BANGOR — University of Southern Maine President Selma Botman plans to step down, and the University System chancellor has tapped recently retired University of Maine at Farmington President Theodora Kalikow to take her place.

In an announcement Thursday, Chancellor James H. Page said Botman, recently the subject of a failed no-confidence faculty vote, agreed to step down to lead an effort to expand and develop the system’s international education programs.

“President Botman and I considered how we might best move the University of Southern Maine forward,” Page said in a written statement. “President Botman proposed to me that new leadership might be the best direction to go in and, in a characteristically selfless move, she requested reassignment. I agree with her appraisal of the situation, appreciate her dedication to USM and support her request.”

Page said Botman’s international relations experience qualifies her to lead a system-wide international outreach initiative.

“The University System is far behind its peers in recruiting international students — at a time when more and more of these students are seeking degrees from American universities,” he said. “Dr. Botman will develop a much-needed, long-term, system-wide strategy for engaging international programs and students.”

Page has asked Kalikow, who retired from UMF less than a week ago, to take Botman’s place as head of USM. Kalikow, who served as UMF president for 18 years, is set to begin at USM on Tuesday, July 10.

However, both Botman’s move and Kalikow’s appointment must be approved by the UMS Board of Trustees. The board will hold a regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, July 9, at the University of Maine System office in downtown Bangor and it will take up both issues then.

Botman has proven unpopular as president, particularly with faculty members. She’s taken flak over reorganization, in which USM consolidated six schools and colleges into three colleges and has begun consolidating and reorganizing individual academic departments in an effort to save money and better benefit students. In March, faculty and staff grew more upset when the Portland Press Herald reported that Botman had given discretionary raises to some staff members while most other employees went without. 

This spring, full-time faculty members held a no-confidence vote. Although the vote was 194-88 against Botman, it did not have the two-thirds faculty majority it needed in order to pass and be forwarded to the University of Maine System Board of Trustees, as per Faculty Senate bylaws.

Afterward, Page held meetings with faculty and staff in an effort to ease tensions and unite the university.