April 5, 2006
Faculty Senate Minutes
April 5, 2006
Present: Sharon Barker, Shari Baxter, Richard Borgman, Emmanuel Boss, Mary Brakey, Tony Brinkley, Sandy Caron, Ruth Ellen Cohen, Laura Cowan, Dorothy Croall, John Daigle, Robert Dana, Raphael DiLuzio, Michael Eckardt, Sue Estler, Amy Fried, Todd Gabe, Ludlow Hallman, William Halteman, Marie Hayes, Dianne Hoff, Karen Horton, Susan Hunter, George Jacobson, John Jemison, Mel Johnson, Scott Johnson, Leonard Kass, Deborah Killam, Dennis King, Irv Kornfield, David Kotecki, John Mahon, Mary Malone, Kathleen March, Stephen Marks, James McClymer, Kathleen McIntyre, Virginia Nees-Hatlen, Elsa Nunez, Eric Peterson, Michael Peterson, Paul Rawson, Alan Rosenwasser, Linda Rottmann, Joyce Rumery, Douglas Ruthven, Daniel Sandweiss, Ann Schonberger, JulieAnn Scott, Evelyn Silver, Kathryn Slott, James Toner, Janet Waldron, Robert White
Absent: James Acheson, Aria Amirbahman, Dean Astumian, Eisso Atzema, Robert Bayer, Carla Billitteri, Richard Blanke, Rodney Bushway, Hsiang-Tai Cheng, Alan Cobo-Lewis, Marcia Davidson, James Gilbert, Stephen Gilson, Alexander Grab, Michael Greenwood, Robert Gundersen, Nancy Hall, Dorothy Klimis-Zacas, David Lambert, Jessica Miller, Harlan Onsrud, Michael Scott, Denise Skonberg, Touradj Solouki, Stellos Tavantzis, Roy Turner, Stephanie Welcomer, Beth Wiemann
Faculty Senate President Marie Hayes called the meeting to order at 3:15 pm.
Marie wanted to make sure everyone received a handout about the UMaine Strategic Plan. She encouraged those present who participated in the campus level and system level to feel free to answer any questions brought up by members of the senate.
The Minutes from the March 1, 2006 senate meeting were approved, with the change of items regarding the DLL presentation by Dean Bob White, as suggested by Ann Schonberger.
Questions for the Administration:
A question was asked regarding the Provost search. Ann Schonberger replied that the committee was at the point of telephoning unlisted references. There are two men and two women candidates. The committee will meet again next week to decide who to invite for campus interviews.
A question was asked of Dr. Mahon regarding his trip to the Middle East. Dr. Mahon visited the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt during spring break to explore opportunities for UMaine. The American University in Cairo is extremely interested in building relationships across many dimensions. They have a site on the Red Sea and want to know if the School of Marine Sciences would be interested in that. There are opportunities for faculty, students and staff. Dr. Mahon hopes to give a more detailed report to the senate when time allows.
A question was asked about PLATO. Administrators had a demonstration from PLATO and then decided that faculty who would be involved in delivering courses by this method might be interested. The UMS has made arrangements for faculty, mostly in Math and Sciences, to see a demonstration. At this point there is nothing else to report.
A question was asked of President Kennedy about his trip to Florida. He replied that each year there are fund raising events for alumni. Roughly 9,000 Mainers live in Florida and are eager to hear about the university. Dr. Kennedy related to alumni the stories of the students involved in alternative spring break programs at UMaine.
Committee Reports:
Board of Trustees Rep – Dr. Robert Rice (Dr. Rice was unable to attend)
Academic Affairs – Dr. Irving Kornfield and Dr. Eric Peterson
Dr. Kornfield gave an update on the University Teaching Council. The UTC distributed a survey regarding student evaluations of courses. The committee is reviewing the replies and will make a recommendation to the Academic Affairs Committee once they have finished.
Dr. Peterson said that AA was working with the UPCC to look at courses to be reviewed and improved. A report will be delivered to the senate at a later date. The committee is also looking at the issue of faculty being late to class. This is covered under the academic appeals process section in the student handbook.
Constitution and Bylaws – Dr. Leonard Kass
The faculty handbook is ready to be voted on. There were handouts available at the meeting. Dr. Kass encouraged everyone to look at the draft version.
University Environment – Dr. Amy Fried and Dr. Sandy Caron
No report.
Research and Public Service – Dr. Scott Johnson and Dr. Michael Peterson
The committee is trying to get a qualitative view of the impact of doctorate education on the economy of Maine. The committee is reviewing replies to a survey sent to all doctoral granting departments on campus.
Committee on Committees – Dr. Stephen French Gilson (not present)
Library Advisory Committee – Dr. Dianne Hoff
The Library Committee has not met since the last senate meeting. They will address two issues at the last meeting: the culling of journals and subscriptions earlier and earlier each year and the final year report.
Finance & Institutional Planning – Dr. Todd Gabe
VP Waldron will be giving budget presentations this week. The state budget passed and there $872,000 in additional funding was approved for UMaine. The committee is also working with the legislature and the governor regarding funding.
Service and Outreach Committee – Dr. Kathleen March
The committee has met and has distributed a short survey regarding public service efforts in departments on campus. They are hoping that the library will be able to establish a repository for people to review regarding Public Service done at UMaine.
Old Business:
No Old Business.
New Business:
UMaine Research DVD – Dr. Michael Eckardt
Dr. Eckardt showed the new UMaine Research DVD produced by two students in New Media with the assistance of Dr. Owen Smith. There are plans to produce similar videos for other endeavors on campus.
Dr. Elsa Nunez, Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs
Dr. Hayes gave some background on the Strategic Planning Committees and introduced Dr. Núñez.
Dr. Núñez thanked the senate for inviting her. She said that it is an important part of her job to keep communication open between the Chancellor’s office and the campuses.
Dr. Nunez said that it is rare that a strategic plan has only one year for implementation, and normally it takes longer. If there had been one more year, there might have been a better response from the separate campuses.
The BOT was urged to have a very inclusive implementation process. There were over 300 people invited to the Strategic Planning Implementation retreat in February to discuss the various directions of the plan. She gave examples of the difficulty in bringing people together to discuss the plan.
The implementation committees have been very realistic about their work. Each has put forward a grid showing recommendation priorities, with variables: how complex, how many people will be involved in the implementation of that direction, will the governor or the legislature be involved, the Board of Trustees, etc. Other variables include cost, time to implement, one year, two years, etc. These recommendations have been given to the BOT, which will look at these reports and make preliminary recommendations to give to the campus presidents. The presidents have been urged to share this feedback with their faculty and staff: this will enable the campuses to show the BOT their priorities for the next five year period.
The next step will be assessment of the plan, how the plan worked, when it was implemented, etc. UMS has hired a consultant to guide them through the assessment period. More complex assessment will be done next year.
The strategic direction that is being treated differently is accountability. Dr. Mahon is on that committee, which is composed primarily of faculty members. Dr. Kate Trimbull, a professor at UMM, did an excellent job of presenting the principles and values that underlie the work of the accountability committee.
Dr. Núñez mentioned UMM, UMF, and UMPI and the original plan to merge the three institutions. This plan has been modified to a consortium. An NSF Grant has been submitted from the three campuses acting as one unit.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:10 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Dr. Kathleen March
Faculty Senate Secretary