ROCKLAND — This Friday, Feb. 26, radio station WRFR, 93.3 FM, and the Old School, Rockland's experimental open university, are kicking off a new series of radio shows and dinner symposia.

Rockland Mayor Louise MacLellan-Ruf is the first guest. She will participate in a broadcast interview from 4-5 p.m. on the new Rockland Metro show, and then join an Old School dinner symposium beginning at 5:30 p.m.

Louise MacLellan-Ruf moved to Rockland in 2003 from Providence, Rhode Island. She has a BA in Psychology with a minor in education. Before becoming Mayor of Rockland she was involved in many volunteer activities, including building houses in Mexico, and serving on the staff for the Blues festival and the Maine Lobster Festival. She has been a board member for Compeer, an organization that helps people who wish to improve their mental health. She has served on the Rockland's Harbor Management Committee and the Harbor Trail Committee. In 2013, she was elected to the City Council and is now in the last year of her three-year term.

MacLellan-Ruf's topic for the symposium will be "Visions for the future of the City of Rockland." The new Rockland Metro show on WRFR will be hosted by João Bentes, Nate Davis, Joe Steinberger, and others on a rotating basis, with Bentes serving as the show's secretary. The new show will air Fridays from 4-5pm, each week with a special guest or guests who will bring unique perspectives on life in and around Rockland. According to Bentes, guests will be as diverse as possible "mayors, fishermen, designers, builders, capitalists, workers, teachers, students, doers, thinkers." Guests on the show will be invited to participate as special guests in an Old School dinner symposium following the show.

Dinner symposia at the Old School are free and open to the public. Participation in each symposium is limited to twelve, so participants must reserve their place in advance. Participants must also be ready to help. The dinner is prepared and served — and the dishes washed — in collaboration with the participants, as organized by the host.

To reserve a place at the table for this Friday's dinner with Louise MacClellan-Ruf, interested persons are invited to contact the host for the dinner, Old School Fellow João Bentes: oldschoolrockland@gmail.com

Further information about WRFR visit wrfr.org and for the Old School, visit oldschoolrockland.org.