BANGOR – The University of Maine System board took action Monday on a host of issues. The trustees:

. Ratified an educational and general operating budget worth $309.5 million for the next academic year, an increase of 5.2 percent. The budget is funded by tuition, student fees and state aid to the system. In May, trustees approved what works out to an overall 3.9 percent increase in resident undergraduate tuition, and state lawmakers approved a 4.2 percent rise in aid to the system last month.

. Appointed Karl Braithwaite as dean of the Edmund S. Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine. He has worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory for the past 21 years, the last eight as its director of government relations. In the late 1970s, he was a professional staff member on the U.S. Senate’s environmental pollution subcommittee, which was headed by the late Edmund S. Muskie.

. Elevated UMaine Provost Robert Kennedy to executive vice president. According to University of Maine President Peter Hoff, he now will have more time for fund raising and external affairs as Kennedy coordinates more of the school’s operations.

. Approved the creation of three degree programs at UMaine: a bachelor’s in new media, a master’s in information systems science and a doctorate in mechanical engineering. Hoff said they were a developed in response to the needs of employers.

Trustees also gave the go-ahead to a master’s degree program in biology at USM. The program is an integral part of the school’s broader plan to strengthen science and technology offerings because of the economic base in southern Maine, said Richard Pattenaude, USM’s president.

And in what could be a program distinctive to New England, trustees gave the green light to a bachelor’s degree program in electronic commerce at the University of Maine at Fort Kent. School Vice President John Murphy said the program was developed in response to students who wanted to major in both business and computer science.