University of Maine names new provost

ORONO – The University of Maine has a new provost.

President Robert Kennedy announced Friday he has selected Edna Mora Szymanski, dean of the College of Education at the University of Maryland, College Park, to be the new senior vice president for academic affairs and provost.

In her new position as second in command at the university, Szymanski will have broad responsibilities related to graduate and undergraduate education, research and student affairs.

She succeeds John Mahon, who has served as UM’s interim provost since August 2004.

Szymanski began her academic career in 1989 as a faculty member in the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s department of rehabilitation psychology and special education. She also served as an associate dean and department chair at Wisconsin before assuming the dean’s role at Maryland in 1999.

“Dean Szymanski is an outstanding scholar and a proven leader in higher education,” Kennedy said in a news release issued Friday. “She brings an impressive record of accomplishment, as a faculty member, as a researcher and as an administrator at two of the country’s top land-grant universities. She is eminently qualified and well-prepared to become a provost and I am certain that she will be a great addition to the UMaine community.”

The appointment of Szymanski, who was chosen after a national search, is subject to final approval by the University of Maine System board of trustees. Chancellor Joseph Westphal approved Kennedy’s selection Thursday.

She is expected to begin work at the university on Aug. 15.

Szymanski earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1972, followed by a master’s in rehabilitation counseling from the University of Scranton in 1974. She worked as a senior vocational rehabilitation counselor in the New York State Office of Vocational Rehabilitation until 1986 before earning a Ph.D. in special education from the University of Texas at Austin in 1988.

With more than 100 publications to her credit, Szymanski has won several awards for her research.

Mahon will return to the UM College of Business, Public Policy and Health faculty as the John M. Murphy Chair of International Business Policy and Strategy.

“John has done outstanding work as interim provost, applying his enormous intellect and trademark energy to a number of important initiatives while managing the vast responsibilities of that role,” Kennedy said in the news release. “I thank John sincerely and look forward to continuing to work closely with him.”