GORHAM (March 5): Richard L. Pattenaude, University of Maine System chancellor, announced Wednesday that he is recommending Dr. Selma Botman as the next president of the University of Southern Maine.
Botman, 57, currently is executive vice chancellor and university provost at the 230,000-student City University of New York (CUNY).
The University System’s board of trustees will act on Botman’s appointment on Monday when it meets in Portland. If Pattenaude’s recommendation is approved by trustees, Botman will begin her new position on July 1 and will receive an annual salary of $203,000. She will succeed Joseph S. Wood, who has been serving as USM’s interim president since July 2007.
The USM president lives in a large house on the Gorham campus.
Botman oversees university policies governing the academic programs of CUNY and its 19 colleges and more than 100 research centers. She is also responsible for the development and implementation of the “Flagship Environment” initiative and a variety of special university-wide programs.
She earned a master’s degree in Middle Eastern studies and doctoral degree in History & Middle Eastern studies, both from Harvard University. She also earned a bachelor’s degree from Brandeis University and master’s of philosophy from Oxford University.
