Anchorage Daily News

A faculty leader at University of Alaska Anchorage says Chancellor Elaine Maimon may leave her position because of a hostile working relationship with University President Mark Hamilton.

Maimon's name surfaced last month on a list of finalists for a new job at Governors State University in Illinois.

Late last week, the Faculty Senate passed a unanimous resolution, asking Hamilton to make an effort to retain her. The resolution has been sent to Hamilton and the Board of Regents.

"We have to ask ourselves, I think, why this chancellor could be tempted away after two and a half years," said Kerri Morris, president of the Faculty Senate at UAA. "It seems pretty clear to me that she has not been in an environment at work that encourages and supports her enthusiasm at UAA.

"I think Mark has failed to embrace her enthusiasm."

Maimon surprised many at the university last month when Governors State University, a smaller school in Illinois, announced online that she was a finalist for president. Maimon did not respond Thursday or Friday to e-mail or cell phone messages.

In a brief phone interview last month, Maimon downplayed the Governors State announcement, saying she didn't have plans to leave the university, and denied there were bad relations between her and the statewide administration. However, she would not rule out taking the new job if it is offered.

Sometimes a university tries to keep a valued official who is looking elsewhere by counteroffering more pay or better benefits. But during a meeting with the faculty in late January, Hamilton said he had no plans to try to retain Maimon.

Hamilton, in Juneau for a meeting with the Board of Regents, was not available to be interviewed Thursday and did not respond to a list of specific questions. His secretary wouldn't give his location on Friday but said he continued to be unavailable.

Kate Ripley, spokeswoman for the university system, sent a short e-mail statement attributed to Hamilton, dismissing the matter as "water cooler talk." He called himself one of UAA's "chief advocates."

"I believe when someone wants to take their career in a different and new direction, as her candidacy at Governors State indicates, they should be allowed and even encouraged to do so," the statement said.

Asked over e-mail both Thursday and Friday if he'd asked Maimon to step down, he did not respond.

Maimon's relationship with statewide administrators was strained, Morris said, recounting a yearly operational review meeting she attended last fall.

"Every piece of information she and her leadership team trotted out, Mark and statewide attacked it," Morris said. "He was rude to her. He silenced her. He interrupted her. ... He was unbelievably hostile."

Other UAA faculty members reported being treated similarly by Hamilton, she said.

Morris questioned whether personal style was at the root of the conflict.

"Does she communicate in a way that offends him? Does she intimidate him? This is a woman who is very forthright," she said.

Hamilton declined to comment on any of this.

Jocelyn Krebs, an associate professor in the biology department, recalled a tense meeting about construction of UAA's new science building, where a statewide administrator seemed extremely adversarial, she said. The new building on UAA's campus is one of Maimon's largest accomplishments.

"My impression has been Elaine has been very happy at UAA and been extraordinarily careful to not set up a UAA-versus-the-world approach, in terms of funding," she said. "For her to want to leave, it's got to be based on feeling like she can't work with these people."

There's long been tension between UAA, the largest campus in the university system, and the statewide administration in Fairbanks over the distribution of funds, said Jack Roderick, a former Anchorage mayor who has been on the chancellor's advisory board since the early 1990s. Some at the university question the need for the large, highly-paid statewide administrative staff, he said.

Roderick said he recently spoke to Hamilton, asking him not to let Maimon go. A national search for a new candidate would take a toll on the university, he said.

"(Hamilton's) judgment was to hire her, now she's leaving. ... Something didn't work; let's put it that way," Roderick said. "I think he has a responsibility to explain why he is not supporting her. He should speak up and say what's going on."

Daily News reporter Julia O'Malley can be reached at jomalley@adn.com or 257-4325.

Elaine Maimon

• EDUCATION: Bachelor's, master's and doctorate, University of Pennsylvania.

• EXPERIENCE: Teaching and administrative jobs at Haverford College, Arcadia University, Brown University, Queens College (CUNY) and Arizona State University West.

• ALASKA: Became chancellor of UAA in 2004.