John Diamond, the Executive Director of External Affairs for the University of Maine System came to visit our class for the Public Relations group.  Diamond is a UMaine grad., who then became part o the journalism faculty here at the university.  He then became Director of University Relations, and now is in his current position, working for the Chancellor. On and off, Diamond stated that he had been with the university either as a student, or faculty member for 35 years.  Diamond also informed us that he had written for the Lewiston Sun Journal  and also worked for MPBN doing different shows.

Diamond’s position that he  now holds involves a small staff at the University of Maine System office in Bangor where their purpose is to position the University with three key groups: the public, the policy makers, and the opinion makers.

What I found most interesting about John Diamond’s visit was his personal philosophy: “Always tell the truth and hope you get caught at it.”  So many times in society today, the leaders that we look up to are found to be nothing more than lazy and untruthful.  It was so reassuring to hear that a leader in our community holds truth to be so valuable.

I also found his interest in what we think to be problematic at this University to be really reassuring as well.  It feels good to know that people are working hard to change what needs to be changed at the University of Maine, because often times students don’t feel like they have much input into what changes here.