January 25, 2012

FACULTY SENATE MINUTES

January 25, 2012

Present: Richard Borgman, Emmanuel Boss, Douglas Bousfield, Dick Brucher, Jack Burt, Sudarshan Chawathe, William Congleton, Dylan Dryer, Janet Fairman, Paul W. Ferguson, Michael Grillo, Robert Gundersen, Dan Harrison, Susan Hunter, Melvin Johnson, Deborah Killam, Dennis King, Judy Kuhns-Hastings, David Marcincowski, Stuart Marrs, James McClymer, Robert Milardo, Harlan Onsrud, Ray Pelletier, Michael Peterson, Andrew Reeve, Bob Rice, Thomas Sanford, Michael Scott, Scott See, Howard Segal, Kathryn Slott, Robert Strong, Shihfen Tu, Roy Turner, Chuck Wallace, Janet Waldron, Robert Dana, Anne Pooler, Melvin Johnson

Absent: Ian Bricknell, Benildo de los Reyes, Marcia Douglas, David Dvorak, Eric Gallandt, Ramesh Gupta, Gordon Hamilton, Duane Hanselman, Samuel Helmke, Clarissa Henry, Steven Kimball, Kurt Klappenbach, Irv Kornfield, Bill Livingston, Molly MacLean, Jennifer Moxley, Martha Novy-Broderick, Jay Rasaiah, Paul Rawson, Claire Sullivan, Mark Wells, Vivian Wu,

The meeting was called to order at 3:20 pm.

I. Announcements:
Information was emailed to the campus community with a list of listening sessions for the strategic planning process. Please check dates, it’s important to participate. On Friday there will be a meeting on revenue and recruitment of students at York Village, 12:00 noon. Thank you to all that attended the Chancellor session’s, there were some wonderful questions. President Ferguson expressed appreciation of the Faculty Senate participation.

II. Approval of the Minutes:
Approval of November minutes – unanimous
Approval of December minutes – unanimous

III. Committee Reports:

BOT Rep – Robert Rice
There was an all day Board of Trustee meeting at the Bangor Systems Office. A recommendation was made by the search committee to the BOT by the committee regarding the Chancellor positions, no final decision, they have until April. They’re pleased with the input they received. At UM, last year’s enrollment met all targets. Grant funding and revenue were at record levels at UMaine. The Augusta campus asked for an extension on a loan and that was approved.

Sightlines made a presentation on a review of buildings at all the system campuses. UMaine is in fairly good shape.

Finance committee went into executive session to discuss funding models; UMaine would look strong in any model. An RFQ going out today. A second RFQ for is for a consultant to look at Administration and System Office structures. The goal is to save $8 million by 2013, $14 million by 2014, and $24 million by 2015.

There’s a list of directives a BOT committee was putting together in response to the letter from the Governor with a request for changes. A tuition increase was voted at 0%; limit on degree hours to 121 hours, exceptions need Provost and Board approval; linking of Community College lower-level courses to UMS general education courses to facilitate transferability; strengthen adult education degrees; matrix to be certification/degree and certification/degree relative to the number of adults in the state; align funding with performance-based outcomes; encourage collaboration with businesses; align workforce needs with certificates and degrees; year round admission and financial aid.

The UMaine administration is active behind the scenes putting their case out there.

CFO of the System put forth a document outlining options of increasing tuition by 0%, 1%, or 2% and impacts. BOT was surprised, especially with the need for an immediate decision. System will do everything possible to mitigate campuses because of a 0% increase.

Discussion:
President stated that the System is struggling with tuition increases. They need to mitigate damage to campuses. Discussion of 1 or 2% would have been low and required less mitigation.

Janet Waldron said several scenarios could come into play: a one year suspension of the Strategic Investment Fund; FY10 received a cut and then some funds were restored, the System held approximately $2 million. That share could come back; pull the plug on depreciation, which would equal a cut.

Bob mentioned he had sent a copy of the report of online education to Michael for distribution to all. Also, Sightlines complimented the UMaine campus on energy cost mitigation.

Q. What were the penalties for not meeting enrollment numbers? UMaine met theirs but what was the penalty?
A. UMaine met their projection; System CFO didn’t hand out documents or comment on penalties.

Q. RFQ, is it a solicitation?
A. Request for Qualifications needed to look at performance-based models for funding the campuses. A study needs to be done to look at the structure and staffing of the system with the goal of saving money.

Academic Affairs – Shihfen Tu and Richard Borgman
Rick Borgman is the new co-chair of the committee. There’s a meeting tomorrow and next Friday.

Constitution & Bylaws –Harlan Onsrud
Will be looking at the faculty handbook, a review of what is current and items that can be dropped or leave in.

Research & Scholarship –Janet Fairman
The strategic plan for research will be reviewed and presented in late March. They are drafting a campus-wide survey on faculty research.

Finance & Institutional Planning – James McClymer
Meeting on February 3. Last meeting we discussed financial aid and athletics portion of that.

Janet Waldron spoke regarding this tuition discount rate and athletic scholarships.

The Tuition discount rate is 41.6% which represents $48.4 million (which includes Athletic scholarships and Pell grants). The Athletic scholarships are $5.7 million of this total.

University Environment – Mike Scott
Waiting for report from Elaine Clark

Library Advisory – Howard Segal
Library has a newsletter with an article about the repository that can be viewed on the library website.

Service & Outreach –Deborah Killam & Claire Sullivan
January13 meeting cancelled, rescheduled for February 10.

Committee on Committees –Roy Turner
No report.

Program Creation &Reorganization Review –Scott See
Nothing now. In the spring Academic Programming Committee members can send questions to Scott.

General Education – Tom Sanford
Met January 13, picking up the pace and meeting every 2 weeks to tackle outstanding General Education categories.

Ad Hoc IT Advisory – Irving Kornfield & Mike Scott
Information technology strategic plan is reaching closure with the document being produced. Recommendation for UMaine to hire a Chief Information Officer who would assist with reorganization.
Committee will review the Division of Lifelong Learning with respect to modes of IT course delivery.

Committees of the Administration Representatives
Strategic Planning Committee met this week. We’re being careful in the approach, making sure there are no foregone conclusions.

III. Questions to Administrators
Q. Jim asked if Wikipedia had been checked for the content of sports over academics.
A. President Ferguson commented that it was looked at and thought there was a balance even though sports and Greek life were mentioned.

Q. Regarding strategic planning, students with work-study apply for jobs and never hear back after applying.
A. Place a comment on the strategic planning website so it’s something that will be looked at.

Q. Is the strategic plan collecting information on the number of instructors, full time faculty, ratio of faculty to administrators?
A. The Office of Institutional Studies collects that information; it’s an ongoing report. There is a decrease in faculty to adjunct ratio and that needs to be addressed.

Q. How do we measure up to our peer institutions, and which are the peer institutions to whom we are being compared?
A. There’s a group of peer institutions, land grant peer, and aspirational peers. There’s an ongoing list.

Q. Is there a process of evaluation for alumni to evaluate their education?
A. The information is collected through Institutional Studies and it’s called Life After UMaine. Wish for a higher response rate, currently receiving 45-50%.

IV. Old Business
None

V. New Business
None

VII. Adjourn
The meeting was adjourned at 4:10 pm.

Respectfully submitted,
Kathryn Slott