University of Southern Maine President to Take On a New Assignment

Last summer, Theodora Kalikow signed a contract extension that would keep her as president of the University of Southern Maine in Portland until June 2015. She was named president in July 2012 after serving for 18 years as president of the University of Maine at Farmington. Now, President Kalikow has announced that she will step down a year early to serve as acting vice chancellor for community engagement for the University of Maine system.

A native of Swampscott, Massachusetts, Dr. Kalikow received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Wellesley College in 1962. She holds a master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Boston University.

Dr. Kalikow began her academic career at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, where she attained the rank of professor and served as  department chair and faculty union president.

From 1984 to 1987, Dr. Kalikow was dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Northern Colorado. In 1987 she moved to Plymouth State College in New Hampshire where she served as dean of the college until 1994, when she was named president of the University of Maine at Farmington.