‘Champion’ sought for UMFK UMS chancellor consults faculty, students on picking president

FORT KENT – University of Maine System officials and members of the University of Maine at Fort Kent community are of one mind when it comes to selecting a leader for the state’s northernmost campus.

“Your desires and mine converge,” Terrence MacTaggart, the UMS chancellor, told a group of UMFK faculty, staff, administrators and students Tuesday afternoon during an open meeting on campus.

MacTaggart spent about two hours at UMFK gathering comments and information he said will aid him in selecting an interim president after last week’s resignation of UMFK President Charles Lyons.

The chancellor also was looking for guidance in forming a search committee to screen applicants for the permanent replacement.

UMFK has enjoyed record enrollment growth and development in the five years Lyons has been its president, and MacTaggart said his would not be easy shoes to fill.

“Fort Kent is unique and special,” the chancellor said. “The president must act as a catalyst and possesses the heart and talent to lead this wonderful institution while representing it around the state.”

Given the comments MacTaggart heard during the open meeting and in earlier, private meetings with department heads, he said he is confident that he and the campus are looking for the same type of person for both the interim and permanent presidency.

“I will be looking for an individual who will champion this campus,” MacTaggart said. “A person who is a leader and who has the know-how to work within the system to Fort Kent’s advantage.”

Selection of a new UMFK president begins with establishing a search committee with representation from the campus and the system’s board of trustees.

“We will begin the search in September and probably have someone identified by December,” MacTaggart said.

Whoever is selected, he said, most likely will not be able to assume the post before summer 2002.

“I believe this will be a successful search that will attract some top-flight candidates,” MacTaggart said.

In the meantime, MacTaggart will appoint an interim president and said he will make that announcement by mid-July.

MacTaggart said he would consider tapping a nonacademic from outside the system for the interim post, but only if that person was a good fit for the Fort Kent campus.

While saying he already has some people in mind for the temporary position – including at least one who is bilingual – he would not elaborate further.

Lyons announced his resignation last week after accepting duel positions as the new vice chancellor for the system’s University College Outreach and as interim president of the University of Maine at Augusta. Both are effective July 1.

Lyons, who has been at UMFK since 1996, is that campus’s eighth president.