MACHIAS — A tireless promoter of the University of Maine at Machias who sparked alumni giving and a closer town-gown relationship is how colleagues described President Paul E. Nordstrom last week.

Nordstrom, 63, announced May 20 that he would retire Dec. 31 after 7 1/2 years at UMM.

David Rosen, an English professor who is chairman of the university’s arts and letters division, said he thinks Nordstrom met the three big challenges that a national education newspaper says every college president faces: “The college is consistently in the black, enrollment has grown, and he has increased the endowment.”

Sue Palmer, UMM’s development director, has worked with three UMM presidents and was Nordstrom’s assistant for seven years before assuming her present position.

“I know, firsthand, how tirelessly Paul worked for the growth and future of the university,” Palmer said. “He reserved UMM’s place as a strong baccalaureate degree institution.”

UMM began in 1909 as Washington State Normal School, an institution with a two-year academic program designed primarily to train schoolteachers. It became a four-year college in 1951 and finally became UMM, developing a range of programs in the 1960s and 1970s connected to the University of Maine System. Enrollment last fall was just shy of 900 students, including the third-highest freshman enrollment in the school’s history.

Palmer was quick to point out the importance of Nordstrom’s visibility.

His membership on state boards brought statewide attention to the campus, she said. Another contribution was the tie he forged with the Down East community, according to Palmer.

He helped create the Route 1 Committee and the Washington County Leadership Institute. He was a corporator of Down East Community Hospital in Machias and has been a member of the local chamber of commerce.

“What he has done with the Center for Lifelong Learning is remarkable,” Rosen said.

It was under Nordstrom’s leadership that UMM raised $3 million for the Olympic-sized swimming pool and remodeled campus bookstore that make up the first phase of the new learning center. He started the $2.5 million capital campaign for the second phase, which includes the expansion of the bookstore, a public-access Internet cafe and child care facilities.

UMM graduate Barbara Manchester, co-chairwoman of the fund-raising campaign for the Lifelong Learning Center with her husband, Ken, cited Nordstrom’s leadership.

“We’d been talking about the swimming pool for years and years, and Paul just jumped in and got it off the ground,” Manchester said.

Art McEntee, division chairman for professional studies at UMM, said the Center for Lifelong Learning not only strengthens the university’s ties with the Washington County community, but will boost enrollment, allowing for a larger library and more classrooms.

Lea Nordstrom, the president’s wife, also has played a key role in the Nordstrom era, opening the president’s home for reunions and other events. Many people, including graduates, had never been invited to the O’Brien House, McEntee said. The house, which dates from the 19th century, is a UMM symbol.

Stuart Swain, chairman of the science division, said he found Nordstrom to be an excellent administrator, giving the faculty the wherewithal to get the job done. The number of students majoring in science has doubled during Nordstrom’s tenure, and the department is adding a bachelor’s degree in marine biology this fall, he said. The university’s marine biology program enrolls 80.

“I think the fact that he devoted 7 1/2 years to UMM when the average stay of college presidents is four years shows his dedication to this university and the community,” Swain said.

Gene Nichols, the incoming faculty president, said Nordstrom worked hard to plug the campus into the national picture by celebrating Washington County’s natural resources without emphasizing its remoteness.

Given the harsh economic realities of the 1990s, the president put much of his energy into maintaining enrollment and fund raising. He was particularly interested in building the alumni giving network, Nichols said.

Nordstrom was frequently called away on business, so he upgraded the officers for academic, financial and student affairs to vice presidents to assist with day-to-day matters on campus, Nichols said.

“I think his greatest strengths have been in financial matters while delegating authority to others,” Nichols said. “He was also very interested in the physical plant and beautifying the campus, perhaps beause of his background in parks and recreation.”

Nordstrom arrived at UMM from the No. 2 job at Western State College in Colorado. He began as a faculty member at South Dakota State University in 1972 and stayed there 16 years.

He majored in geology at the University of Montana and went on to earn a doctorate in crop and soil science from Montana State University.

Palmer, who has worked at UMM for 27 years, said the university will miss the Nordstroms. “They worked together as a team,” she said. “Being a college president is a 24-hour-a-day job, and I think Paul gave it his all.”