December 12, 2009

Faculty Senate
Minutes of Meeting:
December 12, 2009
Present: Dan Belknap, Douglas Bousfield, Rodney Bushway, Catherine Elliott, Todd Gabe, Per Garder, John Gregory, Michael Grillo, William Halteman, Duane Hanselman, Sue Hunter, Kirsten Jacobson, Robert Kennedy, Deborah Killam, Dennis King, Dorothy Klimis Zacas, Irv Kornfield, Judy Kuhns-Hastings, Molly Maclean, Stuart Marrs, Craig Mason, Harlan Onsrud, Paul Rawson, Robert Rice, Steven Sader, Kathryn Slott, Touradj Solouki, Shihfen Tu, James Warhola, Stephanie Welcomer, Mark Wells, Vivian Wu, Huijie Xue
Absent: Andrei Alyokhin, Thomas Brann, Chris Campbell, Fei Chair, Steve Cohn, William Congleton, Raphael DiLuzio, Cynthia Erdley, Susan Erich, Janet Fairman, Robert Franzosa, Cary Jenson, Michael Kinnison, Karl Kreutz, Larry Latour, James McClymer, Sid Mitchell, David Morrison, Tina Passman, Howard Patterson, Justin Poland, Michael Scott, Phillip Silver, Susan Lambrecht Smith, Roy Turner.
Meeting Called to Order at 3:15.
Announcements:
Dr. Kennedy announced that UMS has asked for universities to look at their different roles and scopes. We will be looking at UM’s role.
Questions and Discussion with Administrators:
Dr. Slott asked about her department’s ability to offer CED courses. Dr. Halteman said that CED has had the same policy for course offerings for five years, so nothing had changed regarding being able to offer CED courses.
Dr. Kuhns-Hastings asked about the timeframe for the budget struggles. President Kennedy said the budget woes extend beyond 2014 and that APPWG’s process will guide decision-making for beyond 2014, that the rebound will take a very long time, it could be anywhere from 2-10 years. Dr. Hunter added that it’s harder and harder, as the timeframe for budgetary issues is extended. APPWG is laying the basis for how we will think about the future.
Dr. Welcomer asked if there is a plan to release what other non-academic areas are doing to meet budget shortfalls? President Kennedy said that other Vice-Presidents have been asked to plan, and yes they can release their plans after January 1, 2010.
Dr. Grillo asked how we may expect the rest of the system to respond as we release our plans. President Kennedy said that it’s hard to say, that after January 1, 2010, there is a January Board of Trustees meeting and by the March BOT meeting more of a discussion.
Dr. Gabe asked if APPWG will meet its deadlines. Dr. Hunter said that the committee intends to put information out at the deadlines posted.
Dr. Halteman asked if there is a webmaster link available to report problems. John Gregory said that he’ll check, but that this should be taken to Chris Smith.
Committee Reports:
Board of Trustees – Dr. Robert Rice: meetings are taking place regarding the common calendar and that there is a movement to move the doctoral university to a Machias-type calendar. The impetus comes from distance education confusion among students. Dr. Hunter noted that this campus is strongly not in favor of a common calendar and that May term is a big semester for our campus, plus courses and service learning happen over spring break.
Also, UM needs to work on its vision, role and scope statements and make sure they represent what we do and how we are distinct.
Academic Affairs – Dr. Tina Passman: no report
Constitution & Bylaws – Dr. Michael Grillo: no report
Research & Scholarship – Dr. Touradj Solouki: no report
University Environment – Dr. Dan Belknap: the committee has met and is discussing a wide variety of issues. The smoke-free campus designation and implementation is under discussion.
Library Advisory – Dr. Howard Segal:
The Library Committee met on December 10 with Librarian Joyce Rumery and all of the members present (save the grad student).
(1) Joyce updated us on the institutional repository project, as summarized by Harlan below, with my annotations:
Over the last couple years the Faculty Senate Library Committee has focused on implementing an institutional repository for the university. This is increasingly common among colleges and universities. Last year the Faculty Senate passed a motion giving our committee the go-ahead to research the alternatives and make it happen. We explored the alternatives and the consensus was to move ahead with Berkeley Press ‘BePress’ Digital Commons <http://www.bepress.com/ir/> as the institutional repository (IR) system that seemed to be most sustainable over the long haul. In June 2009 Joyce met with System VP-Academic Affairs Jim Breece, who couldn’t commit the $25,000 or so needed for just the first year and for just Orono alone. Joyce is discussing possible other support with both Development and CFO offices.
(2) Joyce has applied for a grant to fund an “On Demand Expresso Book Machine,” along with Colby, Bates, Bowdoin, USM, Maine State Library, Bangor Public Library, and Portland Public Library.
(3) Our Science Direct License ends in 2011. This major database is owned by Elsvier and that publisher is very difficult to deal with, so it’s not yet clear what will happen when the License ends.
(4) Our acquisitions budget remains solid and will in fact grow by $50,000 for at least next year. But the library has lost about twelve positions in the past decade. We now have fifty-eight staff members, some of them part-time, where we once had seventy in total. We don’t even meet the LOWEST LEVEL of membership in the Association of Research Libraries (nor does any other library in Maine).
(5) Finally, we discussed the possibility of subscribing to only online journals provided by JStor, which is a very reliable online provider, unlike some. (I recalled what happened a few years ago when journal subscriptions were cut arbitrarily by then Associate Provost Doug Gelinas without his bothering to consult with the departments that were the principal users.) Many earlier issues of journals have been boxed up, while others are currently available only online. Besides the Library Annex, Fogler rents space from the Bangor Public Library from Bangor Seminary’s former Moulton Library at $1000 a year. For now, space is not an issue. The Committee agreed that no bound journals would be discarded pending both getting ironclad assures that JStor will be around for the long run and that we can dispose of older bound journals without undermining possible future use.
The Committee was very pleased and impressed with Joyce’s eagerness to work with us and to explore options for reducing costs and for working with other libraries around the state.
Howard Segal
Chair, Library Committee
Service & Outreach – Dr. Deborah Killam: there is high anxiety among students regarding the terminology of service learning and fear that such learning will become required to graduate.
Committee on Committees – Dr. Shihfen Tu: no report
Program Creation, Review & Reorganization – Dr. Harlan Onsrud: see New Business
General Education – Dr. Tina Passman: no report
Finance and Institutional Planning – Dr. Craig Mason: UBAT group continues to look at possible alternative scenarios for the budget. We hope to come back next semester with new ideas.
Committees of the Administration Representatives: no report
Old Business: none
New Business:
1. PCRRC response to the new BA/BS in Climate Change and Culture.
Dr. Onsrud reported that this is the first time the PCRRC has looked at a proposal for a new program. The committee decided not to hold a campus meeting but would offer constructive questions to inform the program’s intent to plan. The committee’s recommendation is not to object to the intent to plan but to offer constructive feedback.
Dr. Kris Sobolik spoke on behalf of the proposed new degree. She explained that this is a new program involving a human and scientific approach to climate change. It is interdisciplinary, draws on existing faculty, and uses no new resources. It is unique – there is no other program on campus like it.
Dr. Belknap noted that he felt the PCRRC process was flawed in that the proposing unit could have answered questions directly had it been included as part of the process. The comments directed to the proposal seemed to be overly negative.
Dr. Onsrud said that the committee expected detailed and comprehensive documentation and that it appeared there was a rush to move this proposal forward. For instance the proposal states that the program will attract students from out-of-state, but where is the evidence that it will? Clearly this is a compelling area for a degree but we want the PCRRC process to be taken seriously. Recall that this committee recommends to the full senate and that the senate can make whatever recommendation it wants.
Dr. Sobolik noted that it did not feel rushed to those involved in formulating the proposal.
Dr. Grillo said that though he supports this particular program proposal, the PCRRC process must be taken seriously because we don’t want to put new unneeded programs up at a time of budget shortfalls.
Dr. Killam noted that she is on the PCRRC and the committee was supportive of the plan and that the committee’s intent was to signal some areas for further development and that there was no sense that the proposal should be scuttled.
Dr. Kornfield noted that saying it is cost neutral is probably incorrect if enrollments go up.
Dr. Sobolik said that the units do have quite a lot of room, but maybe some supply costs will increase.
Motion to accept the PCRRC’s report:
Yes: 20
No: 0
Abstain: 3
Motion to move the report forward with Senate support for this proposal:
Yes: 23
Dr. Belknap said that in future proposals the PCRRC should involve representatives of units making the proposal so they can have input to the committee’s questions.
Dr. Onsrud said that the process was in flux and that the committee needs to revise it.
2. Dr. Kuhns-Hastings stated that library report attached to the meeting agenda contains important points. For instance, the library has lost 12 positions in the last decade and that at
current staff levels Fogler Library doesn’t meet the lowest level of membership in the Association of Research Libraries.
Meeting Adjourned at 4:22
Respectfully submitted,
Dr. Stephanie Welcomer
Faculty Senate Secretary