PORTLAND (AP) — Embattled University of Southern Maine President Selma Botman is stepping down and taking a new job within the University of Maine System.

Botman will be replaced by Theo Kalikow, who retired in May after 18 years as president of the University of Maine at Farmington, Chancellor James Page announced Thursday. The changes must be approved by UMS trustees, who are meeting Monday.

Botman became president in 2008 and came under fire this year from faculty and staff unhappy with her leadership and the direction of the university. Faculty in May voted 194-80 in favor of a noconfidence motion, but it fell short of the two-thirds majority of the 377 faculty members needed to pass.

Botman will fill a newly created position, special assistant to the chancellor on global education. In that role, she’ll be in charge of international programs and students at the university system’s seven universities.

Botman proposed that USM might be best served with new leadership and requested that she be reassigned, Page said. Botman’s experience in international relations qualifies her to lead the system’s international outreach initiative, he said.

“The university system is far behind its peers in recruiting international students at a time when more and more of these students are seeking degrees from American universities,” he said.