December 12, 2012

FACULTY SENATE MINUTES

December 12, 2012

Present: John Allen, Steven Barkan, Emmanuel Boss, Douglas Bousfield, Dick Brucher, Marcia Douglas, Thane Fremouw, Michael Grillo, Gordon Hamilton, Dennis King, Judy Kuhns-Hastings, Bill Livingston, Mary Ellin Logue, James McClymer, Robert Milardo, Martha Novy-Broderick, Harlan Onsrud, Michael Peterson, Andrew Reeve, Brian Robinson, Thomas Sandford, Michael Scott, Howard Segal, Claire Sullivan, Philip Trostel, Gail Werrbach, David Yarborough, Bob Rice, Kathryn Slott, Susan Hunter, Stuart Marrs, Melvin Johnson, Edward Ashworth, Charles Rodda (GSG)

Absent: Jason Bolton, Richard Borgman, Ian Bricknell, Stephen Coghlan, William Congleton, Mauricio da Cunha, Benildo de los Reyes, Charlsye Diaz, Dylan Dryer, Janet Fairman, Robert Gundersen, Ramesh Gupta, Clarissa Henry, Steven Kimball, Dorothy Klimis-Zacas, David Marcincowski, Paul Myer, Ray Pelletier, Jay Rasaiah, Roy Turner, Chuck Wallace, Mark Wells, Robert Strong, Paul W Ferguson, Robert Jackson Pineau (USG) , Molly MacLean

The meeting was called to order at 3:22 pm

I.          Welcome and Announcements:

Chancellor James Page will attend the January 16, 2013 Elected Members meeting, everyone will be invited for that portion of the meeting.

At the last meeting the Senate discussed the preparation of a response letter regarding Performance Based Funding. That letter was mailed but no so far there’s been no response from the System Office. The BOT has action on their agenda for the Jan. 23, 2013 meeting.

Dr. Robert Dana commented about the recent student deaths or near deaths this semester.  He stated that faculty has been remarkable with their sensitivity, support and help with these circumstances.

II.       Approval of November 2012 Minutes
            Vote: Motion Approved

III.      Committee Reports
BOT Rep – Robert Rice 

BOT will meet January 23, 2013 and the Finance Committee will meet prior to the BOT meeting. It’s important for Senate to be meeting with the Chancellor prior to that meeting.  The Performance Based Funding issue metrics will be discussed at the BOT meeting. There was a strong response from campus regarding the formula. A meeting with System Representatives was held recently on campus as part of the initiatives, goals and actions of the BOT, there is an administrative review with two issues. One is the APO for Purchasing, specifically PCards, secondly, a centralization of all travel with a bid system for a single travel agent. Campuses would be required to use a specific agency. Most campuses don’t have an issue with the travel constraints or new purchase procedures since they have little funded research and don’t have extension services, but several from UMaine commented why it wouldn’t work well here. In regards to the performance based funding metrics, few campuses have concerns since the formula redistributes funds from UMaine the other campuses and the other Presidents think they’d do quite well.

Academic Affairs –Richard Borgman & Judy Kuhns-Hastings
Have not met in December but several items for January.

Constitution &Bylaws – Mick Peterson
No report.

Research &Scholarship – Robert Gundersen
The committee is meeting Friday with Mike Hastings regarding staffing to assist with grant writing and grant management. Any particular items someone wants discussed please contact the committee.

Finance &Institutional Planning – James McClymer & Tom Sandford
Met December 6. Thank you to Claire and Ted for putting together data on income generated by each college. Money and the economic impact of academics, putting together a document with information. Should refine and do it yearly. Also reviewed year to date actuals, meeting January 24, 2013.

University Environment – Andrew Reeve & Mike Scott
No report.

Library Advisory – Robert Rice & Howard Segal
No report.

Service &Outreach – Emmanuel Boss & Claire Sullivan
Met with Pathway 3. Emmanuel has put together a survey for Deans and Directors.

Committee on Committees – Roy Turner
No report.

Program Creation & Reorganization Review – Mick Peterson
Met electronically, moved three proposals on to Phase 3, next step meeting with interested parties and public meetings. Things are moving forward.

General Education  — Vacancy
Ramping up again. New England Accreditation of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) is coming up and review of general education requirements is also in one of the Blue Sky Pathways. The Faculty need to incorporate Student Learning Outcomes and assessment of those outcomes in their teaching across all disciplines, undergrad and grad. Will start campus-wide process by incorporating these in Gen Ed courses.

Ad Hoc IT – Martha Novy-Broderick & Mike Scott
Met last week with the technology committee with CLAS and shared a conversation had with Dick Thompson, UMS Chief Information Officer regarding five major areas that the system is addressing. The study undertaken at the System level is due to report to the Chancellor by December 21. There was no faculty input on this matter.

Committee of the Administration

Blue Sky Reports
Blue Sky Steering Committee – Bob Rice – Blue Sky steering committee meeting December 18.
Pathway 1 – Mick Peterson – Welcome to anyone wanting to discuss signature programs. Looking to put together a response from the Senate and then send to committees for responses from as wide a group as possible.
Pathway 2 – Jim McClymer – The committee met for three hours and looked at the metrics for building economic sustainability. Development gave a presentation on status of Development and how it can contribute to economic sustainability. The last capital campaign was $150 million. There is another campaign in the works for the UMaine 150 year anniversary. Development needs direction from the university community on what the needs are. Anything that can be done to replace E&G money is a good thing, if we get more money from donors to use for scholarships that frees up E&G.

Q. Was there discussion of endowed professorships and the dire lack of faculty discussed?
A.  That goes back to giving direction on where money is needed. The Senate should have input into the priorities for Development.

Pathway 3 – Rick Borgman – Pathway 3 is listening and trying to understand. There are three missions or charges; 1) diversity, 2) faculty/staff development, 3) communication. The communication piece is what has been discussed and listening. In January there will be discussions regarding the role of the committee.
Pathway 4 – Judy Kuhns-Hastings – The committee met today. Through NEASC there were three areas where issue needed to be addressed. Enrollment Management which has been addressed; the alignment of academic programs with the mission and purpose; and campus wide outcomes through program assessment. Most of the time discussion has been spent on the third and in January faculty will be asked about that.
Pathway 5 – Doug Bousfield – Meeting regularly regarding infrastructure and buildings. Discussing how to decide what to do with historical buildings, maintain or repurpose. Trying to set goals on how to make decisions and at what point do they involve faculty. Any suggestions please contact.

IV.       Open Comments from the Administration
Graduate School Update, Dr. Daniel Sandweiss, Dean and Associate Provost for Graduate Studies.

PowerPoint Presentation under Documents 2012-2013 https://umaine.edu/facultysenate/wp-content/uploads/sites/218/2012/12/Grad-School-for-Senate-121212.pptx

Question to Dean Sandweiss

Q. Do other campuses have Masters Degrees and Ph.D.?
A. USM is only supposed to give clinical doctoral degrees and there is an MS at Farmington in education. Husson has clinical doctorates. UMaine has the corner on Ph.D.’s

Q. Are grad dollars funded internal or external?
A. A little over half are funded from outside.

Q. How many competitive fellowships open to everyone?
A. Ten, 20 tuition, 5 MEIF

Question to the Administration
Q. Janet Waldron was asked if she saw the Bangor Daily News article stating that higher education in the state added 368 jobs. People will assume it’s at UMaine.
A. That article was referring to the Community College System; it’s not here at UMaine or the System.

Q. Faculty Senate has not received a response to the letter sent to the System, has the Administration heard anything?
A. Not sure.

Q. UMaine System meeting on purchasing and travel, are further changes likely?
A. The System team was at USM and heard similar feedback.

V.        Old Business
            None

VI.      New Business
None

Adjourned at 4:25 pm

Respectfully submitted

Kathryn Slott