Suffolk University gets gift of riverfront property in Maine

By Sara Brown, Town Correspondent

Beacon Hill's Suffolk University received a nice gift to start of the school year: buildings and 86 acres of forest and farmland along the Penobscot River in Maine.

According to an announcement today, the school received "expansive property" in Passadumkeag, Maine. The property, about 30 miles north of Bangor, contains a $3.5 million riverfront facility, residential buildings and other structures that will be used for scientific study and other academic and research programs.

Suffolk did not identify the donor.

“This is an extraordinary gift that will serve to measurably enhance our science programs,” Barry Brown, the university’s acting president and provost, said in a statement.

In the future, the property--which includes 1,000 feet of riverfront space--could be used for wildlife exploration, biological study, environmental monitoring, and wind, solar, water and geothermal energy research, the school said.

Other potential uses for the space include student and faculty retreats, workshops, and summer programs in fields like writing, theater, business, and fine arts.

The new property will complement the school's existing program in Maine at Friedman Field Station on Cobscook Bay. Science students and faculty use the property to observe and study marine life, the school said.

"When we add this property to our already thriving coastal science facility in Maine, we are now in a position to offer our community the best of both worlds: everything that a great urban institution can provide supplemented by a rich rural environment for special programs in the sciences, the humanities, the social sciences and the arts," Kenneth Greenberg, Dean of Suffolk University’s College of Arts and Sciences, said in a statement.

Sara Brown can be reached at yourtownsara@gmail.com. Follow Your Town Beacon Hill on Twitter: @BeaconHillInfo