University of Maine System Board of Trustees Adopts a Five-Year Strategic Plan, Approves Budget and Moves Forward in Talks with Chancellor

PRESQUE ISLE, Maine (WAGM) -On Monday, members of the Board of Trustees of the University of Maine System voted to approve a Systemwide budget for the fiscal year 23-24. For the first time since 2021, the budget includes a 3% tuition increase for in-state students and slightly higher increases for out-of-state students. “After keeping tuition flat last year, and flat for eight of the past 12 years, this decision to increase tuition was taken very seriously by all of our Trustees,” said Trish Riley, Chair of the UMS Board of Trustees. Despite the increase, the University of Maine, the System’s flagship university is among the most affordable among New England states.

The Board of Trustees also adopted a landmark five-year strategic plan anchored in a series of commitments and goals aimed at strengthening the System through financial sustainability, advancing the state of Maine through teaching, research and service, as well as collaboration among the seven universities and Law School through the System’s unified accreditation program, a project spear-headed by UMS Chancellor Dannel Malloy. A feature of the plan is a series of goals aimed at improving retention and enrollment and fostering efforts in research, and economic and workforce development.

And in a unanimous decision, the Board moved ahead with plans to negotiate a contract with Dannel Malloy, who was appointed Chancellor of the University of Maine System on July 1, 2019.

“Chancellor Malloy has built a strong team and positioned UMS for the future, despite financial and demographic challenges, earning the Board’s full support for his continued leadership,” Board Chair Trish Riley shared. Riley cited the Chancellor’s success with both unified accreditation and the strategic plan, plus his vision and tireless work in ushering in the Maine Center, the new home for the Maine School of Law and the Graduate School of Business, a venture generously funded by the Harold Alfond Foundation.

“I am grateful to the Board of Trustees for their continued support,” Chancellor Dannel Malloy said. “I am proud of the work we have been able to accomplish and I look forward to the work that lies ahead to create the great opportunities for all of our students within the University of Maine System.”

About the University of Maine System: Established in 1968, the University of Maine System (UMS) unites seven Maine’s distinctive public universities, comprising 10 campuses and numerous centers, in the common purpose of providing quality higher education while delivering on its traditional tripartite mission of teaching, research, and public service. In 2020 UMS became the first and only statewide enterprise of public higher education in the country to transition to a unified accreditation for the system. Much different than a merger or consolidation, unified accreditation is a new operating model for the University of Maine System

that removes the primary barrier to inter-institutional collaboration. A comprehensive public institution of higher education, UMS serves more than 30,000 students annually and is supported by the efforts of more than 2,000 full-time and part-time faculty, more than 3,000 regular full-time and part-time staff, and a complement of part-time temporary (adjunct) faculty. Reaching more than 500,000 people annually through educational and cultural offerings, the University of Maine System also benefits from more than two-thirds of its alumni population residing within the state; more than 123,000 individuals. The System consists of seven main campuses: The University of Maine (UMaine), including its regional campus the University of Maine at Machias (UMaine Machias); the University of Maine at Augusta (UMA); the University of Maine at Farmington (UMF); the University of Maine at Fort Kent (UMFK), the University of Maine at Presque Isle (UMPI); and the University of Southern Maine (USM). The System also includes a UMA campus in Bangor, USM campuses in Gorham and Lewiston-Auburn, the University of Maine School of Law, and the University of Maine Graduate and Professional Center.