{"id":36582,"date":"2026-04-27T16:19:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T20:19:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/?p=36582"},"modified":"2026-04-27T16:19:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T20:19:08","slug":"darren-ranco-receives-presidential-public-engagement-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/2026\/04\/27\/darren-ranco-receives-presidential-public-engagement-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Darren Ranco receives Presidential Public Engagement Award"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The 91±¬ΑΟ will honor five faculty members with its 2026 Presidential Awards, recognizing excellence in research, teaching, innovation, public engagement and extraordinary impact.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"625\" height=\"938\" src=\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/293\/2025\/05\/Ranco_Darren_5-1-25-crop.jpg\" alt=\"Darren Ranco\" class=\"wp-image-34682\" style=\"width:277px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/293\/2025\/05\/Ranco_Darren_5-1-25-crop.jpg 625w, https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/293\/2025\/05\/Ranco_Darren_5-1-25-crop-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/293\/2025\/05\/Ranco_Darren_5-1-25-crop-93x140.jpg 93w, https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/293\/2025\/05\/Ranco_Darren_5-1-25-crop-317x476.jpg 317w, https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/293\/2025\/05\/Ranco_Darren_5-1-25-crop-423x635.jpg 423w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 85vw, (max-width: 768px) 67vw, (max-width: 1024px) 62vw,625px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Darren Ranco<\/strong>, professor of anthropology, faculty fellow in the Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions, and chair of Native American Programs, will receive the Presidential Public Engagement Award in recognition of his work that applies academic expertise to enhance the public good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since returning to Maine in 2009, Ranco, a Penobscot Nation citizen who grew up in Orono, has worked with Wabanaki Tribal Nations on environmental and cultural issues. His work includes leadership on responses to the emerald ash borer, an invasive species that threatens ash trees used in traditional basket making. His efforts contributed to agreements among tribal nations, the state and federal agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDarren\u2019s work reflects a deep commitment to partnership and to connecting the university\u2019s expertise with community needs,\u201d Ferrini-Mundy said. \u201cHe builds relationships that lead to meaningful, lasting impact.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He has also supported tribal climate resilience and land return efforts, working with communities to develop priorities, establish baselines and create plans to address environmental change.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ranco has contributed to strengthening relationships between the university and tribal communities, including efforts to support collaboration and culturally informed research practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His public engagement includes educational initiatives supporting the development of Wabanaki studies curriculum, public talks, working with legislators to support environmentally and culturally sound legislation, and participation in projects that address community needs.<\/p>\n\n\n<style>.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-36582_c6dd96-04 .kt-block-spacer{height:60px;}.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-36582_c6dd96-04 .kt-divider{border-top-width:1px;height:1px;border-top-color:#ffffff;width:80%;border-top-style:solid;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-36582_c6dd96-04\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" \/><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 91±¬ΑΟ will honor five faculty members with its 2026 Presidential Awards, recognizing excellence in research, teaching, innovation, public engagement and extraordinary impact. Darren Ranco, professor of anthropology, faculty fellow in the Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions, and chair of Native American Programs, will receive the Presidential Public Engagement Award in recognition of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":957,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","spc_primary_category":0},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":3,"label":"News"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"mitchellcenter","author_link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/author\/mitchellcenter\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":3,"name":"News","slug":"news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":3,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":613,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":3,"category_count":613,"category_description":"","cat_name":"News","category_nicename":"news","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/957"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36582"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36586,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36582\/revisions\/36586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}