Inauguration set for UMFK president

FORT KENT – The University of Maine at Fort Kent officially will invest its ninth president at an inaugural ceremony scheduled for 11:00 a.m. Friday, Sept. 19, in the Fox Auditorium on campus.

The formal investiture of Richard W. Cost is the first event in a weekend of activities planned to commemorate the university’s 125th anniversary, which will coincide with this year’s Fort Kent-area Scarecrow Festival.

Inaugural festivities will begin at 10:30 a.m. with a musical prelude performed by “Innovata Brass,” a Boston-based brass ensemble. At 11:00 a.m., members of the platform party will proceed into the auditorium led by bagpiper Susan Mack.

UMFK students from 18 different countries will bear their national flags as part of the procession.

Robert Scott, UMFK vice president for academic affairs, will serve as master of ceremonies for the inauguration, introducing representatives of the state, the University of Maine System, and local community and campus organizations, each of whom will extend official greetings.

University of Maine System Chancellor Joseph Westphal will be present to deliver the official charge of office to Cost.

The ceremony will be immediately followed by a luncheon served in Nadeau Hall.

Official inaugural activities for Cost – who was appointed UMFK’s ninth president in May 2002, and assumed office three months later on Aug. 1 – were postponed to coincide with the yearlong 125th anniversary celebration, which is being held throughout this academic year on and around the campus.

Before joining UMFK, Cost served as vice president for institutional advancement at Bridgewater State College in southeastern Massachusetts.

His responsibilities at the institution included fund raising, public affairs, alumni relations and, for three years, admissions.

Before joining Bridgewater, Cost served for six years as vice president for institutional advancement at Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pa.

The new UMFK president earned his doctorate in education in 1977 from Rutgers University in New Jersey and holds a master’s degree in business administration from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va. He received his bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University.

Cost has served on a dozen college and university accrediting teams, including one for the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.

The inauguration ceremony is open to the public.

For more information on inaugural activities, contact the UMFK inaugural office at 834-7800.