The University of Maine System (UMS) Board of Trustees announced today that UMS Chancellor Dannel P. Malloy and Trustee and University of Maine at Augusta (UMA) Presidential Search Committee Chair Sven P. Bartholomew have accepted Dr. Michael Laliberte’s voluntary withdrawal from his contract to be the next President of UMA. A joint statement with Dr. Laliberte has been issued separately.
A written settlement agreement regarding Dr. Laliberte’s withdrawal has not yet been signed, but the parties have agreed that Dr. Laliberte will be paid the first year of compensation he would have earned as UMA president. The parties have also agreed that Dr. Laliberte may be paid additional compensation in the second and third year only if he seeks but is unable to find employment earning the same or greater salary than he would have earned in his first year as UMA’s president. Any earnings he has during that time will be offset against the UMA presidential compensation. System reserves will fund the payments to Dr. Laliberte.
Chancellor Malloy and UMS Board of Trustees Chair Mark R. Gardner released the following additional statement today announcing plans for a new presidential search for UMA:
“At our joint recommendation, the Board of Trustees will launch a new national search for the president of the University of Maine at Augusta next fall. We are grateful for the continued leadership of Dr. Joe Szakas, who has agreed to continue serving as interim president through next June 30, which will ensure that we have the time and space to conduct a comprehensive and robust new search. Trustees will take up the extension of his appointment at their meeting in July.
We take responsibility for the lack of trust in the initial UMA presidential search process and will move forward to constitute a new search committee and seek new candidates with the guidance of a new search firm, to be selected after a thorough RFP process.
We commit to a search process that is inclusive and transparent. It is critical that members of the University of Maine at Augusta and UMS communities have confidence in the integrity of the search process, and in the shared governance that must be the foundation of a successful search.
To that end, the Board also commends our plan to review the UMA search process at the University of Maine at Augusta and make recommendations regarding future searches within the University of Maine System. We look forward to faculty participation and input in that review.”
In a separate statement, Gardner added:
“As demonstrated by the recent appointment of Jacqueline Edmondson as the new President of the University of Southern Maine, UMS has a track record of attracting talented leaders to shape the future of our universities and state. We accept the Chancellor’s accountability for the mistakes made in the UMA presidential search, and we are all committed to fostering confidence and trust from our faculty, staff, students and communities in future presidential searches. We thank the Chancellor for his leadership and accountability, and we look forward to working with him to ensure we conduct every presidential search in the future with the full confidence of the universities our presidents lead.”
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