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鶹ýrecognizes achievements of three Maine women with 2022 Deborah Morton Awards
The 鶹ý is proud to announce that the 60th Annual Deborah Morton Society Convocation and Awards Ceremony will be held on Friday, June 10, 2022. The event is free and open to the public. It will take place at Innovation Hall on UNE’s Portland Campus starting at 11 a.m. to celebrate the three newest awardees and members of the Deborah Morton Society.
The Deborah Morton Award recognizes distinguished Maine women who have made an exceptional impact through their careers and public service or leadership in civic, cultural, or social causes. The award celebrates the memory of UNE’s own distinguished Deborah Morton of Round Pond, Maine. She was valedictorian of the Class of 1879 of Westbrook Seminary, the forerunner of Westbrook College, which merged with the 鶹ý in 1996. After graduating, Morton served as a longtime faculty member at the seminary and was an advocate for equal rights on social, political, and economic levels.
In her honor, the Deborah Morton Society continues to promote education and the fostering of leadership for future generations of Maine women. Alongside the annual award, the society gives scholarship support to students who are women in the Westbrook College of Health Professions and who manifest outstanding qualities of character, leadership, and academic ability like Deborah Morton.
Over the past 59 years, the award has continued to foster the importance of women in our society and serves as encouragement to young women across our state to reflect Morton’s values and service-focused attitude. This year’s award recipients are as follows:
Lise Pelletier
Lise Pelletier was born in Fort Kent, Maine. As a single parent of three young children, Pelletier attended college and taught French literature and language at l’Université de Moncton campus d’Edmundston and the University of Maine at Fort Kent. As a high school French teacher in Fort Kent, she realized that her language and Acadian culture were disappearing. As the director of the Acadian Archives at UMFK, her passion became her mission: to bring the history and culture of the Acadians of the St. John Valley back and share it with the world.
Lise Pelletier
Pelletier has now given over a hundred lectures in Maine, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Québec, Washington, Georgia, and in France about the Acadians of the St. John Valley. In 2021, Pelletier created an “Acadian Treasure Trunk,” which is a lending kit of educational materials to help teachers bring the story of the Acadians and Franco Americans into the classroom. Her work has been recognized by the government of Canada with the Caring Canadian Award, the Maine Acadian Heritage Council’s President’s Award, and she was inducted in the Maine Franco American Hall of Fame in September of 2021.
She is now the president of the Maine Acadian Heritage Council, a nonprofit umbrella organization whose mission is the stewardship of the Acadian culture, heritage, and language of the St. John Valley. She was instrumental in bringing the World Acadian Congress to the St. John Valley in 2014.
Hannah Pingree
Hannah Pingree
Hannah Pingree was appointed to lead Governor Mills' Office of Policy Innovation and the Future in January 2019. Pingree previously served as speaker of the Maine House of Representatives from 2008 to 2010. She was also the Maine House majority leader, chair of the Committee on Health and Human Services, and a member of the Committee on Appropriations and Financial Affairs during her terms in the Maine Legislature from 2002 to 2010.
Pingree spearheaded successful legislation on energy, broadband, housing, environmental health, and health care during her time in office. She has also worked for a technology start-up in New York City; managed several small family businesses; led the development of rural housing, energy efficiency, and eldercare projects for a coalition of community nonprofits; chaired her local school board; and served on numerous state and community no-profit boards.
Julia Sleeper-Whiting
Julia Sleeper-Whiting is the co-founder and executive director of Tree Street Youth Center. Born and raised in the Bangor area, she initially moved to Lewiston as an undergraduate at Bates College. During her time as a student, she began connecting with the downtown Lewiston community youth through service-learning opportunities afforded to her as a psychology and education major.
Over the past 10 years, Sleeper-Whiting has continued to build on the relationships formed as an undergrad.
Julia Sleeper-Whiting
She seeks to provide valuable programming to at-risk youth in Lewiston and Auburn. After completing her Master of Leadership and Organizational Studies at USM-LAC, she began the present-day Tree Street Youth. The once grassroots center has now grown to a hub for leadership exploration and growth. It was built on the foundation of showcasing the voices of Lewiston’s youth while becoming a leader across the state of Maine in the fields of education, juvenile justice, youth development, racial equity, in/out-of-school academic success, and workforce development.
For more information about the Deborah Morton Society, visit