The Star Press

MUNCIE — Ball State University tapped into an East Coast university for its president for for the second consecutive time.

Paul W. Ferguson, president of The University of Maine since 2011, was named the 15th president of Ball State on Thursday.

He will replace President Jo Ann Gora , who had the campus recreation and wellness center named after her by the board this month.

In September, the Ball State trustees approved a 3.5 percent pay increase for Gora, taking her base salary from $431,244 to $446,338.

Trustees board chairman Rick Hall said Ferguson will be paid a base salary of $450,000 next year. At Maine, Ferguson earned a base salary of $270,000 during the fiscal year 2013.

The board unanimously approved Ferguson. Hall said Ferguson's "student-centered" approach was key to his selection.

After being named, Ferguson offered up a blueprint of Ball State's future and talked about the importance of athletics and other programs.

Ferguson is a Southern California native and a Whittier College graduate who earned a Ph.D. in pharmacology and toxicology at the University of California-Davis in 1981.

As an assistant professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, he worked to establish the first undergraduate toxicology program in the South.

He also worked for five years as senior toxicologist for Unocal Corp. in Los Angeles. He then returned to Louisiana and served as an award-winning professor, and he was vice provost 1995-1999 prior to assuming a new position at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, where he served in a variety of roles.

In 2006, Ferguson was appointed provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the Edwardsville campus of Southern Illinois.

Ferguson and his wife, Grace, have been married for 40 years and have three children.