BIDDEFORD — University of New England President Danielle Ripich has announced she is retiring in June 2017, making 11 years at the helm of the private university.

“The University of New England has grown tremendously under the leadership of Danielle Ripich,” said David Anderson, president of the University of New England Board of Trustees.

“It is an honor to have worked with her. She has brought sound financial footing to the institution while at the same time propelling it forward. She has always said UNE is a private institution with a public mission, and she has lived those words. Her vision and passion for higher education will be truly missed.”

During her tenure, UNE has launched the College of Pharmacy, College of Dental Medicine and the online College of Graduate and Professional Studies. In response to these innovations, enrollment grew from 4,000 to more than 10,000 students, according to a UNE press release.

“We hired when many other institutions were downsizing, gave raises when salaries were stagnant, and added new facilities when others couldn’t,” said Ripich. “We are now an innovative, modern and global institution. No president could hope for better people or a better outcome. Leading UNE has been the honor of my life, and I look forward to watching its future.”

Since becoming UNE’s fifth president in July 2006, Ripich has expanded campuses in Biddeford and Portland and opened a new campus in Tangier, Morocco.

According to Anderson, UNE’s Board of Trustees has formed a search committee and has taken preliminary steps to find Ripich’s successor.

Under her tenure, UNE opened new academic facilities, new residential halls and the George and Barbara Bush Center on the Biddeford campus. This summer, construction begins on University Commons, to provide space for students, staff and faculty to relax, dine and study. In 2015, UNE was gifted Ram Island to serve as a field station to budding marine and environmental scientists.

In addition, the athletics program has added varsity programs in men’s and women’s ice hockey. In 2012, the $20 million Harold Alfond Forum opened with the help of a $10 million grant from the Harold Alfond Foundation. The facilities at the UNE athletic complex will expand to include a women’s rugby team beginning next fall and the university’s first-ever football program to launch in the fall of 2017.

In Portland, Ripich has added new buildings to house colleges of pharmacy and dental medicine and renovated Goddard Hall as well as the historic Alumni Hall building. UNE also purchased the Maine Army National Guard armory building adjacent to the campus on Stevens Avenue, renamed it “Innovation Hall,” and launched renovation plans to accommodate expanding programs.

According to the statement, Ripich’s administration has signed agreements with various community colleges and high schools throughout the state that permit high performing students to enter UNE with an advanced standing, thereby allowing them to attain a degree in less time and with decreased tuition expenses.

Before assuming the UNE helm, Ripich served as dean of the College of Health Professions at the Medical University of South Carolina and as a professor in the MUSC College of Medicine’s Department of Neurology.

“Over the last decade, President Ripich has been a bold and visionary leader for the University of New England,” said U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King in a joint statement. “Her commitment to innovation, growth, and academic excellence has not only enriched the lives of thousands of students, but it has also contributed immeasurably to our state.”