Sleep Expert @ USM

As schools consider pushing back start times to let teens sleep later, an author and researcher on the relationship between sleep and performance will visit USM for a free, public lecture.

Dr. James B. Maas will speak from 9 to 11 a.m., Friday, May 11, in Room 113 of Masterton Hall on USM’s Portland campus. His presentation is free and open to the public, though space is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. Reservations are required and can be obtained by calling 780-5498.

Maas, author of The New York Times best seller, “Power Sleep: The Revolutionary Program That Prepares Your Mind for Peak Performance,” published by Random House and HarperCollins, makes frequent television appearances on such programs as “NBC Nightly News,” “Today,” “Good Morning America,” and “Oprah.”

“To be a peak performer,” notes Maas, “you need to be fully alert, dynamic, energetic, in a good mood, and cognitively sharp. None of this is possible without quality sleep.” Healthy sleep, says Maas, “is more influential than diet, exercise or heredity, but our modern culture has become a study in sleep deprivation.”

Maas, professor of psychology and the Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow at Cornell, received his B.A. from Williams College and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Cornell. Maas has held a Fulbright Senior Professorship to Sweden, has been a visiting professor at Stanford University and is the recipient of the American Psychological Association's Distinguished Teaching Award.

His USM visit is sponsored by the Southern Maine Partnership, a collaborative effort that gives educators opportunities to test new methods of teaching and learning. The group, which is based in USM’s College of Education and Human Development, includes 33 school districts, two independent schools, and two colleges.

EDITOR’S NOTE: To make arrangement for coverage, please call Bob Caswell or Susan Swain at the office and home numbers listed at the top of this release. Additional information on James Maas is available at www.powersleep.org