UMS Transforms is a system-wide initiative from the University of Maine System working across its seven universities to bring life-transformative education to students throughout the state. Its three pillars — Pathways to Careers, Research Learning Experiences, and Gateway to Success — together address the full arc of student development, from arrival on campus through career placement and beyond.

The centerpiece of UMaine’s Coalition work is Research Learning Experiences (RLEs): one-credit courses that bring first- and second-year students into open-ended research and hands-on scholarship from the very start of their college careers. Rather than waiting until upper-level coursework to engage students in genuine inquiry, RLEs challenge incoming students to gather data, conduct experiments, create art and structures, and collaborate to solve real problems — rafting the Penobscot River, collecting samples from a research vessel on the Damariscotta River Estuary, excavating 19th-century artifacts on campus, and more. A Bridge week at the start of each semester gives cohorts time to bond before classes begin, with peer mentors from upper classes serving alongside faculty to build belonging from day one. The results bear out the approach: RLE students report feeling supported by classmates at significantly higher rates than non-participants (68% vs. 45%), show greater growth in research identity and sense of belonging, and report more of the Gallup-Purdue “Big Six” experiences than their peers. Across the UMaine System in fall 2023, more than a thousand RLE placements were available at all seven universities.