University of Maine at Farmington will make leadership change this summer

Courtesy / UMF Edward Serna, the president of the University of Maine at Farmington, will step down from that role July 1.

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By William Hall

The University of Maine at Farmington’s president, Edward Serna, will step down on July 1 to take a similar role at his alma mater, and a search is starting for his replacement.

Serna, who took the reins at UMF three years ago, will become president of Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., the University of Maine System said in a news release Tuesday.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Serna earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and management from Winthrop, a 6,000-student public university.

He also holds master’s degrees from Auburn University and Clemson University, as well as a doctorate in education from the University of Alabama. Prior to joining UMF, he had served in a variety of leadership positions at the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith, including interim chancellor.

University of Maine System Chancellor Dannel Malloy plans to visit UMF on March 1 to discuss transitional leadership at the school and to start planning a national search for a new president in the upcoming academic year.

“I'd like to personally congratulate President Serna for being offered the presidency at his alma mater, Winthrop University,” Malloy said in the release. “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.”

Serna said, “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.”

Prior to Serna’s tenure, Kathryn Foster had led UMF for six years before becoming president of the College of New Jersey in 2018.

More recently, there have been several other leadership changes within the University of Maine System.

They include the pending departure of University of Southern Maine President Glenn Cummings, who will step down in June to join the Glickman Family Office in Portland as president and CEO.

Last summer, Rebecca Wyke left the presidency of the University of Maine at Augusta to become CEO of the Maine Public Employee Retirement System. In 2020, Deborah Hedeen became president at the University of Maine at Fort Kent, succeeding John Short, who had retired.

Malloy himself is a recent addition to the UMS leadership, joining as chancellor in 2019 after serving two terms as governor of Connecticut.

The University of Maine System, with nearly 30,000 students, comprises the flagship institution in Orono, the University of Maine; the University of Maine at Augusta; the University of Maine at Farmington; the University of Maine at Fort Kent; the University of Maine at Machias; the University of Maine at Presque Isle; the University of Southern Maine; and the University of Maine School of Law.