FARMINGTON, Maine (AP) Maine’s public university system is planning a nationwide search for a new president of one of its institutions.

University of Maine at Farmington president Edward Serna has accepted an appointment to head Winthrop University in South Carolina. The University of Maine System said Chancellor Dannel Malloy plans to visit the university on March 1 to discuss transitional leadership.

The system said the transitional leadership will begin July 1. It said in a statement that it will prep for “a national search for an ongoing presidential appointment in the upcoming academic year.”

Serna is slated to begin at Winthrop, his alma mater, in July.