Westphal to leave chancellor job UMS leader plans to return to teaching, conduct research projects

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BANGOR – University of Maine System Chancellor Joseph Westphal announced Wednesday he will step down from his current position on June 30 so that he can teach full time.

Beginning July 1, he will become a UMS faculty member with the title of university system professor. His new role will allow him to teach and conduct research on homeland and national security and environmental policy. He also will engage in public service outreach and advise students.

Chancellor since April 2002, Westphal, 58, immediately established himself as someone who wasn’t afraid to offer bold, new ideas.

He helped build a reorganization plan for the university system; proposed and oversaw the relocation of the system’s offices to downtown Bangor; promoted and achieved greater collaboration with Maine’s community colleges and the public school system; created formal agreements with universities in France, Ireland and Chile; launched the first major system-level campaign to market universities to both in-state and out-of-state students; and worked to increase federal funding for university-based research and development, among other things.

“Joe has been a strong and visionary leader as chancellor,” said Charles L. Johnson III, chairman of the UMS board of trustees. “He arrived at a time when the system was under great stress because of declining state and federal funds for higher education. The board asked him to play the role of change agent and he has done so very ably. The state owes the chancellor a debt of gratitude for all that he has taken on.”

Johnson said the board plans to choose an interim chancellor who would be on board by July 1 and have a one-year contract. A nationwide search for a new chancellor will begin this summer and should be in its final stages by late winter or early spring next year.

A tenured professor at the University of Maine, Westphal said Wednesday during an interview at the system headquarters that his decision to step down as chancellor had been spurred last fall when he taught a political science class.

“I loved it. I had a great class and great students,” said the chancellor, who previously taught at Georgetown University and Oklahoma State University. His enthusiasm for teaching was further ignited after he was invited to lecture at Oxford University in England and at the University of Paris, he said.

At the same time, Westphal, who had worked in the U.S. Congress in various capacities and been former acting secretary of the Army and former assistant secretary of the Army, said he was being encouraged by friends and colleagues in Washington, D.C., to become involved once again in public policy issues and in research.

“And so I came to the decision this was what I really wanted to do.” Westphal said.

In his new four-year position, which includes a one-year sabbatical, he will earn an annual salary of $133,000 – approximately two-thirds of the $200,800 he receives as chancellor. Later he will become a UM faculty member with a salary comparable to that of a full political science professor.

Westphal said it was a good time to make a change since the strategic plan implementation process is about to be completed and faculty, administrators, staff and students soon will issue a report with funding priorities that can be worked into the budget request.

“I’ve learned so much in this job,” he said. “I’ve been so honored to have had this great position.”

Gov. John Baldacci said Westphal “contributed greatly to the university’s success. He was a good partner in promoting a strong partnership with the K-12 system. I wish him well.”

Maine Community College System President John Fitzsimmons recalled working with Westphal on a number of projects, including transfer agreements so community college students could more easily enter the university system.

“Joe really should be thanked publicly for all of his dedication to the students of the University of Maine System and for all he did for the state. I’ll miss the great partnership that we had.”

UM President Robert Kennedy said he appreciated Westphal’s “creativity, energy and strong commitment to public higher education. Maine is a better place because of his leadership.”

Westphal, who came to Maine after leaving his position as senior policy counselor with one of the largest law firms in Washington, D.C., served as an aide in the Department of the Interior and headed up the Army Corps of Engineers.

He said he has amassed a “wealth of knowledge” about higher education and “what it takes to educate people, the challenges of keeping people in school and the relationship between education and other governmental activities.”

Westphal said he would advise the next chancellor to work closely with the board of trustees and to develop a collaborative relationship with the presidents of the seven campuses to “ensure a good dialogue and good communication.”

Recalling the controversy that accompanied the UMS strategic plan, which initially called for merging the universities at Fort Kent, Presque Isle and Machias and for making the University of Maine at Augusta part of the University of Southern Maine, Westphal said he disagrees with some who say that people in the state are reluctant to change.

“Maine people don’t want to be stuck in the past. They yearn for change and you have to give them that vision,” he said.

“But it takes work, patience, financial investment, and the support of the state, the governor and the Legislature.”

Calling his tenure as chancellor a “roller coaster ride,” Westphal said he never looked at criticism of his proposals as defeats or obstacles but as “part of the process” and a means to find other ways to accomplish his goals.

Sen. John Martin of Eagle Lake, who helped unravel the strategic plan’s idea of merging the three smallest campuses, said he always “had a good working relationship” with Westphal and never took their differences personally.

“I was able to disagree with him and speak honestly to him. I was always straightforward with him and he was with me. But I also knew that he was carrying out what the board of trustees told him to do.”

Sen. Elizabeth Mitchell of Vassalboro, co-chairman of the Legislature’s Education Committee, who successfully worked to stop the merger between UMA and USM, said Westphal “is clearly dedicated to the state and wants to stay and make a difference.”

She said that although the two “had very profound disagreements over the future of the University of Maine at Augusta,” he always supported different points of view.

And University of Maine at Fort Kent President Richard Cost, who was hired by Westphal, praised him for encouraging the “partnering that’s going on among the [UMS] institutions.”

Meanwhile, Westphal said he is grateful to the trustees for understanding his need to take on a new challenge.

“We shouldn’t have egos about ourselves. These aren’t lifetime jobs. There are many capable people who can take up the mantle and move forward,” he said.