“Drink to all the happy hours, drink to the careless days. Drink to Maine, our alma mater — the college of our hearts always.”

That’s how the University of Maine’s rallying song, “The Maine Stein Song,” concludes and it’s on a similar high note that outgoing interim President John C. Hitt said he is ending his more than four years as a ranking UM administrator.

Heading to his new $135,000-a-year post as president of the University of Central Florida, Hitt finished up on the Orono campus Friday. And shortly before his departure, Hitt reflected on the time he spent at the flagship campus of the University of Maine System.

“I leave the University of Maine with the greatest feelings toward the institution,” he said, acknowledging that while his loyalties will change with the new job, some things won’t.

“There is always going to be a part of our hearts for the University of Maine,” he said. “It’s a special place.”

That special place has provided ups and downs for Hitt, who ends the career he started there in August 1987 as the vice president for academic affairs.

In that position, Hitt in 1988 found himself spearheading the highly debated and often heated reorganization of the campus’ colleges. And more recently the system has come under question by legislators who perceived a top-heavy system and instituted salary cuts to administrators beginning in early 1992.

And then there are the budget reductions which have over the past two years cut deeply into the university in what Hitt sees as a “systematic divestment of higher education in the state.”

Hitt is not without his good memories and success stories, however.

While in the No. 2 position under the controversial Dale W. Lick, for example, average Scholastic Aptitude Test scores increased by more than 20 points and new scholarships for minorities and in athletics and performing arts were established.

In one of his first efforts on campus, Hitt initiated an advisory council for students in which undergraduates could provide needed opinions about university programming. Student attitudes and “customer satisfaction” is something that the university needs to research more thoroughly, he indicated.

And in his last two years as chief academic officer, Hitt said, the number of first-year students returning for their sophomore year increased 4 percent. Not a very dramatic number, he acknowledged, but if it continues, these small increases are an important step forward.

He also played a role in the partnership between the University of Maine and Kharkov State University in Ukraine and other efforts to increase the presence of international students on campus.

During an interview in his office, Hitt was clearly reluctant to take credit for the accomplishments, something that goes back to his management style.

As chief academic officer, he was responsible for about one-quarter of the UMS budget, which required putting effective people in key positions and letting them have the leeway to do their jobs.

“I think you’ve got to be accountable, but you also have got to give people freedom to do the job their way,” he said. “I believe in letting people do their jobs.”

Hitt also described himself as fiscally responsible, but someone who is willing to take risks. “I don’t take a lot of budget risks that I don’t know how I am going to cover,” he said.

“Once I understand what the risk really is and what the payoff is and whether I can live with a failure, I’ll go ahead,” he said.

Take for example last spring’s agreement with Apple Computer Inc. that put computers in dormitories on campus. While such a project had worked in other institutions, Hitt said he wasn’t sure if it would work at Maine.

As well as looking back at his stay in Maine, Hitt also had some parting advice to give.

“The best advice I could give would be to get behind Fred Hutchinson and give him the support he’s going to need to be successful for this institution,” Hitt said. Hutchinson has been selected to be the next UM president and will be voted on Monday afternoon by the system’s board of trustees.

Tears in the fabric of the university have arisen out of budget cuts and have pitted group against group in what some on campus have described as cannibalism.

“They ought to put that behind them and realize that the institution is under very serious attack, and it’s not feasible to separate the administration or the president from the university.”

The assault that Hitt referred to is more than $11 million cut from the Orono campus since 1990, including the most recent $3.4 million reduction.

“When you’re in a boat, it’s not real smart to start shooting at other (peoples’) feet,” he said.

All in all, however, Hitt sees many opportunities for himself and for the new UM administration.

“I just think that a new presidency is rich with promise,” he said.