maine

Although the University of Southern Maine has existed under that name for less than a quarter century, its roots lie much deeper-in a normal school begun at Gorham in 1878; a junior college opened in Portland in 1933; and a business school, which lasted only from 1921 to 1925, but whose charter was revived two decades later to become Maine’s only law school. Each of these roots underwent changes, and the alumni magazine now includes nine different seals across its news pages. The mergers of the founding institutions, plus the later development of new programs and the addition of new colleges, have made it a true university with the largest student enrollment of any educational institution in the state.