By Dave Dyer

Staff Writer

University of Southern Maine President Selma Botman says she enjoys the day-to-day responsibilities of her new job. However, one of her current responsibilities will be overseeing possible job cuts.

“We have been asked by the state to cut $2.7 million from our budget by June of next year,” she said.

Botman said the university is cutting funds from non-core operation activities, to help minimize the number of faculty cuts, which could number as many as 65 positions.

“We’ll be cutting $300,000 from the library,” she said. “We are also cutting $200,000 from technology funds for repairs on our computers and we have reduced non-credit activities by $200,000. We are also asking our teachers to voluntarily teach an extra course. We have around 80 percent of our budget right now tied up in personnel.”

Botman said there will be no changes in course selections or classes for students. She said the cuts are affecting colleges both in the state and around the country.

“It’s happening to every public higher learning institution in America,” she said. “Obviously I would like to see the opposite of this situation happen, but I don’t spend my time focusing on that. I spend my time trying to find the best results for this university.”

Botman became the 10th president of USM on July 1. She accepted the position after serving as executive vice chancellor, provost and professor of political science and history in the City University of New York system (CUNY).

Botman previously served as a political science professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, University of Massachusetts at Boston and Holy Cross College.

Botman, a native of Chelsea, Mass. says her parents inspired her love of education.

“My father didn’t finish the eighth grade,” she said. “He was an immigrant from Russia and came over to the United States before the Russian Revolution of 1917. He worked as a shoe factory worker until it closed. My mother was from the United States and graduated from high school but didn’t go to college. They both believed the only ticket to the middle class was to go to college.”

Following the advice of her parents, Botman chose to attend college. She received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Brandeis University, graduating cum laude in 1973. She also received a degree in Middle Eastern studies from Oxford University in 1975 and a doctorate degree from Harvard University in history and Middle Eastern studies in 1984.

Botman said she enjoyed her time as a college student.

“I loved it and I’ve never really left,” she says.

Botman said she toured Middle Eastern countries during college.

“I got to travel around through Israel and Egypt for five years,” she said. “Traveling through those areas builds tolerance. I realized I’m only a small piece of a large world.” 

Botman said her career path was inspired by a professor.

“I had a professor who became a role model for me,” she said. “She was a very accomplished researcher, a dedicated teacher and a new mother. I remember thinking ‘I want to be you’ because I aspired to be all those things. I saw before me someone living that dream.”

Botman said she moved on from the role of professor to administrator because she felt she could make more of an impact in student’s lives.

“I’ve had some wonderful administrative jobs,” she said. “But I decided to come to USM because I believe in its promise.”

USM is the first presidential job for Botman. She said the new position involves lots of responsibility.

“It’s an awesome responsibility,” she said. “In the end, all of the challenges and issues rest with me. But one person can’t run it alone. I have a great team of people committed to the students of this university. Without their support and wisdom, I couldn’t get by. I do believe I bring in decades of experience in education and I have a true love for this work.”

Botman says her current goals for USM is for more students to graduate.

“We have a strategic planning process for the second semester, but my three immediate goals are student success, student success and student success,” she says. “I want more students to graduate and enter their communities and the workforce ready to be successful people and engaged citizens.”

Botman said her journey to USM began with a trip to Peaks Island.

“My youngest daughter Meagan had a best friend from Peaks Island,” she says. “My husband and I love to ride bikes. She told us to take our bikes to Peaks Island because we would love it. On a lark, we listened to her, drove to Portland, took the ferry out and rode around the island. Sure enough, we fell in love with the island. We saw a house, called a broker and bought it back in September of last year.”

Botman said a few weeks later she heard about the opening for USM president.

“I wasn’t looking for a job, I was nominated for it,” she said. “I said I would take a very serious look at it. I applied and the rest-as they say-is history. I just have to thank [daughter’s friend] Morgan Brown for introducing Meagan to Peaks Island.”

Botman currently resides with her husband, Tom Birmingham, at the USM president’s house in Gorham. They have two daughters, Erica, 26 and Meagan, 24.

Botman says her hobbies are riding bikes, cooking and reading.

“I don’t watch television,” she says. “I love to read. I’m currently reading the poetry of Annie Finch, one of the faculty members here at USM.”

Botman said she looks forward to work every day.

“I’ve never had a situation where I didn’t want to go to work,” she said. “I believe in the promise of higher education.”