Donna M. Loring Lecture Series

The Donna M. Loring Lecture Series is a space for education, dialogue, and reflection on issues that matter. Through lectures, book readings, and plays, the series explores Indigenous rights, civil rights, social justice, environmental issues, and human rights—bringing both historical insight and fresh perspective to today’s challenges.

2026 Lecture

Psite ehpicik kcipokehtuwannuk – We Honor All Women

During this time when women’s rights are being eroded and women’s historical accomplishments are being suppressed, we must have productive conversations about why this is happening and what can be done to support and protect the rights of women as full participants in society and culture. This event provides a space for such dialogue and creative collaboration. As a Waponahki woman, Mihku Paul is acutely aware of the historic oppression of Maine’s Indigenous peoples and the societal forces impeding their expressive freedoms and professional growth.

Here in the Dawnland, Waponahki women have achieved impressive milestones in support of their communities and in their professional lives that continue to influence social, political, educational, and artistic arenas in Maine and beyond. To honor these women, and all women, as we strive to maintain equity within the changing landscape of American society, Mihku Paul envisions “Profiles of Wapohahki Women,” a project that will bring together community members, students, historians, and others toward this goal. This talk will offer a preview of what that project might entail. Mihku, well known for her poetry, will also share a topical poem written especially for this occasion. 

Friday, October 16, 2026 – A UNE Homecoming & Family Weekend Event
2:00 – 3:30 p.m. 
St. Francis Room, Ketchum Library, UNE Biddeford Campus
Free and open to the public; light refreshments will be served.
Watch the lecture online.

Free copies of Mihku’s book of poetry, 20^th Century Powwow Playland, will be available for students with ID (while supplies last).

Speaker

Mihku Paul is a Maliseet elder and knowledge keeper who grew up on the banks of the Penobscot river. Her family hails from Kingsclear, NB First Nation in Canada. The author of 20^th Century Powwow Playland, she is a writer and poet by profession, as well as a food sovereignty grower and consultant and, like many Waponahki women, an artist and beadworker. She attended the University of Maine Farmington and UMaine Orono before completing her BA at the University of Southern Maine, with concentrations in Communication and Human Development, Magna Cum Laude in 1993. At the age of fifty, she entered USM’s Stonecoast MFA program, earning her master’s degree, then went on to publish, leveraging both her visual art and poetry to increase awareness of Waponahki culture and presence in Maine. 

Mihku is executive editor at Dawnland Voices 2.0, an online journal dedicated to Indigenous literature in northern New England. For several decades she has taught Waponahki Studies and curriculum enrichment in Portland Public Schools. She created an Indigenous seed saving project, Skoniminol Kuliwot or “Good Seed,” and protects open pollinated seed for distribution. Mihku also serves on the board of Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance and the Traditional Arts Network at Mayo Street Arts. Her visual art has graced the cover of MELUS (Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the United States), and she serves in a Waponahki arts collective known as Spinning Wampum. Her creative work now spans film as well, with the experimental film Putep Potatokot-te Elewestaq “The Whale was Speaking” to address climate change. Mihku lives and works in Portland.

Support the Work

Your support helps keep these vital conversations going.

The Donna M. Loring Lecture is made possible by two funds. The Donna Loring Endowed Fund was started with generous gifts from Cpt. Joanne Murphy, Donna’s commanding officer during the Vietnam War; the Maine Community Foundation; and other committed donors. The Donna Loring Annual Fund was established in 2026 as another way for donors to support the work of the lecture. With your help, we can continue to grow the reach and impact of this important work.

How to Donate

Thank you for your support!

About Donna M. Loring

The Honorable Donna M. Loring is an elder and former council member of the Penobscot Indian Nation. She grew up on Indian Island and earned her B.A. in political science from the University of Maine at Orono. A graduate of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy, she pursued a career in law enforcement, serving as Police Chief for the Penobscot Nation from 1984-1990. (She is the first woman police academy graduate to become police chief in the State of Maine). In 1992, she became the first woman Director of Security at Bowdoin College, a position she held until 1997. In 1999, Loring was appointed Aide-de-Camp to then-governor Angus King with the rank of Honorary Colonel and was his advisor on women veterans’ affairs. She has also served as a Senior Advisor on Tribal Affairs to Governor Janet Mills.

Donna Loring is a Vietnam veteran. A member of the Women’s Army Corps from 1966-1969, she was called to serve in the Vietnam 1^st Signal Brigade from 1967 to 1968, during the TET Offensive.

From 1999-2007, Loring served as the Penobscot Nation’s Representative to the Maine State Legislature. Among her contributions during her legislative career, she authored and sponsored LD 291 An Act to Require Teaching Maine Native American History and Culture in Maine’s Schools, which was signed into law in 2001. The law is changing the way Maine teaches and views its history. In this position, she addressed the Maine State Legislature scores of times to represent the Penobscot Nation and advocate for public policy reform.

In addition to her work in law enforcement and public service, Loring is a widely published author who continues to explore new ways to share Wabanaki culture and history with diverse audiences. Her 2008 book, In the Shadow of the Eagle (Tilbury House 2008, reissued by DownEast Books 2023) chronicles her experiences as the tribal representative to the State Legislature. She is also author of the preamble poem in Enough! Poems of Resistance and Protest (Littoral Books 2021; winner of the Maine Literary Award for anthologies), the plays The Glooskape Chronicles Creation and the Venetian Basket (2012) and Mary and Molly (2017), and many editorials and op-eds in a variety of Maine media. Mary and Molly also premiered in 2023 as an animated film written and co-directed by Loring, made in concert with a creative team and produced by Speedwell Contemporary. Loring hosts her own radio show, Wabanaki Windows, at WERU Community Radio in Orland in partnership with WMPG Radio Portland.

Loring is the recipient of numerous awards and honors. Among others, these include the Deborah Morton Award from the University of New England (2011), granted to women for exceptional leadership in civic, cultural or social causes; an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from the University of Maine (2017); the Maine School of Law Courage is Contagious Award as part of its Justice for Women annual lecture (2021); and an Honorary Doctorate Degree in Humane Letters from Thomas College (2022). In May of 2022, she was recommended by the Wabanaki Chiefs and appointed by Governor Janet T. Mills to the University of Maine System Board of Trustees.

In 2009, Loring donated her personal and literary papers to the Maine Women Writers Collection. This acquisition was the first given by an Indigenous woman to the University’s collections, helping the MWWC move toward a fuller accounting of the lives and creative work of women in the region, enhancing the representation of Native people in the piece of the historical record that is preserved in the archives, and making this story more accessible to students and researchers.