Barry Mills, who led Bowdoin College for 14 years, has the task of stabilizing the struggling University of Massachusetts campus in Boston.
The Boston Globe reported that Mills, 66, who was responsible for building Bowdoin’s endowment from $470 million to nearly $1.4 billion, was recently hired as the second-in-command at UMass Boston.
The campus has 17,000 students and a projected deficit of $30 million — a result of shrinking state support, increased maintenance costs and “chaotic management,” the Globe reported.
Faculty members are not sure what’s ahead with Mills taking a role in operations.
“There’s a real sense of uncertainty,” John Hess, an English professor, told the Globe. “He’s a very affable man, he’s very well-spoken but, to be honest, we don’t know what to expect.”
Mill announced his plans to retire as Bowdoin’s resident in 2014 and was succeeded by Clayton S. Rose in July 2015.