USM president instrumental in growth will step down in 2022
Courtesy / USM
Glenn Cummings, who will step down as president of the University of Southern Maine, will lead two foundations.
University of Southern Maine President Glenn Cummings will leave his post next June, the school announced Tuesday, along with a planned national search for his successor.
Cummings, who began serving as president in June 2015, has led USM to record-high out-of-state enrollment growth and helped raise almost $9 million for a program assisting first-generation college students. Recently, the school embarked on its largest-ever construction project and laid the foundation for a new arts center in Portland that will include a music school.
Cummings announced his decision to resign as president and return to USM as a faculty member in separate letters to University of Maine System Chancellor Dannel Malloy and to the University of Maine System Board of Trustees.
"I respect President Cummings' request to leave the USM presidency on a high note and return to the faculty," Malloy said. "He can be proud of the legacy he's built throughout his presidency to position the University of Southern Maine for further success in the University of Maine System. In all the time I've known him, Glenn has never wavered in his focus on USM's students and their success."
Mark Gardner, a USM alumnus who chairs the University of Maine System board, credited Cummings with changing the lives of thousands of students for the better, adding that USM "is dynamic and diverse, and an important part of the university system and the Gorham, Lewiston-Auburn and Portland communities.”
Cummings began his academic career in Gorham as a high school history teacher and department head. He served as a faculty member at the Southern Maine Community College and was a long-serving member of the USM faculty, most recently as an assistant professor of educational leadership, teaching in the master's and doctoral degree programs.
Before becoming president of USM, Cummings served as interim president of the University of Maine at Augusta. He also has had a political career, serving as speaker of the house and majority leader in the Maine House of Representatives. There, he chaired the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs, and sponsored the bill that led to the creation of the Maine Community College System.
In Tuesday's announcement, Cummings said that while a president is the public face of a university, the success of any organization depends on hundreds of people working tirelessly to improve students' lives.
"When I joined the University of Maine System as a president, I promised to serve five years. At the end of my tenure next year, I will have served as a University of Maine System president for eight," he said. "Now is the right time for a transition to new leadership for the university, and it’s the right time for me personally.
"The university is much bigger than any single person. Its strength comes from many people working together for a purpose larger than themselves. At our best, we are but trusted servants. It is my hope that I have met that standard.”
Outside the USM community, Portland Mayor Kate Snyder called Cummings a visionary leader for USM, while Quincy Hentzel, president and CEO of the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce, pointed to Cummings' understanding of the importance of partnership and collaboration.
"During his time at the University of Southern Maine," Hentzel said, "he's been a conduit for the business community to connect with the school, and he and his team have prioritized helping students to get hands-on experience in the community.
"Glenn is a strong leader, a committed educator and a wonderful person. He has always centered USM's students in his decisions, while building bridges between the university and the communities it serves."
Most Recent
Most Recent
Related Content
USM is on the right path. I do agree with Cummings push to change the name of the school to the University of Maine at Portland. Portland is becoming a national kind of brand, or stopping point now, along with a center for technology (Roux, WEX, IDEXX, etc.). Students are attracted to the prestige of a school and part of the name can have an effect. "Southern Maine" is not the draw, "Portland" is. The school is selling itself short with its existing name. Also, the Gorham campus should be separate, or remain as USM. Face it, there is not much attractive about the Gorham campus. I went to school at the Portland campus for one year--a while back--and the energy of this location is infectious. I don't know if it's because the city skyline is so close, along with the bustling traffic of 295, but it just is. This school could be far more popular than it is now. Add the convenience of the train linking Bowdoin, UNE, UNH, and all of Boston's schools, and wow. Boston is on the way to becoming the top tech city in the world. Portland be train is an easy and comfortable 140 minutes away.
1 Comments