John Short named new UMFK campus president
FORT KENT, Maine — After a six-month search to find a replacement for Wilson Hess, who retired in September, John N. Short was named as the new president of the University of Maine at Fort Kent on Thursday.
After thanking all involved with the selection process as well as the staff, students and community members who welcomed him during his visits to Maine and the campus, Short said, “I appreciate the confidence in me, and I am honored at being appointed as the next president at the University of Maine at Fort Kent.
“My wife, Caryn Cleveland-Short, and I are delighted at being able to join the Fort Kent community,” he said during the announcement on campus at 10 a.m. Thursday.
Short, who holds a doctorate in government from Lehigh University and is CEO and dean of the University of Wisconsin Fond du Lac, will start his new job April 1. Short will be paid a salary of $170,000 per year, with the contract good through June 30, 2018, according to a news release from the office of the chancellor of the University of Maine System.
“Dr. Short’s success in expanding access through early college initiatives, his experience teaching in and growing community focused programs at rural institutions, as well as his entrepreneurial approach to civic engagement and multi-campus collaboration, were accomplishments and characteristics that distinguished John’s candidacy among a large and highly qualified field of aspirants for the UMFK presidency,” said Chancellor James Page, who traveled to Fort Kent with Short on Thursday morning to make the announcement.
Short did not address specific plans he had for when he takes the reigns this spring, but he did say that continuing the campus and community collaborations and working with students would be a priority.
“I want to engage with students,” Short said. “I want them to know my door is always open. I want to know what inspires them.”
“I felt a strong connection to the campus and its mission,” Short told those gathered at UMFK’s Nadeau Hall, referring to his time spent visiting the campus in December.
“I’m delighted to join you on this exciting journey,” he added.
Short previously served as dean and associate dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Millersville University in Pennsylvania, and as dean and professor in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of Arkansas at Monticello.
“The Early College work we are doing at UMFK provides hundreds of students in more than 80 high schools across Maine with a chance to experience the rigors and expectations of higher education while still working toward their high school diplomas,” said Norman Fournier, chair of the UMFK Presidential Search Committee and a member of the University of Maine System board of trustees. “Dr. Short understands and embraces this incredibly important work. It is a privilege on behalf of the board of trustees to welcome our new president to UMFK and assure him that Maine’s rural university has the momentum, tools and the team to do even more.”
Forty-five applications were received for the UMFK leadership position, following advertising in various print and electronic higher education publications, both nationally and in Maine.
Page himself contacted university system heads nationwide seeking nominations.
UMFK Vice President John Murphy has been serving as interim president since Hess left in September, after five years at the system’s northernmost campus.
When Short begins his stint as president in April, he will join the system’s leadership team, which is working on the One University for all of Maine plan.
In January 2015, Page rolled out the One University for all of Maine concept, which seeks to create a system with “seven mission-differentiated, mutually dependent campuses operating as one fully integrated university singularly focused on student success and responsive service.”
The plan also takes aim at addressing what was, at that time, a projected $90 million structural deficit for the University of Maine System by fiscal year 2020.
