Richard L. Pattenaude
Richard L. Pattenaude became chancellor of the University of Maine System in July 2007, after serving for sixteen years as president of the University of Southern Maine.
Prior to that, he served for five years as vice president for academic affairs at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain and another five years as associate vice president for academic affairs at the State University of New York at Binghamton. Before moving to New York, President Pattenaude was a member of the political science faculty and an associate dean for six years at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.
A native of Seattle, Wash., he earned his bachelor's degree with honors in economics at California's San Jose State University and his Ph.D. in political science at the University of Colorado. His areas of expertise and publishing include American government, university leadership, public administration, and organizational theory.
He is actively involved in numerous community and business ventures. Chancellor Pattenaude serves, or has served, as a board member of the Portland Museum of Art, World Affairs Council, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, the Maine Science & Technology Foundation, Chamber of Commerce, Lee Auto Malls, Maine Development Foundation, United Way, the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, Maine Medical Center, Institute for Civic Leadership, and the Portland Symphony Orchestra. He recently was selected to sit on the National Commission on Accountability in Higher Education, a group sponsored by the Ford Foundation, and the Association of State Higher Education Executive Officers.
Chancellor Pattenaude and his wife, Michele, have a home in Bangor.