February 24, 2010

Faculty Senate Minutes
February 24, 2010
Present: Andrei Alyokhin, Daniel Belknap, Rod Bushway, Joe Carr, Ted Coladarci, William Congleton, Robert Dana, Michael Eckardt, Janet Fairman, Todd Gabe, Per Garder, Maddy Glover, John Gregory, Michael Grillo, William Halteman, Sue Hunter, George Jacobson, Kirsten Jacobson, Blake James, Mel Johnson, Robert Kennedy, Irv Kornfield, Karl Kreutz, Judy Kuhns-Hastings, Stuart Marrs, Craig Mason, James McClymer, Sid Mitchell, David Morrison, Harlan Onsrud, Tina Passman, Paul Rawson, Robert Rice, Paul Roscoe, Joyce Rumery, Dan Sandweiss, Michael Scott, Phillip Silver, Kathryn Slott, Susan Lambrecht Smith, Trevor Smith, Kristin Sobolik, Claire Strickland, Shihfen Tu, Roy Turner, Janet Waldron, Stephanie Welcomer, Mark Wells, Vivian Wu.
Absent: Douglas Bousfield, Thomas Brann, Chris Campbell, Fei Chai, Steve Cohn, Raphael DiLuzio, Catherine Elliott, Cynthia Erdley, Susan Erich, Robert Franzosa, Duane Hanselman, Cary Jenson, Deborah Killam, Dennis King, Michael Kinnison, Dorothy Klimis-Zacas, Larry Latour, Howard Patterson, Justin Poland, Steven Sader, Touradj Solouki, James Warhola, Huijie Xue.
The meeting opened at 3:15 pm.
Senate President Kuhns-Hastings welcomed everyone to the meeting.
President Kennedy announced that he will implement the new non-smoking policy beginning January 1, 2011. There will be a one-year probation period with January 1, 2012 beginning the total ban of smoking on campus.
Provost Hunter announced that there will be an information forum on APPWG’s final report on March 29. The forum will be set up to be an exchange of ideas and dialogue. Each college will have tables with administrators from that college available to address concerns and answer questions. These “conversation clusters” will have a dean, an APPWG member and someone from the Provost’s staff available. There will be no set hours, she foresees that forum lasting several hours so that people will be able to drop in when they are able. On March 18 she will be presenting information from the Deans. There may be some alterations. A few days after this the report will be made public. Dr. Marrs stated that the report will be out a few days before the meeting on March 29. The forum will be open to everyone, students, staff, and faculty. A question was asked if the forum would be taped for those unable to attend on the 29th. The forum will not be taped but notes will be taken and people can make comments on folders that will be set up on the web-site. There will be separate folders for each college on the site.
A question was asked to Athletic Director Blake James about whether Athletics is making budget cuts. He said that Athletics is taking significant cuts and that he would be happy to give a presentation to a group from Senate regarding this issue.
The minutes from the January 27, 2010 senate meeting were approved. It was noted that the vote to change the Senate’s presidential term limits was: 66 approved the change and 6 opposed it.
Committee Reports:
Board of Trustees Representative – Dr. Robert Rice
The BOT will hold its next meeting on March 15 in Bangor. Approval of tenure is on the agenda. Spring enrollment figures will be distributed. There are two new trustees, Sam Collins and Michelle Hood.
At the May BOT meeting finances and tuition and fees will be on the agenda.
April 6 the UMS has scheduled a day-long symposium, “Advancing Maine: Aligning Academic Programs to Meet Future Workforce Needs”. This summit is “intended to assess Maine’s future workforce needs and align them with public higher education academic programming.” The symposium will be held at Wells Conference Center from 8:30 to 4:15 pm. Speakers will include Doug Hall, founder and CEO of Eureka! Ranch, Laurie Lachance, Maine Development Foundation President, and John Dorrer, director of the Maine Department of Labor’s Center for Workforce Research and Information.
Academic Affairs & General Education – Dr. Tina Passman
The committee met two weeks ago to look at the undergraduate catalogue language. They are looking at clarifying minors, degrees, etc. The committee is also looking at academic forgiveness in future policy. They had some discussion on the implications of the common calendar. Bob Rice and Judy will speak to the committee at some point to further outline the policy. There still remains a lot of confusion on the final exam policy, especially with on-line courses. The committee is also looking at grade inflation and how it affects learning outcomes and assessment, and can it give us some insight. Also the committee is looking in to ways in which we can tell if there is grade inflation. NSFA has already had some conversation about this.
The Gen Ed committee is looking at resources to being the assessment process.
Research & Scholarship – Dr. Touradj Solouki
The committee has not met recently. They are completing a survey about software needs for graduate students.
Constitution & Bylaws – Dr. Michael Grillo
The committee is looking at editing the documents. They are also looking at the issues of voting via email. The last vote used email and we would like to continue this practice as long as this is private and verifiable. There will be more updates to the bylaws.
Finance & Institutional Planning – Dr. Craig Mason
The committee has been developing different scenarios for potential savings for the campus. The committee will present these scenarios to the elected members of Senate on March 17 in a closed session. UBAT members will also attend.
University Environment – Dr. Daniel Balknap
The committee held two meetings to discuss the smoke-free campus initiative. Dr. Belknap commended Polly Moutevelis-Burgess and Laurie Sidelko for their assistance with the meetings – they were well-attended and civil. At their next meeting the committee will discuss energy efficiency and other green campus initiatives.
Library Advisory – Dr. Howard Segal
No report.
Service & Outreach – Deborah Killam
The committee will have a display of various service projects at the next three full members meetings, and at the grad expo.
Committee on Committees – Dr. Shihfen Tu
Irv Kornfield will serve on the University Teaching Council. The committee has come to an agreement with the administration on the list of the Committees of the Administration for next year. The committee will be drafting a motion.
Program Creation, Reorganization & Review – Dr. Harlan Onsrud
The committee has a motion on the agenda regarding the proposal for a PhD Degree Program in Anthropology and Environmental Policy. Two issues remain: the projected number of students and credits. Dr. Onsrud noted that the committee’s role is to raise issues and make recommendations. They recommend that the proposal be forwarded to the administration.
MOTION: The PCRRC recommends and moves that this letter and its attachment be forwarded to the administration for its consideration in assessing the merits of the proposal.
Dr. Kristin Sobolik and Dr. Paul “Jim” Roscoe attended the meeting in support of and to answer any questions about the new program proposal.
There were comments from those attending the meeting, mostly in favor of the proposal. Dr. Alyokhin reasoned that we study people and society but do not include the environment and how it is effected by both. He felt that this program would encompass society and its effect on the environment.
Dr. George Jacobson, who also attended the meeting to support the proposal, stated that anthropology and archaeology are programs that involve environment and climate change. Anthropology was a strong program with no graduate degree. He is delighted that they can now get an advance degree. He also said that one of the greatest challenges in climate change study is not science related but human related.
The vote on the motion was:
Approve: 24
Against: 0
Abstain: 0
Committees of the Administration Reports:
University Teaching Council – Dr. Irv Kornfield
Dr. Kornfield stated that mean and median data from summaries of Student Evaluation of Teaching data are statistically valid. They can be used to help inform faculty, peer committees, and others about teaching quality.
Old Business: There was no Old Business
New Business:
Educational Technology Ad Hoc Committee – Dr. Irv Kornfield.
A motion was presented to create an ad hoc committee to oversee educational technology on campus. Technology and distance education are growing and the UMS is making recommendations that affect UM. The committee’s charge would be to synthesize movements and proposals and make recommendations. This committee will report to the Senate and is distinct from the IT Council. The motion is:
Motion to Create an Ad Hoc Committee for Faculty Assessment of University of Maine Educational Technology Mission and Supporting Infrastructure.
Preamble: Technology is vital to the educational and instructional mission of the University of Maine. The role of technology in education is rapidly evolving with regard to the development of educational tools and delivery systems for traditional classes and those using distance-ed modalities. The availability of technology and students’ expectations concerning the integration of technology into all aspects of their learning experience has increased greatly in the last five years. Further, The University of Maine System has expressed the need to expand distance-educational opportunities while simultaneously mandating resource conservation and consolidation. The University of Maine System has proposed the consolidation of academic and administrative IT Services throughout all campuses to a Hybrid IT Model.* see footnote
It is critical to define a strategic vision for utilization of extant and emerging technologies to support the teaching mission of the University.
Motion: The Faculty Senate of the University of Maine will create a new Ad Hoc Committee, titled Faculty Assessment of the University of Maine Educational Technology Mission and Supporting Infrastructure Ad hoc Committee.
This committee will define a strategic vision for educational technology at the University of Maine. They will consider technology and infrastructure for creation, support and delivery of offerings on-campus and on-line. The committee will meet with various campus groups to acquire a full and unbiased assessment of the educational technology needs, resources, and support at the University.
The committee will explore and form recommendations for best uses of technology resources supporting the institutional vision while identifying cost-saving measures whenever possible.
The committee will produce a report concerning current and future utilization of technology in the academic arena for both classroom and distance education, including issues relevant to faculty support and development serving the educational mission of University of Maine. The committee shall report its findings and recommendations to the full Faculty Senate and to the President of the University of Maine.
Membership: The committee membership will consist of no more than ten faculty members. The chair of this committee shall be appointed by the President of the Faculty Senate and shall be a member of the Faculty Senate. Additional faculty members from Faculty Senate and at large shall be added to ensure that each College, including the Honors College and Co-operative Extension, is represented. Outside members with expertise in the use of technology will be invited to participate along with the Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence.
The hybrid model provides an opportunity for each campus IT organization to develop IT plans and strategies to support the mission and goals of their campus, while taking advantage of consolidated shared services and collaborative efforts that strengthen the overall system-wide delivery of services to end users. This model is designed to take advantage of the best features of centralized and decentralized approaches.
The vote on the motion was:
Approve: 23
Against: 0
Abstain: 1
Gen Ed Resolution: This motion supports the process outlined on the first page of the motion. It was noted that we have to be careful about putting in place an overly-uniform approach to assessment. The motion is:
The Faculty Senate accepts and endorses the process of General Education Assessment outlined in the accompanying document put forward by the General Education Committee. The attached process and timeline are constructed to bring the University of Maine into compliance with the NEASC Action letter, dated November 17, 2009, which sets specific dates for progress to be reported illustrating our success in implementing a comprehensive approach to the assessment of student learning in 2012 and 2014.
The vote on the motion was:
Approve: 24
Against: 0
Abstain: 0
The meeting adjourned at 4:30.
Respectfully submitted,
Dr. Stephanie Welcomer
Faculty Senate Secretary