Max Allen, chief of staff at University of North Carolina Wilmington, is leaving the university for a comparable position at Clemson University, UNCW announced Friday morning.
Allen will become chief of staff for Clemson beginning June 1, according to a news release from UNCW.
“I am pleased that Max has such a terrific opportunity but will be sorry to see him leave this campus, to which he has contributed so much for so many,” said interim chancellor William Sederburg in the release. “In the time I've been here, Max has been a devoted advisor to me, and it's been heartening to see all the ways he champions our university, both on and off campus.”
Allen was attending a conference Friday and not available for comment, university officials said. But he said in a statement, “While I am honored and humbled to become the Chief of Staff at one of the top universities in the country, this is a bittersweet time for me. UNCW has been my home for the past twelve years. It is with profound sadness and a heavy heart that I will be leaving UNCW at the end of the semester. I have watched this university grow and prosper, while developing wonderful friendships on campus and in the Wilmington community.”
In his move to Clemson, Allen joins a research university whose enrollment – at 16,500 undergraduates and just over 4,000 graduate students – is slightly larger than UNCW’s. Clemson, a land grant university, also has significant research facilities focused on a range of fields, from agriculture to automobile production.
Allen was brought to UNCW in July 2003 by incoming chancellor Rosemary DePaolo. He served at first as her special assistant, overseeing university relations as well as operations in the chancellor's office. The two had previously worked together in a similar relationship at Georgia College & State University, where DePaolo was president, according to information on the UNCW website.
Allen is the latest UNCW administrator to leave -- or announce plans to leave -- the university for other positions in the past year. Along with former chancellor Gary Miller, who departed last summer to head University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, UNCW has seen the departure of Charles Maimone, vice chancellor for business services; Robert Hoon, the university's general counsel; Larry Clark, dean of the Cameron School of Business; and Norman Bemelmans, director of cultural arts. Provost Denise Battles will leave this summer to become president of SUNY Geneseo.
"This continues to be a time of transition for UNCW, of course, but as I've said before, it's also a time of great opportunity for the incoming leadership team," Sederburg said in his statement. "Max has played a pivotal role in the search for our new chancellor, and will continue to support the transition through the remainder of his time with us."
