BANGOR, Maine — With little discussion, the University of Maine System board of trustees approved University of Southern Maine President Selma Botman’s new post in the chancellor’s office during Monday’s regular board meeting.
Botman, who was the focus of a no-confidence vote two months ago on the USM campus, requested the job switch in a late June letter to Chancellor James Page. The option to transfer to a different position within the system was outlined in her presidential contract.
Page announced July 5 that the four-year president would be stepping down from her role at the helm of the system’s second-largest university so she could serve as special assistant to the chancellor on global education.
The chancellor called Botman’s decision “selfless” and said they agreed that a change in leadership could be the best way to move the university forward.
In her new role, Botman will lead efforts to expand the system’s international education programs and will retain her title of “president.” Her annual salary will be $203,000, the same amount she made as president.
Page said during Monday’s meeting that the University of Maine System as a whole was “well behind its peers” in terms of how actively it recruits from other nations and builds relationships with international universities. Some UMS campuses are more active than others in reaching across international borders, but the system would benefit from a consistent, centralized effort, he said.
“We do not have a strategic, systemwide approach to the issue,” Page said.
“President Botman is very well qualified to develop that plan both because of her administrative experience and her educational experience, but also because she has been involved in educational policy and international programs for quite some time,” Page said.
Botman came to USM from City University of New York. She holds a master’s degree in Middle Eastern studies.
Botman’s USM biography and past news stories don’t list any past experience leading international programs in higher education. During her term at USM, she created a council to lead diversity initiatives and worked with the campus’ Multicultural Student Affairs group.
Duties outlined in Botman’s new agreement include working with campuses to find international student recruitment agents and building relationships with global institutions for faculty exchange programs.
Page said the new appointment is a “reassignment under an existing contract.” At the end of the term of the contract, which expires June 30, 2013, Page said the system would reassess the salary for the global education position.
That contract also states that after three years of service, Botman is eligible for a one-year appointment as a professor, researcher or administrator within the system at 66.6 percent of her last annual presidential salary. However, that option is only available after the presidential term expires, Page said.
The system expects the newly created global education position will result in no net cost to UMS, according to Page.
Page has said since he was announced as a finalist for the chancellorship that the system should look at how the system office is structured to see whether it can be pared back in size or altered to cut costs. He argued that savings resulting from shifts in the system structure will offset, if not surpass, the costs of Botman’s new post.
He also said Botman’s work should bring more international students to the system’s universities, increasing the amount of tuition and other assets coming into the universities.
Theo Kalikow, who recently retired from the presidency at the University of Maine at Farmington, will become USM’s next president after the board approved her appointment on Monday. Kalikow will earn the same salary as Botman, $203,000.
Kalikow, who served as president at the University of Maine at Farmington for 18 years, said her retirement lasted just one day and that she’s excited to begin listening to faculty, staff and students at USM and begin a discussion about how to move the university forward.
Also at Monday’s board meeting, the board approved changes to the language of the system’s compensation review program to clarify the chancellor’s authority to require a system-level review of certain raises and appointments to positions, especially at the administrative level.
After a review of the $7 million in salary increases over the past seven years, a representative from the system’s human resources office and the chancellor said at the May board meeting that they largely are satisfied with the system’s compensation program, but that a few alterations might improve oversight.
Page said the recommendations also are designed to ensure equitable treatment of employees and prudent use of resources while allowing university presidents the freedom to manage their work force without burdensome administrative requirements.
Neil Greenberg, president of the Universities of Maine Professional Staff Association, said during the public comment section that a 1 percent pay increase for all of his members would cost $385,000. The system is still in negotiations with three employee unions after contracts expired last summer.
“We’re not asking for the world.” Greenberg said. “… We’re just asking for things to be fair.”
Trustees also backed the University of Maine at Orono’s Blue Sky Project, a five-year plan for the system’s flagship university that has been in the works since November 2011. The plan outlines how UMaine should approach its future and lays out a number of goals aiming to strengthen the university and the state as a whole.
More information about the project and its full text are available at umaine.edu/blueskyplan/.
Also at Monday’s meeting, the board approved:
• A $542,000, or roughly 6 percent, increase to the budget for Stewart Art/New Media Complex at UMaine, which is under construction. The increase will allow for the purchase of specialized audio and visual equipment and other classroom technology. The increase is funded by campus and gift funds.
• A new mission statement for the University of Maine at Machias, which the university said more accurately reflects its goals and purposes as a public environmental liberal arts university.
• The authorization of the chancellor to execute collective bargaining agreements with the Maine Part-time Faculty Association and the Teamsters Local Union No. 340 Service and Maintenance Unit.
What a triumph, what vindication for a superior administrator! She’s so good that the trustees hardly had to talk about it.
Ha, guess that shows you Botman critics.
Severely overpaid. I’m sorry, but she has no god given right to a fabricated “post” and such largesse at the expense of tuition paying parents and taxpayers. Tell the truth. $203,000 plus all the benefits, and, by my calculations, that’ll bring it to something over $300K. No wonder the tea party has such a foothold.
I don’t see the correlation to the Tea Party on this?? Typically university professors are quite liberal and opposed to Tea Party supporters. I agree, this is a total waste of money though.
Maybe you should re-read cutthehate’s post. It obviously went over your head.
Just another nasty liberal.
Wrong again. I am sure you’re used to it.
I do look forward to November when your messiah and his entourage are thrown out of D.C. Too many cut-throat self-serving liberals in the city. You will likely then be forced to actually take a job to make your trailer payments or be forced to move back into the basement. It is a shame that progressives such as yourself can’t see that your policies hurt this country evidenced by the record level of unemployment, overwhelming sense the country is moving in the wrong direction, and the fact that Obama is a laughing stock around the world. Oh, here it comes…. wait…. Its Bush’s fault. Is that all you got?
What, pray tell, gives you the notion that I am a liberal?
Nice rant BTW.
People on both “sides” can be quite nasty. A comment that only says ” just another nasty liberal” doesn’t add anything to the conversation at hand.
I believe, from reading through the comments, we all agree this situation is ridiculous on the following points: 1. Administrative salaries overall seem high. 2. There is a general dislike of the created position for a person who does not have the backing of the employees she managed. 3. The question remains why she either didn’t stay in her position (to prove her way produces results) or wasn’t terminated per the terms of her contract? Someone in charge of an entire university needs to have the confidence to stand up for their management style. If they can’t, they don’t deserve to be able to resign from the current job and fabricate a new position. 4. Something needs to be done about the over-sized administration in the UMaine system. Did I miss something, or is this a summary of the issues at hand? If this represents how most of us feel, then what can be done about it?
This woman didn’t last five minutes in a position of authority and public trust, and now the Maine Taxpayers are going to shell out six figures to keep her in our employment? I think its time for the whole University System to be looked at under a microscope. And I’m a proud liberal.
I could not agree more. This issue is well beyond the standard liberal v. conservative nonsense. The salaries for upper management in the UMaine system are absurd.
Actually she lasted close to 4 years. However, they shouldn’t have shifted her position. Just canned her. Then they could have afforded the 1% increase (or close to it) to all the other employees.
She has a contract. If she were fired, wouldn’t she still be owed the balance of her salary for the remaining length of contract?
Does that contract apply when she resigns? She voluntarily stepped down from the presidency.
Botman was “reassigned,” according to UMS administrators. She neither resigned nor was fired. At no time did she cease employment.
Earlier articles state she “voluntarily stepped down”.
From the Press Herald, July 6:
Page said Botman, “in a characteristically selfless move,” asked to be reassigned. Because she didn’t resign and wasn’t fired, her contract — and salary — will be intact until June 2013, even in her new role, he said.
Higher education been very good to me.
Make a position and give yourself a salary.
The system office has Helen Zhang in the international recruiter position. Why do they need one more person for $203 thousand?
Because they are contractually obligated to pay her the money anyway?
They should have asked her to resign based on the no-confidence vote, rather than calling her “selfless” (ha) and perpetuating her charade with a make-work position.
Would anybody think of improving the quality of education to attract foreign students? We could offer world class college education at UM and the foreign students would come without ANY recruiter. To provide quality would be cheaper and more sound than an expensive recruiter.
$203K to head a non-existent department – par for the course in the UMaine system. Nothing succeeds like failure.
As I’ve mentioned before, recently “retired” Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Jim Breece made at least two trips to Asia in the past year or two and got us perhaps 25 international students for the entire System while John Bapst, with one modestly paid administrator, recruited 39 Asian students for last year, with more to come in coming years. Breece was paid $180,000 (plus benefits) when his position was eliminated, but he retains his salary while on sabbatical. There is no need for Botman’s new role, which is a no-work job similar to those granted other top administrators who should be told to teach courses instead. But that would be demeaning to them. Far from not costing the System anything, these new jobs (or non-jobs) will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars that could better be spent on behalf of the campuses and the students. But it’s been this way for decades, and the Gov. and the legislature lack the guts to do something about it, just like their predecessors. Disgraceful.
The good news is they get Theo. She is a great leader. I notice it didn’t say “interim.” she’s the boss.
“There certainly is not a chance one could contain this one in proper guidelines.”
This is exactly the type of inside politics that Maine needs to stop. The Governor needs to step up and address this, for what it is……… The citizens deserve it.
“The system expects the newly created global education position will result in no net cost to UMS, according to Page.”
Let me get this straight… Previous salary for this position ($0) plus new salary of this position ($203k + benefits) equals a total net cost of $0 ….. 0 + 203,000 = 0 ???
Creating a brand new position out of thin air that pays $200k and costs nothing? This Page guy is a magician!!
Why don’t we make him Governor so he can fabricate a million more high-paying, no-cost jobs where people don’t do anything!?
Fact check: Botman definitely has a Ph.D. (from Harvard, no less) and to my knowledge is an authority on Middle Eastern studies.
Also – regarding international student recruitment – I’m currently at Michigan State where 1 out of 3 students on campus calls a country other than the U.S. home. It’s a significant boon to the university — surefire dorm occupancy and higher tuition rates — but it comes at a price. The UMaine system would need to adequately prepare itself with additional language and cultural services for any students they recruit or else they’ll create far more problems than they’ll solve.
Go Sparty!
As a result of years of emphasizing the study abroad program at Michigan State (making it the largest international program in the nation), former President Peter McPherson transformed the mid-western land grant university into an international powerhouse. I seriously doubt that Dr. Botman, who failed at leading Maine’s #2 regional university, will have any impact whatsoever during her one year stint as “special assistant” to the chancellor. This is a golden parachute spot, not a system wide shift towards a more international curriculum. A true shift to become an international destination university would require a change in madate from the board of trustees and total dedication as the numbet one priority from the chancellor….not the appointment of a “special assistant.”
Where she got her doctorate (“fact check”) is beside the point as well.
Michigan State became international powerhouse because they have quality program.
Umaine should provide better quality education and the students would come from every country without Botman.
Anyone with a degree from Harvard seems to be liability.
How much does USM make (profit) per international student? For all we know, they lose money on every one, considering how massively subsidized the whole thing is.
More Government paid State Officials corruption. Positions being paid as a pat on the back for not doing the job properly keeping her at the same income while Maine families go hungry and homeless. The Justice Department of the U.S. needs to come in and do a complete overhaul of the entire government system and start throwing some of these crooks behind bars.
The raping of the tax payer.
No wonder former state department agency heads want jobs in the UNIVERSITY SCHOOL system and they get them………. POLITICAL FAVORS AND FRAUD, ITS THE SAME. Seems that there is no stopping it by the layman and not enough people care to write or call.
Maybe Gov Lepage can get his other kids on as this women’s aids. We all know Paulie likes to keep it in the family.
The Governor is not involved in this particular shenanigan. In case you are confused, the Chancellor’s last name is PAGE; the Governor’s is LEPAGE. See the difference?
USM scored huge by getting Theo! She’s a gem, they’re are very lucky.
Unbelievable! She was the recipient of a no-confidence vote, yet she gets to retain a 200K-plus salary and her title in a flat-broke state?
It is indicative of the System’s contempt for its peasants–its faculty, its professional and classified staff, and its custodians and other members of the Teamsters Union–that it now argues that most ordinary employees are not only adequately paid but also are well paid vis-a-vis their peers in comparable public universities. Figures are manipulated, perhaps invented, to justify no raises to nearly all peasants. Union negotiators reveal the true disparities when they’re legally able to do so. Recall that Botman handed out huge payraises to her cronies at USM until these became public knowledge. Most Trustees never go to any campuses and, if they do, are sheltered from all but a handful of areas like Wind Energy and Wood Composites that DO deserve praise for bringing in funds but also don’t exactly represent all that goes on at Orono or the other six campuses.
This salary is absolutely ridiculous. As a UMaine grad (got both a BA and MA in Orono) it is always disheartening to see these kinds of numbers. I watched my in-state tuition creep up every year for six years, while at the same time hearing about faculty lay-offs and budget shortfalls. Does someone living in Maine really need $200k a year to live comfortably? NO. Absolutely not. Regardless of what anyone says, no one actually NEEDS that much money each year to live. For goodness sake, I now live in DC with my husband and we make less than half that salary combined and we live quite nicely.
The woman has a fixed-term contract, which doubtless says she can’t be fired unless she does something illegal or highly damaging to the university. She has a contract. Breaking it for a poor showing on a confidence test would not be sufficient cause or cost effective for the system, considering legal costs. This situation isn’t much different than that of a high end football coach (who might get paid more than the president). If you aren’t working out before your contract is up, you negotiate a settlement and leave. In this case, the settlement seems to be that Bottman will take over some of the responsibilities of a system position that was recently abolished, mostly being paid for by those salary savings for her remaining year. No one thinks this is a great resolution, but it’s somewhat better than letting USM flounder in gridlock for another year. And Bottman obviously has some leverage in what she’ll accept. Public university presidencies have become more of a high wire act in recent years – ask the president of the University of Virginia. You have a number of constituencies and are challenged to satisfy them all with fewer resources while maintaining your image if you plan to move on (average tenure is in the 5-7 yr range). Your demise can come out of left field, and being replaced before your contract is up is not all that infrequent. No one of sufficient quality is going to leave a good job to take a position where they could be fired at will with no contract protections if the situation goes south. Contracts are standard for most professionals and virtually all executives. Universities aren’t the exception. I’m not here to defend the salary either, but it apparently wasn’t enough to attract someone who could run a sophisticated operation and achieve some of the the trustees’ objectives without antagonizing a lot of people.
OK I’m confused, Page says “The system expects the newly created global education position will result in no net cost to UMS,” but Botman’s salary remains at $206K, the newly retired / rehired Theo Kalikow (from UMF) will now make $206K.
Also, there will presumably also be another President of UMF who will make how much?
By the way the KJ also reported that Page said he didn’t know if Kalikow was earning a pension or what her salary was while at Farmington.
So how exactly is this going to result in no net cost to the University???
I’m just wondering…
Only at the UM system can you create a Job and be payed $200,000.00 for it. Fraud!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What about guality of programming. My kid will NOT go there.
So she gets a vote of no confidence from her staff and the university creates a job for her. No wonder the University is screaming poverty and passing on the costs to students. They should be ashamed of themselves and they should just fire her.
meanwhile the same system office just ‘reorganized’ it’s IT department, eliminating several positions that help support the campuses, who are now facing doing more with less (especially the smaller campuses)