April 22, 2009

Faculty Senate Minutes

APRIL 22, 2009

Present: Edward Ashworth, Dan Belknap, Douglas Bousfield, Rodney Bushway, Fei Chai, Steve Cohn, Ted Coladarci, Scott Delcourt, Cynthia Erdley, Susan Erich, Todd Gabe, Per Garder, Gail Garthwait, Michael Grillo, William Halteman, Dianne Hoff, Sue Hunter, Cary Jenson, Mel Johnson, Robert Kennedy, Deborah Killam, Michael Kinnison, Judy Kuhns-Hastings, Larry Latour, Molly MacLean, Stuart Marrs, Jim McClymer, David Morrison, Lisa Neuman, Ngo Vinh Long, Tina Passman, Dylan Riley, Kathryn Slott, Touradj Solouki, Patrick Spinney, Claire Strickland, David Townsend, Shihfen Tu, Janet Waldron, James Warhola, Nate Wildes.

Absent: Andrei Alyokhin, Sandy Berkowitz, Carla Billitteri, Thomas Brann, Chris Campbell, William Congleton, Raphael DiLuzio, Catherine Elliott, Sue Estler, Janet Fairman, James Fastook, Jacques Ferland, Saundra Gardner, Duane Hanselman, Kirsten Jacobson, Scott Johnson, Dorothy Klimis-Zacas, Irv Kornfield, Karl Kreutz, Craig Mason, Harlan Onsrud, Howard Patterson, Justin Poland, Stephanie Welcomer, Mark Wells, Vivian Wu, Huiji Xue.

The meeting opened at 3:15 pm.

Senate President Dianne Hoff asked President Kennedy to comment on the NEASC visit.

He summarized the exit session. A draft for our comments/replies should be sent to us in late June. The team will be back on campus with in the fall or spring semester, not sure yet. The team was very helpful with their comments. They had reviewed the chancellor’s “New Challenges, New Directions” before they arrived on Sunday. They were concerned with certain aspects of the report, mission, funding, etc.

They reviewed UMaine’s Strategic Plan, were impressed with it and fell that we should revisit and get back on track with the plan. Enrollment management – in context of the strategic plan, should be more coordinated in keeping with the organizational approach. Academic Program Prioritization – we have many areas of excellence and we should be more vertical in recognizing our areas of excellence. Rather than across-the-board cuts they thought we should look at areas where we cam compete with peer institutions such as University of Delaware, UMass Amherst, UMass Lowell, UConn. In areas of assessment Dr. Zimfer thought we might be criticized for some of it while the rest of the team thought we had addressed this area well. President Kennedy thanked everyone for their work on the reaccreditation.

The Chancellor’s Task Force will issue its report in May, they entire report may not be complete by the June date previously given to campuses, not sure yet. The NEASC team was concerned with the structure of the plan and though that it was not doing the best service to UMaine.

Nate Wilde, Student Government Rep, stated that SG was not aware of the review. Pat Spinney, Graduate Student Rep, stated that grad students had met with the team.

A question was asked as to how many faculty had been lost in the last 10 years. Ted Coladarci said that his office has that info and will provide it.

Judy Kuhns-Hastings said that one of the NEASC Team asked how many faculty had been involved with the UMaine Strategic Plan and had been told it was very inclusive and had included many faculty and well as staff in the draft process. Bob Kennedy stated that the plan is five years old and that things have changed in that time, the plan should be revisited and worked on again.

Dianne Hoff announced that the 15 Step Process for Program Creation, Reorganization or Elimination has been approved by Dr. Kennedy.

Motion: Vote on Acceptance of Shared Governance Document

The Shared Governance Document was passed unanimously.

Motion: To Approve the Undergraduate Incomplete Extension Form

Extension for Undergraduate Incomplete Grades

The faculty member requesting an extension to the original “I” grade for an undergraduate student must file this Extension for Undergraduate Incomplete Grades Form and submit it to the Chair of the faculty member’s unit, and Associate Dean(s) of the student’s and faculty member’s College(s). The student and faculty member should each retain a copy.

Name MaineStreet Student ID # Student’s Program of Study

Class Number Course Designator Section Title Semester Year

Reason for extension of Incomplete: Health Other

Work remaining to be completed: ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Date by which work is to be completed: ___________________________________________________________________

(This must not exceed 1 year from the original end of the semester.)

Signature of Faculty Member

teaching the course: ______________________________________________________________ Date: ____________

Signature of the Student _________________________________________________________________ Date: ____________

(If obtaining the signature of the student is not practical or possible, the faculty member should indicate below

how the above information has been communicated to the student (check one):

Phone Email Other: _______________________________

Signature of

Faculty Member’s

Chairperson: _______________________________________________________________ Date: ____________

Signature of

Faculty Member’s

College Dean: ______________________________________________________________ Date: ____________

Signature of

Student’s

College Dean: ______________________________________________________________ Date: ____________

(if different from line above):

Created 04/09

There was considerable discussion (again) about the form. There was a motion to remove the faculty member’s dean’s signature, which passed. Other questions were raised regarding routing instructions, adjunct’s who have left the university, chair’s signature, advisor input, etc. There was a motion to send back to the Academic Affairs committee which passed. The committee will present the motion again in the future.

Motion: Priority Registration for Student Athletes

The UMaine Athletic Advisory Committee in March, 2009 unanimously approved a motion that modifies the University’s current “Priority Registration Policy” for student athletes. The UMAAC changed it from one that applies only to a single semester, for students busy with their sport that season, to a policy that applies to all student athletes both semesters. The proposed modification stems from today’s more modern student athlete who has an academic-year-long commitment to practices, etc. Also of significance here is that our current policy gives student athletes registration priority essentially equal to Senior Class status, which could conceivably result in displacement of non-student athlete seniors for classes they need to graduate; our proposed policy would eliminate that possibility and give student athletes only Junior Class status (unless they are Seniors, of course). The proposed new policy conforms to that recommended by the NCAA, and it conforms to that of all the other schools in our conference (America East).

University of Maine

Priority Registration Policy for Student-Athletes

Effective May 1, 2009

Whereas University of Maine NCAA Division I student-athletes often face conflicts in the timing of mandatory or required classes and team practices, and

Whereas the current University of Maine policy, which states: “Student-Athletes who will be in outside competition in the upcoming semester may register for classes on the first day of the pre-registration period” [emphasis added], does not account for year-round commitments of student-athletes, and

Whereas all other America East Conference schools permit priority registration every term, and

Whereas the NCAA encourages priority registration for classes for all student-athletes;

The University of Maine Athletic Advisory Board, in order to foster the timely completion of degrees for its student-athletes, recommends the following policy be adopted:

As of May 1, 2009, all University of Maine student-athletes, except Seniors, shall be given priority in the registration for classes equivalent to that of students with Junior class standing.

The Faculty Senate Academic Affairs committee endorses this motion, and recommends full senate approval.

The motion passed.

Elections for Officers 2009-2010

The new officers of the senate for 2009-2010 will be:

Vice President/President Elect – Dr. Michael Grillo

Secretary – Dr. Tina Passman

Board of Trustees Representative – Dr. Robert Rice

Adjourn