February 27, 2013
FACULTY SENATE MINUTES
February 27, 2013
Present: Steven Barkan, Jason Bolton, Emmanuel Boss, Ian Bricknell, William Congleton, Mauricio da Cunha, Charlsye Diaz, Marcia Douglas, Thane Fremouw, Michael Grillo, Robert Gundersen, Gordon Hamilton, Dennis King, Dorothy Klimis-Zacas, Judy Kuhns-Hastings, Mary Ellin Logue, David Marcincowski, James McClymer, Paul Myer, Martha Novy-Broderick, Harlan Onsrud, Ray Pelletier, Michael Peterson, Andrew Reeve, Brian Robinson, Thomas Sandford, Michael Scott, Howard Segal, Claire Sullivan, Chuck Wallace, Gail Werrbach, Bob Rice, Kathryn Slott, Stuart Marrs, Melvin Johnson, Edward Ashworth, Charles Rodda (GSG), Robert Strong, Paul W Ferguson, Alicia Bolduc (Stud. Gov)
Absent: John Allen, Richard Borgman, Douglas Bousfield, Dick Brucher, Stephen Coghlan, Benildo de los Reyes, Dylan Dryer, Janet Fairman, Ramesh Gupta, Clarissa Henry, Steven Kimball, Bill Livingston, Robert Milardo, Jay Rasaiah, Roy Turner, Mark Wells, David Yarborough, Susan Hunter, Molly MacLean
The meeting was called to order at 3:15 pm
I. Welcome and Announcements:
Harlan stated that the elected members of Faculty Senate discussed Work to Rule in closed session at 3:00 so the Full Senate meeting was starting at 4:00pm instead. There’s a desire to move forward but to what extent is unclear. The Faculty Senate Executive Committee will discuss and bring back recommendations to the elected members.
II. Approval of January 30, 2013 Minutes
Vote: Motion Approved
III. Committee Reports
BOT Rep – Robert Rice
The Finance and Facilities Committee will meet on March 7 in Augusta. On the agenda are: final report for procurements and expansion of the field houses anticipated repairs. The repairs are funded by bonds and private funds. The BOT’s next meeting is March 18.
Academic Affairs –Richard Borgman & Judy Kuhns-Hastings
Met with Provost Hunter. There were two questions regarding the long-term strategies of faculty percentages which are going down; 2001 47% tenure, 2011 23%; Graduate faculty 2001 73% tenure and 66% in 2011. Provost Hunter didn’t have an answer or a goal but stated searches are still going on. Second issue was professional development for faculty. There’s a concern that there are more part-time adjunct faculty than people can evaluate them. Some faculty have been here a long time and have never had professional development. Provost Hunter said she would explore the issue.
Q. Can you see if there’s a standard for best practices.
A. Yes
Constitution &Bylaws – Mick Peterson
No report.
Research &Scholarship – Robert Gundersen
Met yesterday, trying to strategize some mechanism for achieving some of the goals of the strategic plan i.e., grant support and writing, and finding grant opportunities. Looking for help at the college level for grant writing.
Finance &Institutional Planning – James McClymer & Tom Sandford
Outcomes Based Funding was discussed. President Ferguson was successful at modifying the proposal. It’s difficult to understand the rationale behind it. The next meeting will be March 28. Also discussed Janet and Claire reporting to Elected Members at the March 20th senate meeting.
University Environment – Andrew Reeve & Mike Scott
Met with Janet Waldron on January 17 and discussed identifying funds to improve classrooms and possibility of having a faculty committee.
Library Advisory – Robert Rice & Howard Segal
No report.
Service &Outreach – Emmanuel Boss & Claire Sullivan
Carnegie met today to develop a plan to move forward.
Committee on Committees – Roy Turner
Search Committee for the Business School Dean needs one person. Also working on a list of actual Committees of the Administration that are active.
Program Creation & Reorganization Review – Mick Peterson
A public meeting for NSFA’s School of Food and Agriculture finally took place, a motion will be forthcoming. The degree eliminations may wait due to Work to Rule. Other CLAS proposals will be coming forward in the future. The committee is trying to put together a template to simplify the procedures, streamline, and make them more effective.
General Education — Vacancy
Nothing significant since the last meeting. Syllabi worked on for Student Learning Outcomes and will present that in a month or so.
Ad Hoc IT – Martha Novy-Broderick & Mike Scott
Anyone else having trouble with network problems on a laptop, curious. Others raised their hands. It’s interfering with class. There should be a mechanism to correct the issues so they don’t interfere with class.
Committee of the Administration
Blue Sky Reports
Blue Sky Steering Committee – Bob Rice – No report.
Pathway 1 – Mick Peterson – No report.
Pathway 2 – Jim McClymer – The President and Julie visited to discuss the website and how people know there’s new information available. Also looking at issues Blue Sky is facing. Interesting how accounting is listed internally, issue is things can’t be communicated when they’re listed as different things.
Pathway 3 – Rick Borgman – No report.
Pathway 4 – Judy Kuhns-Hastings – There will be a subcommittee meeting the first Wednesday after break.
Pathway 5 – Doug Bousfield – No report.
IV. Open Comments from the Administration
Q. Is there administrative support for a fair contract for the faculty?
A. We had a good conversation with the faculty group and discussed what Work to Rule can and cannot do. All campus presidents are trying to refocus the conversation to strategic investment in faculty. If we can get the Board and System to refocus and revisit what priorities are and strategically invest in faculty and get the conversations back on track. It’s time to plan a long commitment to investing in faculty. Blue Sky is a growth model in getting there quicker. Not just cutting budgets but get trustees to discuss strategically and honoring investment. Jim stated it’s hard to be optimistic when the system report is full of errors. A lot that is very concerning and we need to solve the problem first. President Ferguson thought they needed to be solved at the same time.
Q. To Jimmy Jung, are we getting more applications in the year you’ve been here?
A. Yes, up in applications by 950 +/-, which exceeds last year and out-of-state is up 1,100+. The System numbers are down for in state except Farmington. There have been 1,600 admitted but confirmations are down, we think they’re waiting for financial aid letters first. Optimistic.
Q. There are foreign students in the state at several high schools, is the university trying to recruit those students.
A. The Maine Global Partnership have a lot of foreign students. Janet and Claire have approved scholarship money for that program. We’re going to campuses that have these students and letting them know the large international diversity of students at UMaine.
Q. There’s an Enrollment Management Strategic Plan, is it available for faculty to see?
A. It’s currently being printed and the full version will be available to the senate soon.
Stuart Marrs stated UMaine has been talking to a company regarding room scheduling services to optimize scheduling. There will be a pilot program but they need data and input. Information regarding faculty need, the cleaner the data the better the scheduling will be.
V. Old Business
None
VI. New Business
None
Adjourned at 4:45 pm
Respectfully submitted
Kathryn Slott