ORONO – Robert Duringer, the University of Maine’s vice president for finance and administration, is heading west.

Duringer, 52, is giving up one UM with a bear mascot for another UM with a bear mascot. He will be become the vice president for finance at the University of Montana, which has a grizzly bear for a mascot, in contrast with the University of Maine’s black bear.

The move will take Duringer and his wife, Mary, closer to their grown sons in the Pacific Northwest. The main campus of the University of Montana is located in Missoula, in the mountainous western end of the state, just 450 miles from Portland, Ore.

Duringer, who arrived at UM in 1998, told the Bangor Daily News that his stay has been “the most interesting work I’ve ever done.”

He cited the $100 million in construction projects going on, the university’s rising role in the state’s economic development, plus the moves that have expanded access to UM programs.

After tumbling 30.6 percent over seven years, enrollment at UM has rebounded by 11.6 percent since 1997.

“It’s been really fun to be part of this growth and evolution,” he said.

Peter Hoff, UM’s president, said that Duringer “brought fresh ideas, innovation and improved services to our campus.”

“We hate to lose Bob,” Hoff said in a press statement, “but fully understand and respect his and Mary’s desire to be in closer proximity to their family.”

At the University of Montana, his duties will be akin to those of the chief financial officer for the University of Maine System. Duringer will oversee the finances for a central campus of roughly 13,000 students, plus four affiliated campuses with a combined enrollment of about 6,000 students, he said.

In comparison, UM’s headcount enrollment was 10,278 students last fall.

Before arriving at UM, Duringer was the business director at Oregon State University for five years.

He has taught business, economics or urban planning courses at John Jay College of the City University of New York, Central Texas College, Austin Peay State University and the University of Maryland.

He also served 23 years in the Army, retiring as a colonel. He was an officer in the 9th and 1st Infantry Divisions, and later became a professor at West Point, where he taught leadership. During his last years in the Army he was the chief financial officer at Fort Campbell, Ky., for the 101st Airborne.

Duringer is scheduled to leave UM in early September.