UM provost finalist for Ohio college chief

ORONO – Robert Kennedy, executive vice president and provost at the University of Maine, is one of three finalists for the presidency of Ohio University in Athens.

The 22,000-student school is holding on-campus interviews for finalists beginning this week, hoping to name a new president by the end of the month.

In March, Kennedy had been one of two finalists for the presidency at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. He withdrew his name several weeks ago.

Kennedy has an undergraduate degree in plant science from the University of Minnesota and a doctorate in botany from the University of California at Berkeley. He was chairman of the horticulture department at Ohio State University and has been a vice president for research at Texas A&M University and the Maryland Institute for Agriculture and Natural Resources.