Abbe Museum Welcomes New Trustees

The Abbe Museum has added four new Trustees to its Board of Directors, bringing the total number of Trustees to 19. The new appointees – Abbe Levin, Margo Lukens, Patti Selig, and Chris Sockalexis – assumed their new roles on August 12, 2015.

“We are excited to welcome our incoming class,” said Abbe Museum President/CEO, Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko. “Our new members bring talents and new perspectives that will complement and strengthen our already impressive Board. We have spent time building a Board that is reflective of our community, our organizational needs, and our mission, and that care and commitment has certainly paid off. It is a pleasure to work alongside the Abbe Trustees as we strengthen the Abbe Museum’s presence locally and statewide.”

Abbe Levin is a cultural development consultant, and has served as the Cultural Tourism Coordinator for the Maine Office of Tourism since 2007. In addition, Levin works with a wide range of organizations and projects to assist with the preservation and promotion of cultural resources. She currently serves on the Maine Development Foundation’s Maine Downtown Center Advisory Council and the Sheepscot Valley Children’s House Board of Directors. Levin lives in Boothbay with her husband, and has two sons.

Margo Lukens is a professor in the University of Maine Department of English, and presently serves as chair of the Department of New Media and director of academic programs in Innovation Engineering. Her research interests include Wabanaki literary and storytelling history, Native American and First Nations plays and playwrights, innovation, and making whiteness visible to white people. Her work has included producing and directing Native American plays on campus and in the region, and generally participating in as much theater as possible.

Patti Selig’s first exposure to the Abbe was in the 1980s as she and her family discovered the Museum while visiting Sieur de Monts. She and her family lived in Ocean City, Maryland for 40 years where her husband owned a large construction company and she worked as a psychologist. She spent 20 years as a faculty member and department chair with the University of Maryland system, and when she retired from her career in higher education in 2005, she and her husband purchased the Cranberry Hill Inn in Southwest Harbor. She has been active as a volunteer for the Abbe for many years, serving on the Gala Committee, the Culinary Arts committee, and working at the front desk as a greeter.

Chris Sockalexis, Penobscot, is the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Penobscot Nation, and has served on the Abbe Museum Native Advisory Council since 2012. He has a BA in Anthropology from the University of Maine with his primary focus being on Maine Archaeology. He is currently conducting research for his Masters of Science degree at the University of Maine Climate Change Institute. Sockalexis is also a flintkapper with knowledge of the ancient art and technique of stone and bone tool production. Sockalexis is also an avid canoe/kayak paddler who loves being out in the Maine woods and on the waterways that his ancestors have traveled for thousands of years. He lives with his wife Jill and her daughter Taylor in Winterport, and is the proud father of Shannon, Willow, and Em.

The Abbe Museum Trustees also include: Ann Cox Halkett (Chair), Richard Cleary (Vice Chair), Katherine Stroud Bucklin (Secretary), Jeff Dalrymple (Treasurer), David Moses Bridges, Joseph F. Cistone, Linda K. Dunn, William Haviland, Jamie Bissonette Lewey, Barbara E. McLeod, Jennifer Neptune, Douglas Sharpe, Curtis Simard, Steve Wessler, Sandra K. Wilcox, and Honorary Trustees Alice Wellman and Darren J. Ranco.