March 31, 2010

Faculty Senate Minutes
March 31, 2010
Present: Tucker Adams, Andrei Alyokhin, Edward Ashworth, Daniel Belknap, Jason Bolton, Douglas Bousfield, Rod Bushway, Joe Carr, Fei Chai, Steve Cohn, Ted Coladarci, William Congleton, Robert Dana, Willilam Davis, Michael Eckardt, Catherine Elliott, Susan Erich, Janet Fairman, Robert Franzosa, Todd Gabe, Per Garder, Maddy Glover, John Gregory, Michael Grillo, William Halteman, Sue Hunter, Kirsten Jacobson, Blake James, Mel Johnson, Robert Kennedy, Deborah Killam, Dennis King, Irv Kornfield, Judy Kuhns-Hastings, Molly MacLean, John Mahon, Kathleen March, Stuart Marrs, Craig Mason, James McClymer, Sid Mitchell, Lisa Morin, David Morrison, Tina Passman, Jacquith Porter, Paul Rawson, Robert Rice, Joyce Rumery, Dan Sandweiss, Michael Scott, Phillip Silver, Kathryn Slott, Susan Lambrecht Smith, Trevor Smith, Touradj Solouki, Shihfen Tu, Roy Turner, Janet Waldron, Stephanie Welcomer, Mark Wells, Nate Wildes, Huijie Xue.
Absent: Thomas Brann, Chris Campbell, Raphael DiLuzio, Cynthia Erdley, Duane Hanselman, Cary Jenson, Michael Kinnison, Dorothy Klimis-Zacas, Karl Kreutz, Larry Latour, Harlan Onsrud, Howard Patterson, Justin Poland, Steven Sader, Vivian Wu.
The meeting opened at 3:15 pm.
Sue Hunter gave some figures on the new student loan provisions that were recently passed in Washington. She stated that 3,000 students at UMaine receive Pell Grants, which amounts to 11.1 million dollars on this campus. There will be 5,350 eligible students in AY10-11 and 5,500 eligible students in AY10-11. This number will increase to 6,000 in AY 16-17. Dr. Hunter noted that passing this bill is great for students. AY 10-11 will be the final year for Academic Competitive Grants – Smart Grants – which are for juniors and seniors, mostly for students in STEM.
Tina Passman Neilson thanked the administration for the open forum focusing on the APPWG recommendations. She was gratified by the response and impressed by the students and their passion for higher learning.
Sue Hunter stated that at this time no recommendation from the APPWG committee have been made final. She will give her final recommendation to the President on April 8. She too was incredibly impressed by the student’s comments. UMaine is not suspending admissions to any programs at this time. The President will make his decisions, which will then go to the Faculty Senate, the PCRRC, and then to the BOT for final approval.
A question was asked about how student input would impact the final decisions.
Dr. Hunter replied that some of the input will be included in the report.
Jim McClymer asked if there was any comment about the APPWG process from the Chancellor’s office.
President Kennedy replied that they thought the process has gone very well. He said he will review Dr. Hunter’s report after the April 8 deadline and he will then recommend to the Chancellor and BOT.
Judy Kuhns-Hastings commented that she had had some discussions from several faculty members who were disappointed with the forum and wanted to know if Dr. Kennedy and Dr. Hunter would speak directly with faculty regarding the recommendations.
Dr. Kennedy said that it would be premature to meet as no decisions had been made yet. He said that implementation forums would be held over the next 12 to 14 months.
Dan Belknap stated that cuts have been made to various groups on campus, and he wanted to know about any cuts the administration was taking. Dr. Dana replied that his unit had cut an Associate Dean.
Craig Mason said that there seems to be a trend that FTE faculty numbers are declining, both E&G and soft money positions. He said that we should be able to go back and see these trends: e.g. Who are administration positions, who are faculty, and who are professional positions? Have the numbers of administrators grown? We need good data on these numbers. Do we have this information available?
Janet Waldron said that the numbers are available. Dr. Kennedy said that there are 654 faculty members, but we should have definite numbers.
Craig stated that maybe a committee should be formed to ascertain what the numbers are, with Ted Coladarci and Phil Pratt being members of the committee.
Michael Grillo asked if Dr. Kennedy will be discussing his recommendations on cuts with Chancellor Pattenaude. Dr. Kennedy said that he will let Dr. Pattenaude know when he decides and that the Chancellor will then alert the BOT. They will give him feedback on the decisions.
Michael also asked about the upcoming Public Agenda meeting and stated that faculty input is not being sought out. The New Challenges/New Directions document stated that a broad variety of people would be included in these discussions. He stated that there seems to be a lack of public input in the Public Agenda.
Nate Wildes stated that at the student senate meeting many students spoke in defense of their programs. It was a very emotional, very well spoken event. These cuts go beyond money. Students feel the rug has been pulled out beneath them. They have concerns with the process. Who’s to say that other programs won’t be cut in the future?
Dan Belknap asked if students know that they can complete their degrees in the programs proposed to be cut. Nate replied that they do, but if a program is cut, five or however many years later the fact is they graduated from a university that no longer has the program they received their degree in.
Jim McClymer, in reference to a letter written by the president of USM to their faculty, wanted to know if that particular campus was in denial. Dr. Kennedy stated that USM had undergone huge budget cuts a few years ago. Janet Waldron also stated that because UMaine has the largest state appropriation, we also have the largest cuts to our budget.
Kathryn Slott asked how many other campus systems in the U.S. are eviscerating their flagship campuses programs. She stated that we are taking these huge cuts and the other campuses in our system do not seem to be getting these levels of cuts. President Kennedy replied that because we are the flagship campus our cuts are noticed more.
The minutes from the February 24 senate meeting were approved.
Committee Reports:
BOT Rep – Dr. Robert Rice
Bob gave numbers of faculty at each campus:
UMaine – 604
UMA – 109
UMF – 129
UMFK – 38
UMPI – 54
UMM – 32
USM – 383
The Fall 2010 to Spring 2010 enrollment is 736 less students. There are 9,653 FT students enrolled at UMaine. The number of applications received to date has increased over last year. The BOT will meet at the end of May in Fort Kent.
On April 6 the Public Agenda meeting will be held at Orono. There has been discussion of a common calendar for all campuses. The on-line courses major initiative is moving forward, Dean Bob White is on this committee their work is ongoing.
18 Programs qualify for a 3 year degree program. The transfer credit matrix is moving forward.
The UMS Portal research is continuing. The portal is likely to cost $2 to $4 million. UMS has hired some consultants to talk with students and staff about the new portal.
Committee Reports:
Academic Affairs – Dr. Tina Passman
The committee met recently with two guests to talk about academic forgiveness and has a final version of the policy that we will bring to the elected members meeting.
Regarding the common calendar we met with Tammy Light and others. We sent our recommendation letter to the President, the Chancellor, and copies to the Provost, Associate Provost, Associate Chancellor and BoT Chair. For the fall semester, we agree with a common start time (with the approval of the union), agreed to have a common drop/add, and accept in general the proposed fall schedule. For spring we agree with the common drop/add and a flexible start time. We are going to survey faculty about when the two week spring break should occur. We’ve asked for a two year moratorium until we get data from faculty and students. The survey asks which of three breaks respondents prefer.
Committee on Committees – Dr. Shihfen Tu
We are looking for members on committees for the University Teaching award and the Service award. We have a motion to vote on today. Next year, Jim Warhola is running for Faculty Senate president and we have no nominations yet for Senate Secretary.
Constitution and Bylaws – Dr. Michael Grillo
See today’s motion.
Finance and Institutional Planning – Dr. Craig Mason
Thanks to Janet Waldron for budget information and general good will in discussing all this.
General Education – Dr. Tina Passman
The faculty will shortly receive a letter for a process for outcomes assessment. We are sending surveys out to those who teach GenEd classes and whether respondents fell it expresses your understanding of the area. After April 1 the Provost will not be reviewing new courses for GenEd because we are in a “transitional state.”
Library Advisory – Dr. Howard Segal
No Report.
Program Creation, Review and Reorganization Committee – Dr. Harlan Onsrud
No Report.
Research & Scholarship – Dr. Touradj Solouki
No Report.
Service and Outreach – Dr. Deborah Killam
Presentation by Lisa, of the Bodwell Center on the Civic Passage program that helps faculty do service learning. The Center has a gala coming up on April 20.
University Environment – Dr. Dan Belknap
We hope to have new things soon, otherwise no report.
Committees of the Administration
No Report.
Old Business
None.
New Business
Motion to Establish the General Education Committee as a standing committee.
Vote:
Approve: 15
Oppose: 0
Abstain: 0
Nominations for Senate Officers:
Board of Trustees: Bob Rice
President Elect: Jim Warhola
Secretary: Judy Kuhns-Hastings
Adjourned: 4:45
Respectfully submitted,
Stephanie Welcomer
Secretary, Faculty Senate