UMS chancellor to review system MacTaggart to board: Examination will be ‘tough-minded’ and thorough

BANGOR – University of Maine System Chancellor Terrence MacTaggart, aiming to be accountable to taxpayers and students alike, will begin his one-year appointment by conducting a “tough-minded” review of the system office to ensure that it is functioning efficiently and appropriately.

“We’ll leave no stone unturned,” MacTaggart said Monday during his first UMS board of trustees meeting since taking over for former Chancellor Joseph Westphal, who stepped down last month after four years at the helm of the seven-campus system.

The goal of the “operational audit” will be to evaluate how system initiatives – including international programs and a new marketing campaign and computer system – are progressing and whether they are being run as efficiently and inexpensively as possible, said MacTaggart.

“The questions we will be asking include what were the original purposes of the activity? Are these purposes being achieved? Are we doing it as cost-effectively as possible? Should we be doing it centrally or should it be the work of a university of perhaps another state agency?” he said.

No stranger to the position, having been UMS chancellor from 1996 to 2001, MacTaggart told trustees that he plans to pursue a couple of other projects during the next year.

“Job One” will be to work with Gov. John Baldacci and the Legislature to make sure they recognize why investing in Maine’s public universities is good for the state and its economy, he said.

In addition, he aims to conduct a “highly participatory” national search process for his successor, garnering input from a variety of sources including faculty, staff, boards of visitors and community leaders, and seeking nominations from campus presidents and others.

“We’ll listen to the wisdom of anyone who cares to offer it,” he said.

A search committee composed of four trustees, a student representative and a faculty representative would be formed by September, he said.

Trustee Chairwoman Margaret Weston said the system is saving $150,000 by using MacTaggart to head the search instead of hiring an outside firm.

MacTaggart’s salary for the year is $200,850, the same as Westphal’s.

System resources and personnel will be used to conduct the operations review, MacTaggart told the board.

“Our guarantee to our employees is that they will have a voice in the process and the review will be conducted with fairness and good sense,” he said. Updates will be publicly provided during trustees’ meetings in September and November, he added.

In an interview during a break in Monday’s meeting, MacTaggart said he has “heard concerns” that the system office is too large and that the salaries of its administrators are excessive. “It’s important to be accountable to taxpayers and students,” he said, “so the review is intended to be our examination.”

No program is intended to be singled out, he said. Recommendations could include reducing the cost of a program, sharing it with a campus, or simply terminating it. Most programs will be continued, he predicted.

“These are good people doing good work.”

MacTaggart said he was happy to be back leading the system. “I enjoy this kind of work. The university system is one of three or four of the most important enterprises in Maine,” he said, noting that it bolsters the economy and enables young people to find work in Maine so they can stay here and raise their families.

The operations audit is necessary in such tight times, he said. “We’re trying to pay faculty what they deserve and we want to keep tuition increases low. It’s important that the system look at what we can do to ensure we’re keeping costs down.”

During an audit of just the chancellor’s office during his previous administration, MacTaggart eliminated a vice chancellor’s position, reducing the office’s operational costs by 20 percent.

The coming audit will include “stepping back and appraising” the objectives in the university system’s new reorganization plan, MacTaggart said.

But, “We don’t want to be perceived as turning away” from the plan, he added.

The strategic plan is among a number of programs initiated by former Chancellor Joseph Westphal “that will benefit the system and Maine for years to come,” MacTaggart said. “He deserves a pat on the back.”