University of Maine System trustees approved Chancellor Richard Pattenaude’s recommendation of Paul Ferguson as the next president of UMaine, the state’s flagship and land-grant university in Orono.

Currently provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville, Ferguson will succeed Robert Kennedy at Orono on July 1.

UMaine noted that the president's salary of $270,000 is low compared with presidents of similar institutions, which in New England, range from $231,143 at the University of Rhode Island to $575,500 at the University of Connecticut, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

A southern California native, Ferguson earned a bachelor's degree in Biology at Whittier College and a doctorate in Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of California, Davis.

Among other scientists leading New England land-grant universities, the University of Massachusetts in January selected chemist Robert Caret, president of Towson University, to succeed Jack M. Wilson as head of the five-campus UMass system. University of Rhode Island President David M. Dooley is also a chemist.

****

Sanjay Sharma, dean of the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University, was appointed dean of the School of Business Administration at the University of Vermont, effective July 1, 2011. The Aspen Institute ranked the Molson School  34^th in the world in its Beyond Gray Pinstripes Survey recognizing coursework, research and activities that prepare MBAs for social, enthical and environmental stewardship.

****

Howard C. Bauchner, vice chair of pediatrics at Boston University’s School of Medicine, will become editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Medical Association in July. He will replace Catherine D. DeAngelis, who will leave in June, after 11 years, to return to the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

****

Lesley University appointed Southern Connecticut State University Provost Selase W. Williams as provost and chief academic officer. Williams previously served for 17 years in the California State University System, beginning as chair of the Pan African Studies Department at the Northridge campus and rising to dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the Dominguez Hills campus.