The director of Harvard's Naval R.O.T.C. program has been appointed to the controversial position of superintendent of the 400-student Maine Maritime Academy.

Capt. Edward A. Rodgers, professor of Naval Science, will assume his duties at the military-style institution in Castine, Me., in December.

Former Superintendent Frank C. Rodway was fired from the $15,000-a-year position after only three months of service, when Maine's Governor John H. Reed, the U.S. Maritime Administration, and five trustees of the Academy challenged his qualifications.

An executive order by Reed that Rodway should be fired sparked a statewide dispute in which seven trustees resigned in defense of the besieged superintendent. Apparently fearing the withdrawal of $300,000 in federal funds, the five remaining trustees ordered Rodway to "vacate immediately."

"I know nothing more about the Rodway situation than I read in the newspaper's" Rodgers said last week. He applied for the position when the vacancy became official last spring.