enlarge Tim Greenway/Staff Photographer

Graduating students bat a beach ball around during the University of New England’s commencement at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland on Saturday. Other Maine colleges and universities also held graduation ceremonies, including the University of Maine.

enlarge Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

Jena Codrey of Houlton smiles at her family as she walks to receive her diploma during graduation ceremonies at Saint Joseph’s College on Saturday.

PORTLAND — Those heading from the classroom into health care professions will not face a lack of tests in their careers, Dr. Rita Cowell told the graduating class from the University of New England on Saturday.

Cowell, a professor at the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health, said the world continues to face problems with public health even as technological advances have helped control dozens of diseases.

"There is still a lot of darkness in the world," Cowell said at the university's commencement ceremony at the Cumberland County Civic Center. "You will not want for challenges."

Cowell is a specialist on global infectious diseases, clean water and health issues. In 1998, she became the first woman to be director of the National Science Foundation, a post she held for six years, and in 2006 was awarded the National Medal of Science by President Bush.

"We are a society defined by science and engineering," she said, and people need to be educated to "understand the issues that science raises" so they can take part in helping to decide those questions.

As health care professionals and scientists, she told graduates, they should be "curious, compassionate and committed."

Other Maine colleges and universities also held commencement ceremonies on Saturday, including Saint Joseph's College, Unity College and Husson University.

U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, was the speaker at Husson, and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, spoke at the ceremony for Unity.

Snowe encouraged Husson's 550 graduates to never take no for answer. "I've always believed anything is possible and anything can be overcome," she said.

Collins told Unity's 90 graduates "sitting on the sidelines cannot be an option. ... You must be activists and advocates for the causes you believe in."

Karen Gordon Mills of Brunswick, who heads the Small Business Administration, was the speaker at the University of Maine at Orono, while Steven Rowe, who was Maine attorney general and speaker of the Maine House of Representatives, gave the keynote speech at the University of Maine at Augusta/University College of Bangor's ceremony.

Lewis Turco, a poet and author, gave the address at the University of Maine at Fort Kent.

The Bangor Daily News contributed to this report.

Staff Writer Edward D. Murphy can be contacted at 791-6465 or at:

emurphy@pressherald.com