Selma Botman

Selma Botman
10th
In office July 1, 2008 – July 9, 2012
Preceded by	Richard L. Pattenaude
Succeeded by	Theo Kalikow
Personal details
Born	1950 (age 73–74) Chelsea, Massachusetts, U.S.
Residence(s)	Portland, Maine, U.S.

Selma Botman is an American academic. She was the President of the University of Southern Maine from July 1, 2008 until she resigned on July 9, 2012. From 2004 to 2008, she served as the Executive Vice-Chancellor and University Provost of the City University of New York.

Early life and education

Selma Botman grew up in Chelsea, Massachusetts, which she describes as a "very poor city". Her father worked in a shoe factory and his education ended at grade eight. Her mother graduated from high school but never moved on to college. Both of them encouraged their children, Selma and her two brothers, to get degrees. In the end, all of the siblings reached the level of PhD.

Botman said, "My parents promoted the importance of education, and they just expected their children would be smart."

Botman received a B.A. in psychology from Brandeis University even though she says she had no interest in the field. Instead she says she thought psychology would help her figure out who she was, which she spent her time as an undergraduate doing. At this time she developed an interest in the Middle East but believed it was too late to change majors and thus stayed with psychology until graduation.

After graduation she went to Oxford University where she got a B.Phil. in Middle Eastern Studies. On returning to the US she married Thomas Birmingham, her sweetheart from high school, and attended Harvard University where she earned an A.M. in Middle Eastern Studies and a Ph.D. in History and Middle Eastern Studies.

Academic career

After Harvard, Botman began her career in education when she taught in the political science department at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA. She says that her career was satisfying and she enjoyed the classroom but believed she could help more people as an administrator.

She moved on to being Provost at UMass then moved into being the Executive Vice Chancellor and University Provost of City University of New York (CUNY), she worked there for four years overseeing twenty three academic units over the five boroughs. She says that she loved being close to her daughters, who live together in New York City and work in the fashion industry, and the excitement of Manhattan. But she said, "I really wanted to come back to a campus, because I wanted to be closer to faculty and students."

When her younger daughter, Megan, was attending Bates College she was convinced, along with her husband, to visit Peak's Island. There the two bought a house and when, two months later, the job of University of Southern Maine President opened up, she applied for it.

Botman is a specialist in modern Middle Eastern politics. She has taught in the history PhD program at the CUNY Graduate Center and the history department at The City College of New York.

Botman has been an Affiliate in Research at Harvard University’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies and a member of Middle East Studies Association, the American Association of University Women, the American Association for Higher Education & Accreditation, and the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges.

Botman was as Special Assistant to the Chancellor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and as Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of Massachusetts system. She was a tenured full professor in the Departments of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts Boston and Lowell campuses.

City University of New York

In the fall of 2004 she was appointed the Executive Vice-Chancellor and University Provost of The City University of New York (CUNY). According to Botman and with her leadership, CUNY initiated and coordinated several flagship programs, including the university-wide Campaign for Student Success, The Teacher Academy, the Black Male Initiative, the Latino Faculty Initiative, the Macaulay Honors College for undergraduate honors education, and a revised Distinguished Professorship initiative. She collaborated with the NYC Department of Education to establish CUNY as a national model for urban public education. Botman developed numerous programs to improve the university’s visibility, to enhance the breadth and rigor of its academic programs, and to make high-quality education available to every New York City public school student.

University of Southern Maine

Botman became the president of the University of Southern Maine on July 1, 2008. She focused on building a model 21st-century public comprehensive university, with student achievement as its focus. In fall 2008 she initiated a strategic planning process, which concluded in spring 2009 with the publication of Building Maine's Future: 2009-2014. She introduced strategic budgeting to the university along with tight fiscal and operational accountability. Botman attempted to guide the university through a complex restructuring effort designed to increase the quality of students' educational experiences and remove barriers to interdisciplinary exchange and programmatic development.

Botman advocated the university's indispensability to the community as Maine's only regional comprehensive public university and for the necessity of the university being a student-centered institution. She developed a five-year strategic plan, Preparing USM for the Future: 2009-2014 and restored the university's fiscal health. In 2009 she secured University of Maine System Strategic Investment Funding to establish the first STEM honors program in the state, the Pioneers, which admitted its inaugural class in fall 2011. In May 2010 the University of Maine System Board of Trustees approved a sweeping academic reorganization plan that Botman oversaw, resulting from a process that included faculty and administrators on an institutional redesign team and that won approval by the USM Faculty Senate.

On April 2, 2012, the Bangor Daily News reported that the University of Southern Maine faculty had gathered signatures on a petition to hold a faculty-wide no-confidence vote for Botman. On May 2, 2012, the vote was tallied. A dispute quickly erupted over the exact meaning of the vote's rules, resulting in a disagreement over whether the vote passed or failed. The tally was that 68% of votes cast were for no confidence, but only 75% of faculty members cast votes. A two thirds majority was needed for the vote to be considered a success. Some contended that this meant two thirds of those voting indicated the vote had passed, while others contended it meant a two thirds majority of the entire faculty was required and thus the vote had failed with 51.46% of the entire faculty having voted no confidence. Initially, Botman believed the vote of no confidence had failed to pass, but she resigned later that month. The University of Maine System Board of Trustees approved the resignation effective July 9, 2012.

Published works

Bottman has published the following books:

• The Rise of Egyptian Communism: 1939-1970, Syracuse University Press, 1988
• From Independence to Revolution: Egypt, 1922-1952, Syracuse University Press, 1991
• Engendering Citizenship in Egypt, Columbia University Press, 1999