February 27, 2008

Faculty Senate Minutes

February 27, 2008

Present: Andrei Alyokhin, Edward Ashworth, Carla Billitteri, Richard Blanke, Emmanuel Boss, Fei Chai, Steve Cohn, William Congleton, Dorothy Croall, Sue Estler, Per Garder, Saundra Gardner, Michael Grillo, William Halteman, Dianne Hoff, Sue Hunter, Robert Kennedy, Michael Kinnison, Dorothy Klimis Zacas, Irv Kornfield, Karl Kreutz, David Lambert, Molly MacLean, Kathleen March, James McClymer, Tina Passman, Kathryn Slott, Touradj Solouki, Stephanie Welcomer, Beth Wiemann, David Wihry, Jared Worful.

Absent: Daniel Belknap, Douglas Bousfield, Thomas Brann, Tony Brinkley, Rodney Bushway, Hsiang-Tai Cheng, Alan Cobo-Lewis, Marcia Davidson, Raphael DiLuzio, Catherine Elliott, Alaric Faulkner, Jacques Ferland, Jim Gilbert, Duane Hanselman, Cary Jenson, Scott Johnson, Deborah Killam, Larry Latour, Craig Mason, Mgo Winh Long, Anja Nohe, Harlan Onsrud, Tina Passman, Howard Patterson, Mick Peterson, Gregory Porter, Allan Smith, Shihfen Tu, Roy Turner, Vivian Wu.

Chaired by Beth Wiemann in absence of President James Gilbert, who is recuperating well from surgery.

The meeting was called to order at 3:36 pm.

Minutes from January 30 were seconded and approved as submitted.

Committee reports:

Board of Trustees Representative – Dr. Robert Rice

Robert Rice noted that he had a card for Jim Gilbert and was circulating it for signatures.

The Finance Committee of the BOT will be meeting on March 5 regarding the state deficit and how it will affect UMS. We should find out soon how big of a cut we will be forced to take. We were expecting a 1.8% increase, this is not going to happen at this juncture.

Academic Affairs – Dr. Beth Wiemann

Academic Affairs continues to receive responses from chairs of departments that offer General Education courses in the various approved categories. The chairs are being polled on the Learning Outcomes currently being used by the UPCC, as to whether or not these Learning Outcomes need revision. So far, roughly 25 departments have responded to the polling being done.

The committee will also be meeting on Friday, Feb. 29 to go over data from Institutional Studies about first semester G.P.A.’s and their connection to graduation rates. More on this at the next meeting.

Constitution & Bylaws – Dr. Dianne Hoff

The Constitution and Bylaws Committee is suggesting two changes to the Senate Constitution and Bylaws. The first adds the designation “Past President.” This motion rises from the concern that the Senate lacks continuity from Senate president to the next. We change presidents every year, and the immediate past-president often goes off Senate right when he/she has been the most involved. This motion would ask the immediate past president to attend Senate meetings and be a non-voting member of the Executive Committee. This would allow him/her to provide support, institutional memory, and advice to the current president.

The second is a By-laws change. The Environment Committee routinely is asked to look into issues around the physical aspects of the campus (parking, green space, sustainability, etc.) as well as family and gender issues (health insurance for graduate students, family leave policies, lighting on campus, etc.). These have not specifically been included in their “charge” in the By-laws, so we are adding language to correct this.

Research & Scholarship – Dr. Touradj Solouki

No Report.

Finance & Institutional Planning – Dr. Sue Estler

Several co-sponsored events or those directly relevant to understanding the University’s budget and planning activities have recently occurred or are scheduled.

•Sasaki—Evolving Masterplan—Scheduled for Faculty Senate, February 27 and for open presentation 6 pm Buchanan House

•Co-Sponsored, Jon Sorensen, Competitive Energy Services, University of Maine Energy Markets, January 24. In an informative session key messages, grossly simplified:

Energy markets from which the University powers itself are complex, and extremely volatile in costs. In its relationship with CES and Sorenson, VP Waldron’s office has developed the capacity to respond quickly to market changes and has been able to contain, to some extent, some of the rapidly increasing costs for electric and heating power. The consulting costs are far below the costs mitigated through their advice and expertise.

•Faculty Senate Budget Presentation, Janet Waldron, January 30

•Provost’s Open Meeting re: AABAC, Provost Edna Symanski, January 17

•President’s long-term vision presentation to Faculty, January 24

Library Advisory Committee – Dr. Emmanuel Boss

Members of the library advisory and the executive committees of the faculty senate met with Marilyn Billings of UMass Amherst on Feb. 14th and got a presentation on how UMass Amherst has developed their institutional repository. The presentation was very interesting highlighting the many advantages such a repository provide: e.g. an outlet for unpublished work, showcasing scholarship of individuals, centers and departments and even providing a platform for the creation of new journals hosted and edited on campus.

Service & Outreach Committee – Dr. Kathleen March

The Service & Outreach Committee has been meeting every two weeks since the beginning of the semester. It has created and distributed an RFP for service-learning seed grants, which are generously funded by the Provost. All are urged to read the RFP and to consider submitting a proposal.

S&O is also finalizing the schedule for three 2-hour meetings or retreats on the Carnegie Classification on Community Engagement:

http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/classifications/index.asp?key=1213

The meetings are to be held in the second half of this semester.

There is also a PBSL (Problem-Based Service Learning) workshop, to be held June 2-3, with the support of Maine Campus Compact. S&O is working on the preparations and more information will be available soon. Registration will be limited to 30.

S&O is also addressing curricular issues and is studying ways in which, in addition to seed grants, service-learning or community-based teaching/learning can be promoted on campus. In turn, we are working with Public affairs to see how community engagement can be promoted as an appropriate practice by a land-grant institution. The committee remains mindful of the need to address issues of promotion & tenure and how any discussion regarding “service” relates to current definitions, both contractual and departmental.

Committee on Committees – Dr. William Halteman

There are no new opportunities for committee assignment. All current nominees’/volunteers’ names have been sent to the requesters.

It is time to start thinking about next year’s Committee on Committees. According to the FS constitution the membership of this committee is elected by the FS at the Spring election. The composition is one member from each college and one member from

UMCE. The chair of the committee is appointed by the FS president. We need nominations for the Committee on Committees positions. Any takers?

Program Creation, Review & Reorganization – Dr. David Wihry

The committee has received a pre-proposal that would reconfigure the School of Policy and International Affairs (SPIA) to report to the Dean of the Graduate School rather than to the Dean of the College of Business, Public Policy, and Health, and to be able to offer graduate degrees. The pre-proposal has been circulated via email to faculty and administrators for comment. Comments will be accepted up to 12:00 noon on Thursday, February 28 via First Class to David Wihry. The committee will meet on Friday of this week and Friday of next week to discuss the pre-proposal and the comments that have been submitted. The committee’s procedures are available at the Reorganization folder of the Senate folder on First Class.

Ad Hoc Committee on Shared Governance – Dr. Dianne Hoff & Dr. Bob Rice

In the area of shared governance, Dianne and I have talked with Dan Sandweiss, Sue Hunter and Tom Longin (the consultant) and worked on a process to move things along more quickly. We will begin meeting at lunchtime next week and work out each section as soon as possible so that a draft can be put before the senate and the administration for further editing etc. Dianne and I have requested that the upper administration not be involved during the rough draft/concept stages.

University Environment – Dr. Stephanie Welcomer

The Environment Committee was scheduled to meet on February 13, 2008 but did not meet due to the University of Maine inclement weather closure. We plan to attend the Sasaki visit to the Campus Planning Committee on February 27th where Sasaki will discuss the Campus Master Plan draft.

Dianne Hoff executed and distributed changes to the Committee’s Bylaws. The Committee reviewed these changes and approved them for wider distribution to the Senate. Many thanks to Dianne for her work on this.

Regarding access to Wallace Pool, Dan Belknap and I met with Jeff Wren to discuss the future status of the Master’s swimming program at Wallace Pool. We will continue to pursue the Wallace Pool access issue, and plan to schedule a meeting with the Director of Wellness as well as the Recreation Center Director of Programs.

We have had several faculty members approach the committee about campus lighting issues and have learned that there are maps and information available, which measure and identify potentially problematic campus lighting areas. We also have learned that light pollution is a parallel concern, along with illumination. We are scheduling a meeting with Noel March, Chief of Public Safety, in order to learn about the lighting issue on

campus. Irving Kornfield and Janet Waldron have been fabulous resources in gathering information about this issue – thank you to both.

Regarding the Alternatives to Teaching Policy, we plan to meet with Sandy Caron and Amy Fried to discuss the status of this not-yet-approved policy.

Dr. Wiemann noted that some reports were attached to agenda. We had a snow day the last time and chairs submitted them in this form.

Kathleen March asked people to look at the RFP for seed money for Service-Learning funds and that they consider submitting proposals.

Dr. Wiemann asked if there were any questions about written committee reports. There were none.

Sasaki (campus consultants for the master plan) has rescheduled and will be here in March for the elected members meeting.

Beth Wiemann asked Sue Hunter to report on PeopleSoft (PS)

PS registration module will be implemented by the end of March through April. Hunter noted we made some adjustments in the registration schedule. A few days ago, UMS had a concern regarding server capacity and how to subdivide the population for registration. If there were problems, it became apparent that UMaine could be blamed for system-wide problems if we didn’t agree to subdivide cohorts. Plan is to bleed them in cohorts over time. Every cohort will have a weekend of access, then will be blocked and will go to the end of the line. Notice has been sent to faculty. We must prioritize seniors and our own advisees. After the break, students must see advisors. All students have to know how to get into the system, first of all. Sue Hunter used herself as a test. It wouldn’t let her register without prerequisites. Requires lab if course requires. DSIS is still good to check a student’s history.

There were several questions: William Halteman asked if problems with Math placement and registration access had been resolved. Hunter thought PeopleSoft could access math results. Another question was about courses that require permission. How is this communicated to PeopleSoft? They go to department offices, where the AA can do it. There was a question about grad students in remote locations and how they would register? It was also noted that there are no more paper copies of the course catalog. Someone asked about the CRN. Hunter replied that it’s now a PIN. Some colleges aren’t using one. They will monitor the cohort function to see if more access is possible. Cohorts are set by number of credits completed. We do not have to be logged on to PeopleSoft to access the search function. We will be able to see number of seats remaining. Faculty members still get a list of advisees and their PINs.

Other questions for Administrators:

James McClymer asked if President Kennedy had spoken with the executive committee on bond money. The President said yes. Total monies: $11.3 million. For classrooms ($1 million), he will be soliciting requests. Wiemann noted the Barbara Beers will be at the next meeting and will provide information on the capital campaign. McClymer asked if there was any information on leveraging private funds from bond monies. President Kennedy said maybe next week.

Old Business:

Beth Wiemann asked if there were any old business. There was none.

New Business:

Announcements: President Kennedy says this week he is forming a couple of committees or study groups. They aren’t the usual committees. Two are presidential: one on institutional governance and one on alumni engagement.

Institutional governance: Goes back to Thomas Longin’s work. It’s the President’s intention to appoint a 7 member group to examine institutional governance over next months. This will include 3 administrators and 4 faculty leaders. They will look at decision-making along the full range of governance policies and practices. A comprehensive review of Institutional Governance will be undertaken, in tandem with the senate. Longin will continue to serve a resource and facilitator. This coincides with the NEASC requirement that institutions periodically review their governance practices. The President would like to have the committee appointed and charged before the end of the academic year.

Alumni Engagement – goes back to a consultant who worked with the Development Office. The goal is for a functional alumni relations operation. We’ve had a somewhat disorganized relationship. We have 95,000 alumni and are really only in contact with 12-15% of them. Between 50-60% of names and addresses are unreachable. We need this funding for long term. Will look at acurrent model for alumni relations. Will be chaired by an admiral who served 37 years in Navy who is also on the Board of Visitors.

There was a question by McClymer on the task force on governance and how does that not bypass what senate is doing? President Kennedy says it does not and that there can be synergy between what Rice and Hoff have done. Question: What will the reporting structure be? President Kennedy: It’s presidential, so reporting will be to him, and to senate as well.

There was a question as to the 95,000 alumni and if that means only persons who are alive? President Kennedy said yes, and about 60,000 are residing in Maine.

There was no other new business.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:25 pm.