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Joseph McDonnell appointed interim president at UMF

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Joseph McDonnell, the University of Maine at Farmington’s newly appointed interim president.

FARMINGTON – Following a difficult end of the 2021-2022 school year, Joseph McDonnell has been hired as the new interim president of the University of Maine at Farmington, and is hopeful that his planned efforts will create improvements to the community.

In an email sent to students on June 30, McDonnell expressed his eagerness to begin working with faculty and staff. He outlined his plans to share information about the work he will be doing on the three-credit curriculum transition strategic plan, and his plans to develop the Organizational Design Review report with faculty and students.

“We need to have a dialogue as a community about what the ways in which we can rebuild are. We start with retention, and that calls for a robust first year program, because that’s always a challenge-to have students go from the first to the second year,” McDonnell said.

McDonnell has entered UMF at a contentious time for the university. At the end of the spring 2022 semester, nine faculty members in the discipline of humanities were retrenched, and others incentivized into early retirement, bringing a strong backlash from students and faculty. McDonnell said the recent cuts do not “mean that it’s forever.”

“You know, being from the humanities, I’m sympathetic. I’m wondering if there’s some possibilities in the graduate area for the humanities because that’s another area we need to look at, because generally graduate education is growing, even though the demographics of the 18-21 group, particularly in Maine, is declining. I’m going to be looking at possibilities for areas of expanding humanities in conjunction with the School of Education. I’m going to be sympathetic to the concerns of the students of the humanities, although that’s not to say that I have the budget to solve that problem. But,” McDonnell added, “we can be imaginative; that’s one thing that the humanities gives us, the possibility to be imaginative.”

Senior Karly Jacklin, who has helped lead a group of students and staff protesting the cuts, expressed their concerns with the incoming president.

“They say that this is all in the name of enrollment, but it sure doesn’t feel that way. UMF is not a business, and they need to stop treating the UMaine System as if it is one. It is a public service,” they said.

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