UMS chancellor says higher education key to local economy

BREWER – At his self-declared “coming out party” Friday morning, the soon-to-be chancellor of the University of Maine System encouraged members of the local business community to remember that higher education is an important sector of the Bangor economy.

“Higher education is a good business for Bangor,” Richard L. Pattenaude, 51, said to the crowd of about 90 people who gathered at the Muddy Rudder restaurant for a breakfast sponsored by the Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce and the Action Committee of 50, a local economic development group.

To prove his point, Pattenaude said 18,000 students attend the 10 universities and colleges in the Bangor area, and those schools employ 4,800 people. Last year, 2,500 students graduated with degrees from those Bangor-area schools, he said.

“We have to ask ourselves, ‘How do we help these students find jobs?'” Pattenaude said. “It’s not just about economic development. It’s about student success.”

Economic growth happens fastest in regions where 30 percent of the work force have college degrees and where research and development investment totals $1,000 per worker per year, Pattenaude said.

“It’s about attracting and retaining educated folks,” Pattenaude said. “We have to find ways to reverse the brain drain.”

Increased participation with the K-12 public school system is one way Pattenaude said he hopes to raise the number of enrolled students in UMS. College is appealing to high school students, but tuition costs make them hesitant to attend, he said.

“I want to reduce the cost of operation, thereby reducing costs of tuition,” Pattenaude said. He said he hopes to put the university system through another round of auditing of its costs.

One audience member, Helen Sloane Dudman of Ellsworth, asked Pattenaude whether UMS really needs a chancellor and an office of support staff.

“I’ve asked that question many times in the last 16 years,” Pattenaude said, laughing. He has been president of the University of Southern Maine since 1991.

Pattenaude said he believes UMS needs a chancellor to oversee, coordinate and make sure campuses do not duplicate their efforts.

From the Advanced Engineered Wood Composites Center in Orono to the Maine Patent Program and Center for Law and Innovation at the University of Maine School of Law in Portland, UMS is taking a big role in the state’s economic development efforts, Pattenaude said.

Pattenaude said he and his wife recently purchased a home on Garland Street in Bangor, and he looks forward to volunteering with local community organizations.

“UMS is deeply engaged in the work of its community,” Pattenaude said. “It’s part of the DNA of the place.”

Pattenaude takes office as UMS chancellor July 1.