CASTINE – Maine Maritime Academy has a new academic dean.

The academy’s board of trustees on Friday named longtime professor John Barlow as the new vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college. Barlow has been the acting dean since William Eisenhardt resigned the post last year.

“You’ve done a good job,” William Haggett, chairman of the MMA trustees, who sat on the search committee, told Barlow. “We’ve had positive feedback from the student body and the faculty members. We were looking for someone who would be best suited to lead the academy in a very important area. You were clearly the superior candidate in the opinion of the committee.”

MMA President Leonard Tyler agreed, noting that Barlow had done a “wonderful job” in developing communications and new ideas for the academy. The appointment came after an eight-month search that attracted 30 applicants from Maine and around the country.

A native of Rhode Island, Barlow graduated from the University of Rhode Island and earned his doctorate in zoology and marine biology at the University of Maine.