enlarge Jill Brady/Staff Photographer

Selma Botman gets a congratulatory hug from her mother-in-law, Agnes Birmingham.

enlarge Jill Brady/Staff Photographer

Bagpiper and student Steven Lemieux leads a faculty procession along Bedford Street in Portland on Saturday to the Abromson Community Education Center for the inauguration of Selma Botman as the University of Southern Maine’s president.

enlarge Jill Brady/Staff Photographer

Selma Botman is applauded by University of Maine System Chancellor Richard Pattenaude, left, and Lyndel J. Wishcamper, chairman of the University of Maine System board of trustees, after her inauguration on Saturday.

PORTLAND — Praised by former colleagues for her commitment to student success, her pioneering scholarship and her innovation as a university administrator, Selma Botman was formally installed Saturday as the 10th president of the University of Southern Maine.

The ceremony at Hannaford Lecture Hall was marked by enthusiasm and optimism, despite the challenges faced by southern Maine's most influential center of learning, which is in the midst of deep budget cuts and on the eve of an administrative restructuring.

Botman told about 300 people gathered for the ceremony that just as she had professors and mentors who changed her life, USM is essential to the aspirations of the 10,000 students who depend on the institution and integral to the wider community as well.

"The education and training we provide not only improves individual lives and families, but also enhances whole communities, workplaces and in the end, society as a whole," she said during a speech that was interrupted several times by applause. "Consequently, we roll up our sleeves and simply go on with our work because what we do matters, and because our hearts and souls as educators make no other choice possible."

The event was attended by numerous college presidents, dozens of faculty and well-wishers, as well as Botman's family and close friends. It began with a bagpiper leading a short procession from the nearby Wishcamper Center, a parade of scholars colorfully swathed in the academic regalia of the institutions from which they received degrees.

Lyndel J. Wishcamper, who chairs the University of Maine System board of trustees, placed on Botman the medallion of her office, as University of Maine System Chancellor and former USM President Richard Pattenaude instructed her to uphold the values and reputation of the university, support academic freedom and ensure the school's benefit to the broader community.

"It is the public's business you perform here and it is their success that will be your success," Pattenaude said.

From a dais with as many women as men, Botman spoke of USM's essential legacy in expanding the reach of higher education to learners of every background, motivated by dreams of a better life.

"Colleges and universities have gone from being training grounds for society's elite to a transformative educational experience owned by women and men from every social class, race, gender, sexual orientation and religion," she said.

While few students chose to sacrifice a couple of hours of the gorgeous weekend to attend, student success was a recurrent theme at the inauguration, from displays in the lobby of student research and artwork to performances by the school's music students before, during and after the ceremony.

Kim Bird, an administrative assistant at USM's Muskie School of Public Service and a student in the music department, said the event has significance for students.

"It's a difficult time for USM," she said. "This is a fairly concrete ceremony of leadership, which is nice to have right now."

Botman took the occasion to announce a $1 million gift from the Bernard Osher Foundation for the endowment of re-entry scholarships geared to adults who have been out of school for more than five years and want to resume their studies and earn a baccalaureate degree. The endowment will provide $2,000 scholarships to 25 students each year.

Botman joined USM on July 1. She is a first-generation college student who grew up in Chelsea, Mass., and went on to become a respected scholar in Middle Eastern society and politics. Her unique approach to understanding social movements within Middle Eastern culture showed she was comfortable thinking about new ways of viewing information, unfettered by the assumptions and conclusions of prior research, said friend and former colleague Leila Fawaz, professor of Lebanese and Eastern Mediterranean Studies at Tufts...