February 3, 2016

DRAFT FACULTY SENATE MINUTES
February 3, 2016

Present: Dean Astumian, Bob Bayer, Erik Blomberg, Jason Bolton, Laura Cowan, Mauricio da Cunha, Farahad Dastoor, Paula Drewniany, Zhihe Jin Leonard Kass, Robert Lilieholm, David Marcinkowski, Grant Miles, Patti Miles, Sidney Mitchell, William Nichols, Brian Olsen, Michael Peterson, Deborah Rogers, Charles Rote, Michael Scott, Howard Segal, Kathryn Slott, Andrew Thomas, David Townsend, Shihfen Tu, Clayton Wheeler, President Susan Hunter, Jeff Hecker, Jen Bonnet (PEAC), Piper Black (Grad Stud Gov)

Absent: John Allen, Tony Brinkley, Dick Brucher, Sandy Butler, Sudarshan Chawathe, Scott Dunning, Thane Fremouw, Amy Fried, Michael Grillo, Jason Harkins, Scott Johnson, Jordan LaBouff (away spring), Sara Lindsay, Jonathan Rubin, Thomas Sandford, Mary Shea, Allan Smith, Owen Smith, Mona Therrien, Tim Waring, Mark Wells, Carol Kim, Peter C. Altmann (CEAC), Austin Madden (Stud. Gov.)

The meeting was called to order at 3:20 pm

I.  Welcome, Announcements and Comments:

II. Approval of Minutes
December 16, 2015 minutes approved.

III. Committee Reports
BOT Rep – Patti Miles
Elliot Cutler spoke regarding the Portland Graduate School, which will include the Graduate Business School and the Law School. He’d like to add the Muskie School to the Portland project. On Friday there was a meeting with the USM and UMaine Presidents and Provosts, along with faculty from Business, regarding what would happen with the Maine Business School. The Provost made clear that the new Business program is an expansion of the UMaine Business School, not a replacement for it.

Patti asked all senators to please read the Chafee Academic Transformation Plan – the report was forwarded to all Department Chairs. Michael Grillo has the report so it can be discussed in the Academic Affairs Committee. The report was put before the BOT for action at their last meeting, but it was tabled so that the campuses would have enough time to read, discuss, and react to it.

The IT proposed work plan includes: staff, infrastructure, classrooms, updating the MaineStreet interface.

Provost Hecker gave an update on the Flagship Scholarship Match to attract out-of-state students. Enrollment is up 19% with Winter Session numbers at 696 students; that session did not threaten spring enrollment.

Think 30 – 30 A plan to have students take 30 credits a year to stay on track for graduating in four years. The average student debt is:

4 year    $22,000
5 year    $29,973
6 year    $33,482

Academic Affairs – Michael Grillo
Farahad Dastoor reported in Michael’s absence: The committee met last week and are transitioning from the change in committee chair from Marie Hayes to Michael Grillo. Upcoming discussions will be Community College transfer credits, academic quality indicators, Unified Online and residency requirements.

Constitution & Bylaws – David Townsend
No report.

Research & Scholarship – Scott Johnson & Mauricio de Cunha
No report.

Finance & Institutional Planning – Grant Miles & Jonathan Rubin
No report.

University Environment – Tom Sandford & David Townsend
No report.

Library Advisory – Robert Rice & Howard Segal
No report. The Library Committee will meet next week.

Service & Outreach – Jason Bolton
The committee met and discussed a marketing goal. This includes how to convey information on what faculty are working on to Jen O’Leary in President Hunter’s office. The committee will work on developing a form for faculty to fill out regarding research, student experience, work specific to Maine or New England, and the Maine Legislature. Items could be published in UMaine Today, Maine Biz, etc. It is especially important for this information to be organized so that it is well presented and disseminated via the best outlets. Jen O’Leary will be at the next Elected Members meeting to discuss Strategic Communication.

Committee on Committees – Michael Grillo
No report.

Program Creation & Reorganization Review – Sid Mitchell
There will be a public hearing on the reorganization occurring in the College of Education and Human Development and to review the application from program faculty in Kinesiology and Physical Education to form their own department. The hearing will be on Friday, February 5, 1:00 pm, in the FFA room Memorial Union.

General Education – David Townsend
The committee met with the UMaine System Committee on Block Transfers of Credits from the Community Colleges. Harlan had worked on the block agreement between University campuses last year. The System Committee working on the Community College Block Transfers presented a draft. David commented that he’s not sure how the System committee is working and asked Brian Doore to comment.

Brian Doore stated that the number of credits that will transfer are specific to campus needs and there will be language to assess Gen Ed outcomes. The process is looking at writing, for instance, and how to describe expectations for that in Gen Ed. Brian Doore said that the System now wants to expand this to all the campuses in the Maine Community College System.

Ad Hoc IT – Michael Scott & Patti Miles
The committee will meet on February 12, 2016 and the ITSC Work Plan will be updated. There’s a question as to cost considerations for any updates and who pays those costs.

Ad Hoc Shared Governance – Michael Grillo
No report.

Reports of Faculty Members on Committees of the Administration
No report.

IV. Announcements and Updates from the Administration
President Hunter mentioned she’d been in Augusta today. There was an information session where recruitment and retention was discussed. A certification program was discussed for those with a degree already. She also discussed efforts being made to open avenues between UMaine Orono and both the University of Maine System and the Community College System. She met with the chairs of the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee of the Legislature, Senator Brian Langley and Representative Victoria Kornfield, who reacted positively to UMaine’s initiatives. President Hunter said that she periodically goes to Augusta to meet one-on-one with various legislative leaders and to have a presence in Augusta.

Provost Hecker reported on Unified Online. He said that the Chief Academic Officers were charged by the BOT in December to work with their respective faculties on this. A senator asked how we can make sure that faculty own their courses if they share them across multiple campuses. The Provost said that there’s an outline for collaborative courses and will share, and discuss, it with Michael Grillo. The charge is to have a report back to the BOT in March.

The Provost said that there were discussions regarding the need to have an improved unified web platform for courses, develop a single marketing plan, launch a pilot program and then revisit it to see how it worked. He said that rather than endorse the complete Unified Online plan, we need to make incremental changes and look at some smaller shared programs already in place to see how they have worked.

Regarding single accreditation, NEASC requested a report back by March 2016. President Hunter asked the Chancellor about this. Nothing has been done at this time but the Chancellor stated they would be working on it.

V. Questions of the Administration
Q. Someone at a BOT meeting made a comment that once we get this up and running we’ll just watch the money roll in. If it’s done right it’s a very time consuming process.
A. Believe, whoever it was, that person was being facetious. It’s hoped dollars will increase but to say “it will roll in” is silly.

Q. Unified online report, was it an action item?
A. It was but the BOT reps hadn’t had time to read it. It was on the agenda they realized it needed to go to committees first.

Q. Was this the same Unified Online report which was presented at the forum?
A. It was stated that we could find this report in the documents for the January 22, 2016 BOT meeting to verify that. Provost Hecker said there is a link to the report on the Provost’s website.

Q. What is the stance in Augusta, since they were designated as the online campus, where do they stand?
A. There are discussions, their plan is to fill that role but it isn’t efficient to send everything there. Mike Scott added that on February 24, 2016 he, Dave Townsend, and Michael Grillo would meet with the Faculty Senate representatives from UMA and USM to discuss Unified Online.

Q. Any concern with the 51 USM faculty being fired last year that it could happen here?
A. It’s not an intention here or a plan.

Q. How did they get into that situation down there at USM?
A. President Hunter commented that there were years where there were clashes between the President and faculty, there was money raised and buildings built. They were broad but not deep. It’s not a criticism of faculty but you needed more academic strength instead of getting broader, which created a bigger deficit. They built buildings in anticipation of programs growing instead of the other way around. A split campus is also an issue.

Q. Winter term seemed to create some confusion for students. Some thought they signed up for spring when they’d actually signed up for winter. Will there be a specific winter term next year?
A. That was a problem because for purposes of financial aid, winter term needs to be part of the spring semester. That is why the number of students was down; it was partly a communication issue. Clarity will need to be improved.

Q. Shared governance has been discussed. Can you comment regarding a couple of things heard? Each college is charged with having governance documents but is that your initiative as well?
A. Each dean has been charged to work with faculty by April 15.

Q. Are you, as Provost, encouraging deans to meet with Faculty Senate representatives as well?
A. Yes, and that came from Mike Scott, which is a great idea.

 VI. Old Business
None

VII. New Business
Mike Scott said there will be conversations with the Faculty Senates of the other campuses in the System starting with Augusta and USM.

Mick Peterson will take on a role of Communications Director to facilitate communications between Faculty Senate and the public.

Adjourned at 4:10 pm

Respectfully submitted,

Kathryn Slott

Prepared by Kim Junkins