October 22, 2008

FACULTY SENATE MINUTES

OCTOBER 22, 2008

Present: Andrei Alyokhin, Daniel Belknap, Sandy Berkowitz, Douglas Bousfield, Rodney Bushway, Chris Campbell, Joe Carr, Steve Cohn, Ted Coladarci, Michael Eckardt, Cynthia Erdley, Susan Erich, Janet Fairman, Jacqaues Ferland, Todd Gabe, Per Garder, Saundra Gardner, Michael Grillo, William Halteman, Dianne Hoff, Sue Hunter, Kirsten Jacobson, Blake James, Mel Johnson, Scott Johnson, Robert Kennedy, Dorothy Klimis-Zacas, Irv Kornfield, Karl Kreutz, Judy Kuhns-Hastings, Molly MacLean, Stuart Marrs, James McClymer, Abtin Mehdizadegan, David Morrison, Harlan Onsrud, Tina Passman, Linda Reid, Bob Rice, Dylan Riley, Joyce Rumery, Dan Sandweiss, Evelyn Silver, Kathryn Slott, Touradj Solouki, Patrick Spinney, Clarie Strickland, Shihfen Tu, Robert Strong, Janet Waldron, James Warhola, Stephanie Welcomer, Andrea West, Vivian Wu.

Absent: Thomas Brann, Fei Chai, William Congleton, Raphael DiLuzio, Catherine Elliott, Sue Estler, Duane Hanselman, Cary Jenson, Deborah Killam, Michael Kinnison, Larry Latour, Craig Mason, Lisa Neuman, Ngo Vinh Long, Howard Patterson, Justin Poland, Gregory Porter, Roy Turner, Mark Wells, Huiji Xue.

Faculty Senate President Dianne Hoff opened the meeting at 3:15 pm.

The minutes from September 24, 2008, meeting were approved.

Questions and Discussion with Administrators:

Senate Secretary Tina Passman asked the administration to talk about final grade

Stuart Marrs commented that a MaineStreet website is almost completed to answer all questions that faculty may have.

Linda Reid, Assistant Director of Student Records, attended the meeting to answer questions. She stated that in the past it has been normal practice that a week after a class ends the final grade is due in the OSR. This year, after the final deadline, if a grade has processed in the same way as in past practice.

Tina Passman asked about students who are taking distance education courses. Linda replied that if it is an UMaine course the same rules would apply.

Dianne Hoff stated that this does not apply to graduate students. She asked what the new time frame was for submitting grades. Dr. Marrs replied 2 weeks after the final class.

Dianne Hoff said it seemed that these decisions are being made without consulting the senate.

Linda Reid stated that students have remained ungraded in the past and that it was difficult to resolve the missing grade issue especially when a student gets ready to graduate. She also stated that the OSR has always sent out reports to colleges in the past which list missing grades that are outstanding.

Stuart Marrs also stated that if there is no grade for a student, then the faculty member should use the “I” (incomplete) grade as a place holder, then if the faculty is able to give a grade they can use the same process as in the past. The faculty still has the authority to change the grade as in past practice. Sometimes reports are run which will affect the student, an “I” grade would not have any negative effect, whereas the “F” grade could have a negative impact on car insurance rates and financial aid.

Dianne again stated that these decisions are being made arbitrarily without input from faculty. Dr. Marrs said he wanted to thank the many faculty members who had e-mailed him with input on this new process (MaineStreet). They want this to proceed as smoothly as possible.

Bob Rice asked if the Incomplete Form is on-line. Dr. Marrs stated that it is. Also, that a student didn’t need to sign the form itself, whoever is filling out the form can sign for the student or the student can fill it out and mail to the faculty member. The OSR will run an “Incomplete Grade” report on January 31, 09, this list is sent to all Associate Deans who then contact faculty. There is also a second follow-up report sent out later in the semester.

Michael Grillo questioned the need for all the reports when a student is given a syllabus at the beginning of the semester which states the assignments and due dates. Why not just have the faculty member e-mail the student and tell them that they have work that is due and has not been submitted.

Jim McClymer stated that the Faculty Senate Academic Affairs committee should be looking into this process and changing it if that is what faculty want.

Graduate Student Associate Representative Patrick Spinney stated that this new policy will have a stressful effect on students.

Provost Sue Hunter commented that the “I” grade would not revert to an “F” grade for ten weeks; it is still a better solution than the automatic posting of an “F”.

Dianne Hoff commented that there are still many concerns regarding this new policy, that we are not at a resolution at this time and that more conversation on the topic should be held in the future.

Jim McClymer commented that it is difficult to find information about registration schedules on the OSR web-site. Dr. Marrs replied that registration information in under “Enrollment” on the OSR web-site. Dr. McClymer asked why the term enrollment. Linda Reid explained that MaineStreet does not use terms such as “registration” and “college” but instead uses “enrollment” and “program” respectively.

Joe Carr stated that the Office of Student Records, the Bursar’s Office, etc., are creating a web page with self-help information which should be available very soon.

Dianne Hoff changed the subject and asked President Kennedy to update everyone on the state of the UMaine budget in light of the bleak financial news. Dr. Kennedy stated that everyone has been watching the State and National budget woes. The Board of Trustees recommend that the campuses adopt something similar to the cost cutting measures being practiced at all levels of state government. UMaine expects a cut in the FY09 budget. He is making the best case to the Governor. The administration will be looking at all new positions and expect a reduction which will carry over to FY10.

Dianne Hoff stated that typically UMS takes a portion of these cuts and then we take a portion. Dr. Kennedy replied that UMS gives UMaine 48-49% of the system budget. Our proportion may have some add-on fees for System Wide Services that the UMS endowment usually pays for. We may be responsible for this.

Dianne asked if UMaine will take a bigger cut because we’re in better shape than the other campuses. Dr. Kennedy replied that we will not shoulder this additional burden and he stated that he has been in contact many times with the Board of Visitors making this point. He said he has been proactive with the BOV to the point of being rude.

Jim Warhola stated that the senate has the authority to review and make recommendations on financial issues and that we should be involved in the while the process in happening. Dr. Kennedy stated that the senate finance committee would be involved in the discussions.

Committee Reports:

Board of Trustees Rep – Dr. Robert Rice

The BOT will meet during the second week of November, no report at this time.

Academic Affairs – Dr. Dan Belknap

There is a motion on the agenda to establish a sub-committee for General Education. There are a lot of overlaps in various committees. A lot of discussion about changes that are being driven by NEASC accreditation, this is not entirely true, some of the changes can happen after our NEASC report.

Constitution & Bylaws – Dr. Judy Kuhns-Hastings

The committee has met and is looking at changes that should be made.

Research & Scholarship – Dr. Touradj Solouki

The committee met today with Janet Waldron about the financial outlook.

Finance & Institutional Planning – Dr. Sue Estler & Dr. William Halteman

The committee has a full slate of members and has met once.

Library Advisory Committee – Dr. Harlan Onsrud

There is a motion on the agenda regarding electronic journals. The committee met this week and discussed plans for an institutional repository.

Service & Outreach – Dr. Michael Grillo

Complementing the work of Kathleen March and last year’s Outreach and Public Service Committee, this year’s committee wishes to consider how the University values faculty service to the University and to the community. An often under-stated component of faculty work-load, service includes a broad range of commitments, including contributions to student learning beyond regular teaching loads, such as serving on thesis committees for Honors, Independent BA, MA, and PhD students, applications of research that benefit the community, and state-wide development through a variety of discipline specific services. So that the faculty can best serve their students, research, and community outreach opportunities, we will ask the Office of Institutional Studies how the University tabulates service contributions, and how the University credits departments and colleges for faculty service. The motivation for this focus stems from a deep concern about the ever-increasing work-load that numerous faculty members from across the University have voiced, in particular in their serving growing student needs beyond the traditional classroom.

Committee on Committees – Dr. Shihfen Tu

The committee is looking for people to serve on the search committee for the position of Executive Director of Cooperative Extension and the Dean of the College of Business, Public Policy & Health. She also questioned President Kennedy regarding the budget crises and the memo sent out regarding new positions. Dr. Kennedy told her that even in light of the financial restraints and the uncertainty of what will occur, that it would not hurt to have a search committee already formed. Dianne Hoff asked if there is a timeline to judge if the searches are still underway. Dr. Kennedy responded that if invitations have been sent out to candidates, then they will go ahead with the search. Human Resources has compiled a list of every search that is in process and has sent that report to Alumni Hall.

Program Creation, Reorganization & Review – Dr. James Warhola

They are working on a Policy and Procedures Manual. He thanked Harlan Onsrud for his help is writing the manual. The draft document was distributed at the last Elected Members meeting. I will be presented at the November meeting. The Environmental Management and Policy program is going to be eliminated. He has spoken with people at NSFA and this is not a controversial or disputed decision within the college.

Environment Committee – Dr. Stephanie Welcomer

The committee is doing a sustainable inventory of campus. They are working with Academic Affairs looking at the campus calendar. They are talking with Noel March about violence in the classroom on campus.

Shared Governance – Dr. Dianne Hoff & Dr. Robert Rice

They will be meeting on Friday. Have been revising the draft and will submit that to Stuart Marrs and Dan Sandweiss. There should be a completed document soon.

Abtin Mehdizadegan, Faculty Senate Representative from Student Government, stated that there are several student reps willing to serve on committees if any are needed. He asked that the Committee on Committees or the chairs of committees email him or James Lyons on FirstClass if they need student representatives.

Old Business:

Library Advisory Committee Motion

Elimination of Paper Versions of Some Online Journals Available through Fogler Library

September 22, 2008

1. Fogler Library is proposing to go “online only” for many journal subscriptions. That is, paper subscriptions for many journals will now be dropped. Why is this being proposed?

  • New publisher pricing models have online format as base subscription, with print format available as a second subscription or added expense
  • Lack of sufficient space for bound journals in the library buildings
  • Elimination of print format by growing numbers of publishers
  • Publisher package licenses that add requested journals but require switch to online format

2. What guarantees do we as faculty and students have that we will have electronic access to back issues if the University drops its electronic subscriptions to particular journals?

  • License agreements with publishers provide for post-cancellation access to subscribed content via publisher websites (Fogler Library has already successfully utilized such license agreements)
  • Portico, provides post-cancellation access to subscribed content from publishers who have paid Portico to fulfill this function. Portico is a non-profit organization supported by
  • The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Ithaka, The Library of Congress, and JSTOR whose mission is the long-term preservation of scholarly literature published in electronic form. Portico has nearly 500 academic and research library members.

3. If Fogler Library no longer subscribes to an electronic journal and we want to view an online issue to which Fogler did subscribe, will we be able to do this seamlessly through URSUS from a campus office?

  • Yes

4. What happens if Portico ceases to operate?

5. What is the extent of current usage of the hard copy (paper) versions that would be eliminated?

  • Usage of hard copy academic journals for which we also have online access is low (e.g. Elsevier/ScienceDirect; JSTOR; PsycArticles)
  • Interlibrary Loan fulfills more than 1,100 document delivery requests per year for articles from hard copy academic journals that are owned by and shelved in the library, indicating a need for these titles to be online; in-building use is low
  • Usage of current issues of most general-interest hard copy magazines and newspapers (e.g. New Yorker, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Portland Press Herald) is good; these would remain in print format

6. How much money will the library save by switching some journals to online-only?

  • The library will use the difference in cost to meet expenses elsewhere, particularly as a realignment to deal with the yearly journal increases. The library may realize about $6000 initially but this amount is not necessarily on-going and will change year to year.
  • Future savings on binding will help pay fees for packages such as JSTOR, ScienceDirect, Springer, Taylor & Francis, Project MUSE, and others

7. How will the library and the community benefit from this action?

  • Increased access to our subscriptions: at any hour, from any location, by unlimited users
  • Access to additional titles requested by faculty in online publisher packages
  • More study space in the library as many duplicate back issues in print can be stored off-site and fewer titles will require binding and shelving
  • More staff and student hours for content creation and other local projects, such as digitization of unique materials

If you have further questions or comments regarding the planned action, please address them to Harlan Onsrud, Chair, Faculty Senate Library Committee, onsrud@spatial.maine.edu for consideration by the committee.

MOTION: The faculty senate supports the elimination of paper versions of some online journals available through Fogler Library as described above.

The motion passed.

New Business:

Motion to Create Ad Hoc Committee on General Education

Preamble:

Recent emphasis on learning outcomes across campus, coupled with an ongoing need to evaluate courses that fall under general education, has created time demands on the Academic Affairs Committee, diverting them from other key academic issues. This has pointed to the need for a Senate Committee on General Education, which will work with faculty and the administration on key issues related to general education at the University of Maine.

Motion:

The Senate will create an Ad Hoc Committee on General Education. This committee will be made up of a chair, who is a Senate Member and appointed by the President of the Senate, and at least five committee members, representing each College. At least half of the faculty membership of the committee must be members of the Faculty Senate. Further, the chair of the Student Learning Outcomes & Assessment Committee (or his/her designee) will automatically serve as an ad hoc member of this committee.

During the 2009-2010 academic year, the establishment of this committee will be reviewed for possible recommendation as a standing committee.

The motion passed with one abstention.

Adjourn.