A message to alumni and friends:
I write to you today with news that I know will carry deep meaning for many alumni and friends of Unity Environmental University.
Unity has finalized an agreement to sell the university’s 90 Quaker Hill property in Unity, Maine. This transaction represents an important step in the institution’s evolution, and it also marks the closing of a physical chapter that has been woven into the lives of a generation of students, alumni, faculty, and staff.
The buyer intends to use the Unity property for summer camp programming and outdoor experiential opportunities, ensuring that the land continues to support learning, exploration, and connection to the outdoors.
For many of you, the property in Unity was more than a place. It was where lifelong friendships were formed, where careers were launched, where traditions were created, and where a shared commitment to environmental stewardship took root. It was home. Those experiences, memories, and connections will always remain an essential part of who we are.
I want to be honest about what this moment is. It brings reflection, and for many of us, it brings a real sense of loss. I feel that too. The decision to move away from the traditional semester model and ultimately sell the Unity property was among the most difficult in our institution’s history. It was not made lightly, and it was not made without a deep appreciation for what this place meant to so many people.
Several years ago we faced a choice that many colleges and universities are facing today. After the pandemic, we stayed committed to keeping the Unity property active and continued to serve a small residential student population there. Despite our best efforts, demand for the traditional residential model did not return at the scale necessary to sustain the property. We concluded that preserving Unity’s mission required us to evolve beyond the model that had defined much of our history.
While many institutions have struggled with declining enrollment, financial uncertainty, closure, and in many cases the end of their missions altogether, Unity chose a different path. Rather than shrinking, we transformed. Rather than narrowing our reach, we widened it. Rather than asking how to preserve the past, we asked how to ensure our mission could endure for generations to come.
Today Unity Environmental University serves more than 10,000 students nationwide and has become one of the fastest-growing universities in the United States. We have been recognized as the number one university in Maine and ranked among the top one percent of institutions nationally on the Social Mobility Index.
Most importantly, we are reaching learners who might never otherwise have had access to a high-quality environmental education. Just as Unity met many of our alumni where they were in their educational journeys decades ago, we now meet a new generation where they are, working adults, first-generation students, military-affiliated learners, career changers, and others seeking an education that fits the realities of their lives while remaining grounded in the values that have always defined this institution.
Our commitment to in-person learning remains strong. The university’s in-person offerings are now based at our Pineland Farms campus in New Gloucester, Maine, where students continue to learn and engage directly with the natural environment.
Moments like this invite us to reflect not only on where we have been, but on what truly defines us. The legacy of Unity Environmental University has never been contained to one location. It lives in the experiences of our students, the accomplishments of our alumni, the dedication of our faculty and staff, and the impact our graduates make around the world.
We honor our history not by standing still, but by carrying forward the values that made Unity what it is. The mission that began in Unity has not diminished. It has expanded. It now reaches people across the country and serves more students than at any point in our history.
The flagship property in Unity will always be part of our story. Its influence lives in the generations of environmental leaders it helped shape and in the mission that continues to guide us today.
Thank you for being part of that story. Thank you for helping build the foundation that made this next chapter possible.
You can find a bit more info in the official press release by clicking here.
