December 14, 2005

Faculty Senate Minutes

December 14, 2005

Present: Jim Acheson, Aria Amirbahman, Bahman Baktiari, Shari Baxter,Richard Blanke, Richard Borgman, Emmanuel Boss, Mary Brakey, Tony Brinkley, Rod Bushway, Sandy Caron, Joe Carr, Alan Cobo-Lewis, Laura Cowan, Dorothy Croall, John Daigle, Marcia Davidson, Michael Eckardt, Sue Estler, Amy Fried, Todd Gabe, Alexander Grab, Michael Greenwood, William Halteman, Marie Hayes, Dianne Hoff, Karen Horton, Daniel Innis, John Jemison, Mel Johnson, Scott Johnson, Leonard Kass, Robert Kennedy, Deborah Killam, Dennis King, Dorothy Klimis-Zacas, Irv Kornfield, David Lambert,  Michael Mack, John Mahon, Kathleen March, Stephen Marks, Jim McClymer, Kathleen McIntyre, Brigham McNaughton, Harlan Onsrud, Eric Peterson, Mick Peterson, Paul Rawson, Robert Rice, Linda Rottmann, Alan Rosenwasser, Dan Sandweiss, Ann Schonberger, John Sherblom, Evelyn Silver, Kathryn Slott, Touradj Solouki, Claire Strickland, Roy Turner, Janet Waldron, Stephanie Welcomer, Beth Wiemann

Absent: Dean Astumian, Eisso Atzema, Robert Bayer, Carla Billitteri, Hsiang-Tai Cheng, Raphael DiLuzio, James Gilbert, Stephen Gilson, Robert Gundersen, Nancy Hall, Ludlow Hallman, David Kotecki, Jessica Miller, Michael Scott, Denise Skonberg, Stellos Tavantzis

The meeting was called to order at 3:15 pm.

President Hayes opened the meeting, explaining that members of the Public Policy Committee were in attendance and would give a report detailing the process to this point.  She also mentioned that the committee chairs would be giving their end of semester reports during the meeting.  Dr. Hayes also reminded everyone that President Kennedy and Mary Rumpho-Kennedy are having a holiday get together at the President’s house immediately after the meeting.

The minutes from the November 16, 2005 senate meeting were approved.

President Hayes continued her opening remarks regarding several issues that the senate has faced during the Fall semester, which have been resolved.  The printing of the schedule of classes was an issue that has been resolved.  A member of the faculty senate will be part of the UPCC committee, probably the chair of the Academic Affairs committee.  Marie thanked Dr. Mahon and Dr. Hunter for their assistance with this issue.  Marie also spoke about the issue of graduation and where it should be held.  Nine out of the last 12 times the ceremony has been moved into the Alfond Arena because of weather issues.  The commencement will now be held in two sessions, both to be held inside the Alfond.  Marie asked for any objections from the senate, as she will be writing a letter to Dr. Mahon stating the senate has no objections.  A member asked if the students had been polled regarding the issue. Dr. Mahon answered that they wanted to hear from the senate before proceeding.  Regarding the Strategic Plan, Dr. Hayes stated that the senate is being kept informed by members of the various SP committees and that the senate will continue to monitor the process.

Questions for Administrators:

President Kennedy was asked about the BOT response to the Comprehensive Campaign.  President Kennedy responded by stating that his team had been preparing this plan for months, he had been talking about this with the trustees for some time.  The approval and feedback from the board before the vote was overwhelmingly positive.

President Hayes asked Janet Waldron about a budget deficit and whether VP Waldron would comment.  VP Waldron said there had been a supplemental budget request for increased energy costs  and that Bob Rice the BOT rep would be able to answer this also.

Old Business:

No Old Business.

New Business:

Presentation – Committee on Public Policy Studies and Research Interdisciplinary Faculty/Public Policy

Dr. Hayes directed the members to reference some handouts that were available at the meeting regarding the progress of the committee.  Chair of the Committee is Dan Innis, Dean of BPPH.  Dr. Hayes stated that this is all very preliminary, and thanked members of the committee for coming to the senate.

Dean Innis opened the presentation by thanking Marie for inviting the committee to the meeting.  The initiative began a few years ago.  How to identify faculty who are involved in policy studies on campus was one of the issues.  Last summer Jonathan Rubin, Jim Acheson and Bahman Baktiari started working in a more cohesive manner to bring some clarity to policy issues on campus.  Provost Mahon asked Dean Innis to participate.  Throughout the process more people have been added to the committee to give better representation from different disciplines.  This group continues to expand.  They continue to get input from various people on campus.  Open for a will be held this spring.

Dr. Acheson continued the presentation.  He introduced the people on the committee, and added that many others will be brought on as the process continues.  Dr. Acheson stated that there is a lot of high quality policy research on this campus.  In 2004 there were 87 faculty involved in doing policy research.  There are at least 5 master’s degree programs involving policy research.  Most faculty involved in policy research don’t know their counterparts in other colleges.  The public is not aware of what they do.  The legislature normally turns to the Muskie school for information, but the Muskie school doesn’t have as many researchers as UMaine. The committee is asking how we get faculty connected, and how enhance research effort and the graduate effort here.

There are three distinct proposals on the table at this time.  One is a proposal for a School of Public Policy and International Studies.  They did not want to pull faculty out of their colleges for this, but want a collaborative effort.  The reception from the Deans who read the proposal was not positive, but warm.  VP Dan Sandweiss sent a proposal to the committee titled The Interdisciplinary Policy Studies Faculty Group.  The committee did not like this title as it didn’t exactly reflect what was being accomplished.  There is also the issue of faculty appointments.  There are many unresolved issues.  One concerns international studies which affect everyone.  There are also units on campus that solely work on policy issues. How do they integrate these units?

Dr. Acheson closed by saying that nothing is concrete at this time, the committee needs to hear from faculty members on campus.  He said they had sent the materials out to the 87 faculty on campus who were identified as doing policy research and the committee has only heard feedback from 5 or 6 of those people.

A question was asked as to how the committee defines “policy”. Why so few female members on the committee?

Dr. Innis responded by stating that the committee will not define “policy”.

If there is a unit or individual who think they are involved in “policy” should they contact your committee?  Yes, we have identified 87 faculty members who we know are involved in this, but know there are more.

There was discussion about the definition of “policy”.  Some members felt that in order to plan something like this, a clear definition of policy should be needed.  Does this another college will be added to the university.  Who pays for this?  Will there be cuts in order to sustain this?  Can faculty work with other researchers on campus without a new school?  These are issues to be addressed in the open fora in February and March.

Dr. Kass commented that it would be helpful to see the structure of the Muskie School on paper.  Dr. Innis said that it is not our intention to disparage the Muskie School.  Dr. Acheson said that what the Muskie School does is not what we intend for this school of public policy. The Muskie School does a lot of outreach work; we should be competing on the national level for monies.

There were questions about the existing policy institutes on campus and how these will relate to the new proposed school, eg. the Mitchell Center, Canadian American Center, Business Public Policy and Health.  Another person indicated that the College of Education is involved in policy studies.  How does one determine who is involved in policy research?

Dean Innis once again announced that there will be open fora this spring for more discussion of the initiative.

Committee Reports:

Academic Affairs – Dr. Eric Peterson and Dr. Irving Kornfield

Dr. Peterson stated that in the interest of time the committee provided a handout at the beginning of the meeting.  The committee focused on three major issues this semester. First, the University Teaching Council tries to emphasize what the senate’s relationship is to the UTC. Second, the observation of classroom teaching by the Provost. And third, is the Continuing Education policies and procedures, the consequences of losing CED to a base budget orientation in funding, which are unclear.  The committee has invited Dean Robert White to give a presentation at a senate meeting.  They will continue to work on the student evaluation forms and peer observation for classroom teaching.

Constitution & Bylaws – Dr. Leonard Kass

The subcommittee is hoping to present a rough draft of the faculty handbook this spring.

University Environment – Dr. Amy Fried and Dr. Sandy Caron

Dr. Caron identified the committee members: Karen Horton, Stephanie Welcomer, Laura Cowan, Ann Schonberger, Mike Scott, Clarissa Henry, Susan Nichols and a grad student Brooke Plourde.  The committee has been working on these issues; UMaine Won’t Discriminate, commencement, tenure clock extension for personal/family issues, and another work/family issue related to modified service options.  Also teaching evaluations and gender.

Research & Public Service – Dr. Scott Johnson and Dr. Mick Peterson

Members of the committee are Jessica Miller, Aria Amirbahman, Dennis King, Philip Trostel, Jim Acheson, Paul Rawson, David Steiger, Touradj Solouki, John Daigle and the AGS representative is Benjamin Harris.  The committee wants to quantify the role of doctoral student is university research and scholarship.  This has never been done and there is a lot of conversation about this at other institutions.  The committee is preparing a survey to send to departments with doctoral students.  The committee also wants to include doctoral students who have graduated to see how they have contributed to the economic and social aspects of Maine.  They are essential in developing the highly skilled workforce which the state is trying to attract.  They will be working closely with the Graduate Board, the Association of Graduate Students, and other senate committees.

Finance and Institutional Planning – Dr. Todd Gabe

Members of the committee are William Halteman, Richard Borgman, Sue Estler, Robert Bayer, Claire Strickland, Janet Waldron and Kathleen McIntyre.  They have been focused on several issues, the budget, measures of financial health of the university, course schedules and costs, improvements to the electronic schedule.  He thanked Sue Hunter, Janet Waldron and John Mahon for the decision to print a limited amount of schedules for Fall semester.  About 3,500 copies will be printed, 4 per faculty member, 10-50 for each college, 200 for the library.

Committee on Committees – Dr. Stephen French Gilson

Dr. Gilson was unable to attend the meeting.  Dr. Hayes commended the committee for the amount of work they have accomplished this semester.

Library Advisory Committee – Dr. Dianne Hoff

The members of the committee are Joyce Rumery, Kathleen March, Bob Rice, Eisso Atzema, Rod Bushway, Dean Astumian, Mary Brakey, Don Hayes, Tony Brinkley, Roy Turner, Jim McClymer, Matthew Kasson, student rep, Kathleen Bell, and Kathryn Slott.  The committee has worked on three things.  First, to discover from faculty and students what their concerns about the library are.  They have also spent time responding to individual faculty’s concerns regarding the library.  They have tried to rally the campus to make the library a funding priority.

Service & Outreach Committee – Dr. Kathleen March

The committee prepared a report that was handed out at the start of the meeting.  The members of the committee are Lavon Bartel, Rebecca Brochu, Robert Gundersen, John Jemison, Dennis King, David Lambert, and graduate student Adrienne Traxler.  The committee met regularly through the semester.  They are still looking at the definition of service.  They have had some interesting discussion with Cooperative Extension and will continue to work with them. The committee has also been looking at S&O and how it pertains to the promotion and tenure issue.  We need to look more at recognition of service on campus.  They are still looking at creating a University Service Council.

Board of Trustees Representative – Dr. Robert Rice

The BOT met December 4 & 5.  They approved the capital campaign for UMaine: at least $150 million to be completed in 2012.  This will incorporate the 16-18 million we get each year.  The money will go to student support, faculty support in terms (chairs and professorships), buildings, Fogler Library.  A School of Forest Resources was approved.  This involves the merger of Forest Management and Forest Ecosystem Science under a director.  It will officially begin on July 1, 2006.  Strategic Plan final draft reports are due at the system office on December 22, 2005.  The Chancellor plans a retreat after the first of the year and will visit campuses to discuss the changes that have occurred to the plan in the past year.  Finally, the deficit that the system has identified is $15 million, $24 million if you incorporate deferred building maintenance, the $15 million might be called tangible identified needs.  A large portion is energy costs.  The system will go forward with a request to the legislature for $5 million in supplemental funding.

Motion to adjourn. Seconded.

The meeting adjourned at 4:45 pm.