ORONO (AP) – Peter Hoff resigned Friday after seven years as University of Maine president, ending a week of public speculation that his days in the job were numbered.

The announcement was made by University of Maine System Chancellor Joseph Westphal, who reportedly sought Hoff’s resignation and was at odds with him on a strategic plan for the seven-campus system.

Hoff, whose resignation takes effect Aug. 15, was not available for comment Friday, a university spokesman said.

Hoff, who is eligible for a one-year paid sabbatical on leaving the presidency, will take a five-year non-tenured professorship in which he will work as a scholar and researcher on higher education. His annual salary of $118,895 will equal 75 percent of his presidential pay.

Westphal named Robert Kennedy, the university’s executive vice president and provost, to serve for one year as interim president while a search committee begins the hunt for a permanent successor. Kennedy does not intend to be a candidate.

Westphal and the university plan to have a new president in office at the start of the fall 2005 semester.

The chancellor said he and the system’s board of trustees were grateful for Hoff’s leadership and dedication.

“President Hoff leaves the presidency with a much-larger student enrollment, a more creative and innovative faculty, and a broader and more resourceful research enterprise,” Westphal said.

“As a result of President Hoff’s leadership, the University of Maine is positioned to attain new levels of quality, excellence, and prominence as a nationally and internationally renowned teaching and research institution,” he said.

Hoff had been looking elsewhere for work and in recent years was a finalist for the presidency of other universities. In May, he learned that he had lost his bid for the top job at the University of Nebraska System.

Hoff’s contract expired in August 2003 and he has served since then at the pleasure of the chancellor. He is the university’s longest-serving president in nearly 40 years.