Situated on
Marsh Island, between the
Penobscot and
Stillwater rivers, the University of Maine is the nation's only land grant university (other than the
University of Hawaiʻi) on an island. The university occupies the small community of Orono, with a population of about 12,000 people, maintaining a campus. It has an enrollment of 11,989 students, inclusive of both undergraduate and graduate students, as of 2024. The majority of the university property is in the Town of Orono and the
Orono census-designated place. A portion of the university property is in
Old Town. The campus has 37 academic buildings, thirty administrative buildings, eighteen residence halls, eighteen specific laboratory facilities, fourteen Greek life houses, ten sports facilities, five museums, two dining facilities, two convenience stores, a student union, a cafe, a pub, an state of the art recreation and fitness center, and a 200'x200' air supported athletic/recreational dome. In 1867, the university rejected a campus plan by landscape architect
Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed Central Park in New York City and the White House grounds in Washington, D.C. The plan's broad concepts, including the Front Lawn, were nevertheless adopted during the school's first fifty years, and were oriented toward the Stillwater River. A second master plan was produced in 1932 by Carl Rust Parker of the
Olmsted Brothers firm, which reoriented the campus center to the Mall, an open grassy area between the
Raymond H. Fogler Library and the Memorial Gym. The Mall is further bordered by one residence and five academic halls. The campus is essentially divided into three sections: northern, southern, and hilltop. Each is located near or borders the mall. The northern section includes many of the athletic facilities, including
Alfond Arena for basketball and ice hockey,
Morse Field at the Alfond Sports Stadium for football, track and field,
Larry Mahaney Diamond for baseball, Kessock Field (softball), the Field Hockey Complex for field hockey, and the Mahaney athletic/recreational dome. Other buildings on the northern section include the Cutler Health Center, two administrative halls, three residence halls, and multiple academic halls. The southern section of campus includes the Memorial Student Union, the
Maynard F. Jordan Observatory, Lengyel Gymnasium and Athletic Field, the Buchanan Alumni House, and multiple administrative, residence, and academic halls.
Collins Center for the Arts is on the southern part of campus. It provides the Hutchins Concert Hall, a 1,435-seat venue for performing artists from around the world, and the
Hudson Museum. The Hilltop section of campus is populated largely with residence halls but also includes the Lyle E. Littlefield Ornamental Gardens, as well as academic and recreational facilities. The campus is also designated as an
arboretum. In 1978, the pre-1915 core of the campus, covering its earliest period of development, was listed as a
historic district on the
National Register of Historic Places. In 2010, this was expanded to include the second major phase of development, which was completed through the end of
World War II. == Student life ==