Board nixes merger of UMA and USM

PRESQUE ISLE – The University of Maine System officially has dropped its plan to merge the University of Maine at Augusta and the University of Southern Maine.

Based on a recommendation by a UMS board of trustees’ subcommittee, the full board on Monday voted unanimously to amend the 2004 Strategic Plan and keep the University of Maine at Augusta a stand-alone institution that offers four-year degrees and meets the educational, economic, cultural and professional needs of the Kennebec Valley region.

In a related vote also based on the strategic planning subcommittee’s recommendation, the board agreed to maintain the University College of Bangor as a campus of UMA, with which it has been affiliated for the past 10 years. The 1,100-student college will continue to offer bachelor’s degree programs and its academic offerings will be consistent with the new mission for UMA, which calls for very few associate degree programs.

During the trustees meeting at the University of Maine at Presque Isle, UMS Chancellor Joseph Westphal said the challenge now was to ensure that both UMA and UCB have adequate funding to become four-year institutions. UCB especially needs additional financial support and “some focus and attention” from the board, he said.

UCB’s facilities “aren’t up to par. They’re old, World War II military structures that we haven’t been able to modernize or improve,” he said during an interview.

The chancellor said that he wanted to explore the idea of moving UCB to the empty Bangor Theological Seminary, which now shares space with Husson College in Bangor.

“I’d like to have our own campus instead of an old military base,” he said. Currently, UCB students are on the fringes of the city, “away from everybody.” An influx of young students would be a boon for downtown as well, he said.

“The idea has been brewing in my head,” said Westphal, who added that he hasn’t yet discussed it with the seminary, the city or Husson College.

In other business, the board accepted reports on spring enrollment and student financial aid, approved tenure for 47 faculty members across the university system and approved a new collective bargaining agreement with public safety employees, one of six employee bargaining units within the university system.