FORT KENT – The University of Maine System’s new chancellor was impressed with the two northernmost campuses this week after visiting them after a meeting of the system trustees last weekend.

Richard L. Pattenaude visited with staff and students at the University of Maine at Fort Kent on Monday and Tuesday and at the University of Maine at Presque Isle on Tuesday and Wednesday. It was his first official visit since taking over the reins of UMS on July 1.

The former University of Southern Maine president said he found campuses that are run well and staff and administrators who care deeply about their students. He said both campuses are integral parts of their communities’ economies.

He said Wednesday that his visits to Fort Kent and Presque Isle were “listening tours” with students, faculty and campus leaders.

“These are smaller campuses, intertwined deeply with their communities,” Pattenaude said at a session with members of the media at Fort Kent on Tuesday. Like the system on the state level, these campuses have a large effect on the economic activity of their regions.

“The staff at these campuses care deeply for their students, and it shows,” he said Wednesday at Presque Isle. “It was important for me to visit here to see the economic vitality in the towns.”

Pattenaude said UMS is available with expertise to assist these campuses and all campuses in the system in areas of law, economics, the environment and energy to help build strong communities throughout Maine.

At Fort Kent he was specifically asked not to threaten the small campus. UMFK has been earmarked for closure many times in the past.

“Closing Fort Kent is not anywhere on my lists of things to do,” he said as UMFK President Richard Cost listened in. “This community needs UMFK and it shows on and off campus.

“I’m pleased with what I heard and the positive energy I saw,” he said at a media session at Presque Isle on Wednesday. “I heard optimism about the institutions, and people wanting to make them better and stronger.”

He took the time to discuss the two coming referendum questions involving UMS with people he met during his visits. Question 3 on the November ballot asks voters to approve $43.5 million for building and renovation projects, of which $23 million would be earmarked for UMS. UMPI would receive $1.4 million to be used for building renovations and classroom improvements.

In the end, he said, it is his impression that Dr. Richard Cost and Donald Zillman are at Fort Kent and Presque Isle for the long haul. He said he has been working hard to keep them in their positions.

Pattenaude also said he plans to be doing the job he started on July 1 for a long time.

He said he will be looking for efficiencies across the spectrum while strengthening the campuses and system.