Four out-of-state academics are the final candidates for the presidency of the University of Maine at Fort Kent, system officials said Tuesday.

The finalists are Sharon Hart, president of Northern Marianas College; John Short, CEO and dean of the University of Wisconsin Fond du Lac; Michael Laliberte, vice chancellor for student affairs and enrollment management at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee; and Lenore Koczon, vice president for academic affairs at Minot State University in North Dakota.

University of Maine System spokesman Dan Demeritt said 46 people applied for the position, and a search committee did screenings and off-site interviews with some candidates.

“We are pleased that so many talented, proven educational leaders expressed an interest in serving as the next president of the University of Maine at Fort Kent,” said system trustee Norman Fournier, who chaired the search committee.

A new president for the University of Maine at Augusta will be announced on Tuesday, Demeritt said. Three finalists for that post were announced in September: James Conneely, a senior consultant for New York-based Keeling & Associates; Guiyou Huang, senior vice president for academic affairs and dean of faculty for Norwich University in Vermont; and Lawrence Gould, political science professor at Fort Hayes State University in Kansas.

Systemwide, there are interim presidents serving at the flagship campus in Orono and the University of Maine at Machias, and permanent presidents at the University of Southern Maine, the University of Maine at Farmington, and the University of Maine at Presque Isle.

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All four candidates for the Fort Kent presidency will visit the campus during the first two weeks of December. After the campus visits, the search committee will finalize its work and send its findings and recommendation to system Chancellor James Page. He will make a recommendation to the trustees at the January 2016 meeting and the new president is expected to begin work early next year.

John Murphy, the chief financial officer at UMFK, has been serving as interim president since June.

Hart previously served as deputy president of University College of the Caribbean, president of North Dakota State College of Science, and president of Middlesex Community College. She holds a Ph.D. in education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Short previously served as dean and associate dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Millersville University, and dean and professor in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Arkansas at Monticello. He holds the doctor of arts degree in government from Lehigh University.

Laliberte previously served as vice president for student affairs and enrollment management at Boise State University, and associate vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. He holds a doctor of education degree from Johnson and Wales University.

Koczon previously served as academic dean at Rosemont College, and director of University College at Northern State University. She holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

 


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