BIDDEFORD — It’s been 10 years since a recruiter called Danielle Ripich to inquire about her interest in the University of New England.

Ten years later, the university has grown its enrollment by more than 6,000 students to more than 10,000, built new residence halls and athletic facilities, and opened a study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco. Now at the end of the university’s 10- year strategic plan, Vision 2017, Ripich says it’s time to pack up the books.

“I think sometimes it’s good for change,” she said. “Change is the future … I’ve always sort of believed organizations go through cycles, and I think they’ve gotten my best thinking and it’s time for a change.”

Ripich, who has both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in speech pathology from Cleveland State University, is a former professor in the arts and sciences, and a dean of the College of Health Professions at the University of South Carolina. She said she had been to Maine only once before realizing UNE was her calling.

“I felt that I could see how I could contribute to (UNE),” Ripich said. “The more I learned about the school, the more I got excited about it.”

Part of her motivation as the fifth UNE president was to bring both a pharmacy and dental school to the state, two institutions that, at the time, the university did not have. Under her tenure and the development of the 10-year plan, Ripich said UNE now serves a role the state’s flagship university can’t serve.

Now, one year from the plan’s completion, the university will see its largest-ever class of liberal arts and sciences entering next fall. Online enrollment now comprises about 40 percent of all students, and 97 percent of online master’s degree students graduate. The university’s medical school has also grown by 40 percent, graduating 175 students for the past three years. Last month, UNE graduated the largest class in its history – more than 1,700 students.

“We’re sort of cutting edge … Maine is a place where people are basically modest, and we haven’t gotten around to sort of bragging. We’ve always kind of done our work. And it’s turning out to have been successful. I tell people to shout humility.”

Shouting humility is something she’s certainly done, giving credit to many, but hardly to herself, for the university’s success. Namely, she credits both the people of Maine and her students.

“I’ve really been impressed with the work ethic here in Maine,” Ripich said, speaking about the university’s $23 million in construction completed during the economic strife of 2008. And her students, Ripich says, are “the kind of students you want to help.”

“They inspire me as much as anything,” she said.

She also credits the city of Biddeford with the university’s success.

“I think the growth and the positive changes that are coming in Biddeford have the ability to have UNE and Biddeford to help each other and become more vital in the engagement that I see. I think it’s immeasurably better than a decade ago when I arrived. I feel strongly across the university that there is a lot of support and interest in engagement with the city,” Ripich said. “We’re happy to be where we are.”

But Ripich, now 71, is ready to step back and observe from the sidelines.

“I think I’m ready. This is not really a job; it’s more like a role,” she said. “I have grandchildren and things that I want to do, and I want to sit back and sort of watch the future of UNE. I’m ready to sit in the bleachers a little bit.”

She may be stepping down, but Ripich certainly isn’t slowing down. When she’s not skiing with her family at Sugarloaf, she’ll be traveling between Cork, Ireland – where she owns a farm – to write family stories, and to Charleston, South Carolina, to spend time with her five grandchildren there. Ripich also has two grandchildren in Ohio, and plans to spend time with them too.

“I think between the visiting family and digging in the dirt in Ireland, I’m going to be happy.”

Ripich will retire at the end of the 2017 school year, in time for Vision 2017 to expire. Her final year will see the installation of the university’s first football program and the introduction of the women’s rugby team into the National Rugby League as a varsity sport.

To outsiders, her life may seem like a dream. But Ripich said every positive aspect of it has been because of her will to go with the flow.

“I think that (it is important) in life to be open to things and let your life happen sometimes,” Ripich said. “We overly plan and structure and think we’re going to control things and, honestly, in life, in my life at least, I’ve found that there’s a lot of serendipitous occurrences and (you) can let it unfold.”

— Staff Writer Alan Bennett can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 329 or abennett@journaltribune.com