AUGUSTA - The president of the University of Southern Maine was selected Monday as the new chancellor of the University of Maine System.

System trustees voted unanimously for Richard Pattenaude after a search committee presented feedback about the three finalists but offered no recommendation on which one to choose.

In addition to Pattenaude, finalists included James Applegate, vice president for Academic Affairs at the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, and Warren Fox, executive director of the Office of Higher Education, Policy & Planning for the United Arab Emirates' Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.

The three candidates vying for the $200,000-a-year post recently visited campuses from Portland to Presque Isle for formal interviews.

Pattenaude is expected to begin his new duties July 1, succeeding Terrence MacTaggart, who returned to the job he once held on a one-year assignment following the resignation of Joseph Westphal.

Westphal, whose tenure included a controversial reorganization of the system, came to the chancellorship from the Pentagon, where he served as an assistant secretary and acting secretary of the Army. He left the office on June 30.

The chancellor oversees a system with an annual budget of nearly $600 million and more than 34,000 students on seven campuses, along with additional satellites and outreach centers scattered across the state.