FARMINGTON — University of Maine at Farmington President Edward Serna announced his resignation last week; he has accepted a position as president at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina and will begin this July.
Serna began his position at UMF in July of 2019- only six months before the COVID-19 Pandemic hit the United States. Working closely with other administrators, Serna lead the campus through the harsh difficulties speared by the quickly spreading virus. Now, two years later, Serna and his staff are still navigating the constantly changing recommendations.
“Edward has been a strategic consensus builder at the University of Maine at Farmington who has successfully led the institution into its most significant academic transformation in nearly two decades. He will leave Farmington a university better positioned for success,” University of Maine System Chancellor Dannel Malloy said in a press release Tuesday evening.
Malloy will visit the campus on Tuesday, March 1, to discuss the need for transitional leadership beginning and to start planning for a national search for an ongoing presidential appointment in the upcoming academic year.
Serna announced the transition to staff members in an email last week, noting the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity it was to be offered a position at his graduating school. Serna will serve as the school’s 12th president.
“I know that we have all felt different challenges, in so many areas of our lives, during the past two years. But I can’t help but marvel at how we have moved through and cared for one another all along. I know how unusually generous and resourceful this community is,” Serna wrote.
“In returning to Winthrop, I’m going to a place that feels like home to me. But that also means leaving a home that I deeply respect and cherish — one that made me feel welcomed from the moment my family and I arrived. That spirit fuels everything wonderful here in Farmington and I will miss it. My sincere thanks to everyone for their support during my time here at my Farmington home.”
