September 16, 2015
DRAFT FACULTY SENATE MINUTES
September 16, 2015
Present: John Allen, Eisso Atzema, Erik Blomberg, Dick Brucher, Sandy Butler, Laura Cowan, Mauricio da Cunha, Farahad Dastoor, Thane Fremouw, Michael Grillo, Marie Hayes, Zhihe Jin, Scott Johnson, Leonard Kass, Robert Lilieholm, Patti Miles, Sidney Mitchell, Michael Peterson, Deborah Rogers, Jonathan Rubin, Thomas Sandford, Michael Scott, Howard Segal, Mary Shea, Kathryn Slott, Andrew Thomas, David Townsend, Shihfen Tu, Mark Wells, Clayton Wheeler, President Susan Hunter, Jeff Hecker, Carol Kim, Piper Black (Grad Stud Gov)
Absent: Bob Bayer, Jason Bolton, Sudarshan Chawathe, Paula Drewniany, Scott Dunning, Jason Harkins, Jordan LaBouff, David Marcinkowski, Grant Miles, William Nichols, Charles Rote, Allan Smith, Owen Smith, Mona Therrien, Robert Strong, Bonita Grindle (PEAC), Peter C. Altmann (CEAC), Lindsay Nutter (Stud. Gov.)
The meeting was called to order at 3:20 pm
I. Welcome, Announcements and Comments:
Mick announced, for new senate members, that today is a Full Senate meeting. Full Senate meetings are open. Elected member meetings are not.
A sign-up sheet was passed around for committee assignments. This year Mick would like to get most work done in committee to shorten senate meetings.
II. Approval of Minutes
April 29, 2015 minutes – Approved
III. Committee Reports
Committees of the Administration Reports
Patti Miles presented an update on classrooms and thanked Cindy Mitchell for all the help. Cindy had someone check classrooms making sure all cords belonged there, any extra were removed. Little Hall was overhauled as well as Aubert, and 100 DPC, a majority of the money for upgrades came from grants. IT and Facilities will work together coordinating between renovations so technology can be renovated at the same time. Custodians will now clean classrooms and put any forgotten items in a box. At the end of each semester boxes will be emptied; faculty should make sure they check the boxes.
Patti found Student Records to be extremely helpful with things: MaineStreet, uploading grades, data, etc.
Google Drive storage is unlimited for faculty and complies with FERPA as long as you access it through maine.edu.
Infosilem is a UMaine initiative not UMaine System. Each unit will have a scheduler that makes sure faculty have the correct room size, distance between classrooms, etc. Classes will start on the hour and half hour. Jeff St. John stated there will be a few changes i.e., studio art needs more time. The new schedule will move away from multiple course schedules in one week.
Comment: Howard asked about the changes to History and location of classrooms, they can no longer use the third floor of Stevens. Classes are now spread all over campus. Jeff commented that Student Records is building out Infosilem for several semesters and knew the schedule would have some issues. For instance, School of Economics people were moved out of Stevens so there is now more room for History. You can ask for a room change but keep requests to a minimum. There will need to be corrections, which will also move people back to rooms they’ve used before or closer locations. It’s not impossible to change things but trying to limit changes.
Q. I’m teaching a class once a week, Tuesday evening, and instead of being in my building they have me in Hitchner. Once I get my stuff there I have no access to a copier or additional material in my office.
A. Little is undergoing renovations of four STEM classrooms, hoping they will be done this fall, which will get people back in Little Hall or closer. Hitchner does seem a little far.
Q. To what end are we using Infosilem? Is USM also using Infosilem?
A. No, it’s a UMaine initiative not System.
Comment: It would be nice to know where this is going.
BOT Rep – Patti Miles
There was a NEASC update, which summarizes what needs to happen if One University is to move forward. A calendar change to remove a two-week break in the spring is coming up. There is a committee of BOT Reps, headed by Jeff Hecker that will meet tomorrow for the first time. There will be a BOT meeting at UMPI this weekend.
Academic Affairs – Marie Hayes
The committee has two members, so far, and plans for coordinating with the General Education Committee. A few retired faculty have made a request to be on the Academic Affairs Committee: retirees on committees was discussed last year in senate. The committee would like to discuss how One University will work, quality, etc. There are questions, and will be discussions, regarding Unified Online. The first meeting will be in October.
Constitution & Bylaws – Mike Scott
The committee will be looking at the inclusion of Adjunct Faculty in Faculty Senate.
Research & Scholarship – Scott Johnson & Mauricio de Cunha
The committee completed a survey last year, a brief analysis is available on the Faculty Senate website. There is no agenda for this year at this time.
Finance & Institutional Planning – Grant Miles & Jonathan Rubin
No report.
University Environment – Tom Sandford & David Townsend
One thing planned concerns issues Patti brought up regarding teaching and research facilities.
Library Advisory – Robert Rice & Howard Segal
The committee met yesterday and would like to continue having a graduate student attend the meetings. Howard asked the Grad Student Rep if she would be on the committee or find someone to serve. Several improvements have taken place in the library; Reference Librarians now have more private offices. The Digital Commons and the number using it will be discussed. Procurement is currently being used for supplies and furniture only, not books and journals.
Service & Outreach – David Yarborough & Jason Bolton
No report.
Committee on Committees – Executive Committee
No report.
Program Creation & Reorganization Review – Sid Mitchell
No report.
General Education – David Townsend
Dave Townsend will be the committee chair and continue the work Harlan did on Block Transfers last year.
Ad Hoc IT – Michael Scott & Patti Miles
The committee will decide which initiatives to work on this year.
Ad Hoc Shared Governance – Michael Grillo
The committee will look at shared governance especially within the framework of One University and will also look at the consistency of college bylaws. It will be good to have a member from each college on the committee.
Ad Hoc Sexual Discrimination –
No report.
IV. Questions of the Administration
Q. This year the Jewish high holidays have been early. Normally, something regarding holidays comes from the Provost office. Since there is no longer a campus HR, it’s part of the System now, how does this work?
A. Jeff Hecker commented that he’d thought the Provost office sent the holiday list but found that HR does. HR is now working on the issue and it will come out next week. As of July 1, 2015 HR was centralized and there is no longer a Vice President of HR on campus. Mark Schmelz will serve as Interim Director of Human Resources on the UMaine campus and his office will be located in Corbett Hall. A search for an ongoing Director of Human Resources has begun.
Q. How does that work with the grievance procedure? Campus HR was always involved before it went to the System. If there is no campus HR, how will that effect the grievance process?
A. Megan Sanders stated that she’s been told the grievance procedure will not change.
Q. Meg, what is your status now?
A. She elected to remain on campus and is now the Chief of Staff for President Hunter.
President Hunter stated that she’s delighted Meg is now in her office.
Q. Is there an update on the closing of the System Office and where those people will be housed?
A. Some of those people are already on campus. Ryan Low is still in the office he was in when he was a UMaine VP. Some System people have gone to the Augusta campus, the Bangor campus, and Orono. The Chancellor, there are discussions on where he’ll go but it’s a work in progress.
Q. Can you explain the relationship between the Orono campus and the System regarding financial responsibility, i.e., how much financial decision-making occurs at the campus level, and how much at the System level?
A. There is an organizational chart on the President’s website. Follow the lines of finance and they skip the President and go to Ryan Low; HR reports up through also.
Q. The IT Strategic Planning Committee has tried to understand the financial responsibility of services and how campus requests are met without understanding finances.
A. Cindy Mitchell can speak better on the issue. Jeff Hecker stated that the IT Strategic Council reports to him. They recently reviewed documents and are thinking about the role of the council. He will be at the first IT Strategic Council meeting to see if things make sense.
Q. Looking at the NEASC issue, the Carnegie standing hasn’t been discussed. How will that be affected by One University?
A. There’s been no decision to enter the process of creating One University. The committee that met with NEASC was exploratory with a preliminary conversation, and documentation was sent to see what the reaction might be. Regarding Carnegie classification, Penn State is a One University with 24 commonwealth campuses. The 24 campuses don’t influence the Carnegie classification of University Park, it’s not 25 rolled in to one. At UMaine all can be separated out. There would be a lot of input and work if something were to move forward. Jeff Hecker said Penn State just shows that it can be done.
Comments: Mick said that funds for research at Penn State go through an independent Penn State University Research Foundation for every NSF grant.
President Hunter said that was not the basis for a separate research foundation here.
All the implications need to be understood.
Q. It seems like things happen really fast: it’s put out and then voted on at the next meeting. That’s a concern.
A. Just doing a self-study for UMaine takes a lot, to do seven campuses would takes years. One University can’t be done fast. NEASC was clear: visits and reports for the tenure cycle must continue on the current schedule. All seven campuses must remain on the same schedule already in place.
Q. If we’re One University, then Political Science is no different from campus to campus. Wouldn’t it mean one accreditation would follow to the next level? What is the point of unified accreditation; does it benefit us?
A. There’s been no decision made. At a recent retreat one president stated that it’s so much work and should be taken on only to benefit the State of Maine.
There is a BOT meeting this weekend and President Hunter said she would know more after hearing the Chancellor’s presentation.
Q. What’s the difference between One University and one accreditation?
A. One University is philosophical in operations, however, interpreting that isn’t clear.
Q. What about the centralization of Facilities, where do they report?
A. Facilities report to Claire but Capitol Planning, Stewart Harvey and Carolyn McDonough report to the System.
Q. Have things been finalized on centralization or is there more to come.
A. Suspect there’s more to come.
Academic issues are at risk of being scooped up by Unified Online and that’s a concern. It seems like online is being viewed as a service, which it is not, it’s academics. There needs to be a push and effort to work on this issue.
Q. Being a large residential campus there’s higher cost and Division I Athletics makes us less cost competitive. Will Student Affairs and Athletics be consolidated?
A. No
Q. So it will continue to show up as a high cost of delivery on the Orono campus?
Research and Cooperative Extension are all elements and those points need to be raised.
Q. Ryan Low used to attend the Finance & Institutional Planning committee meetings but now he’s in the System office. One concern of the committee is the age of buildings to maintain and now the System is moving in. Are they paying heat, electric, and real costs associated with that? They’re saving money but that money should go to UMaine. Will we support other campuses from one pool? Where does the money come from, what percentage will be diverted?
A. Claire said there’s empty space in Alumni Hall that would be heated whether the System Office filled those spaces or not.
Comments: With researchers, if we hire someone to use an office and pay salary, Indirect Costs are captured. An empty office doesn’t equal no cost. Researchers don’t get away with that.
President Hunter said there would be some resources coming.
So, some funds are coming with them but is it proportional?
Q. If one is teaching a Unified Online class does the revenue generated go to the professor’s college and who determines the standards of teaching? Will this campus govern this or someone else?
A. Faculty and college determine quality. Not sure what you’re referring to.
Comment: Based on revenue sharing online.
Q. To VP for Research, some concerned with the new Administrative Practice Letters. There is no Per Diem and limited to $46 per day regardless of destination, you can’t go to DC on $46 per day. I have turned down invites or requests to participate in meetings because of this. With Concur you don’t have to turn in receipts but you have to input a list of every place you went and what was spent. There needs to be a message sent to BOT that this has a negative impact on how business is conducted.
A. Carol Kim agreed that it is frustrating especially if you have the money in your budget for travel. She suggested working together to clarify, educate and someway fix the issue.
Comments: Clay stated that it can be processed but Scott said reimbursement still won’t give you more than $46.
Q. Scott said he saw on the UMaine homepage that 50 new faculty were hired. What is the outlook for hiring?
A. The outlook is positive but we’ll know more next month when we see our budget and what cuts will be needed. Next Tuesday Provost Hecker will be bringing forth high priority requests for hire.
Q. Is there any education administration credentials among the BOT that creates an avenue to communicate about UMaine issues.
A. The BOT members are appointed by the Governor, some Alumni, business people, etc. Trying to stay in contact with them so if things come up a correction can be addressed.
Comment: BOT members are nominated by the Governor and approved by the Senate.
Q. Several things that have come down from the System such as APRIP, One University, Unified Online, etc. tend to have studies and then implementation. As CAO, Jeff, can you tell us when will we have clarification and what is the process?
A. COA’s view is to weed out recommendations that aren’t reasonable, ask more questions, etc. The structures don’t yet exist to make the decisions. There needs to be a proposal of models that will work.
Comment: The Provost commented about the calendar and eliminating the two-week spring break to align all seven campuses. On October 8th the BOT will vote, he’s happy to present our campus’s point of view.
The 2-week spring break was originally to save energy; won’t one week at a time increase costs?
Provost said to give him recommendations by October 8.
Comment: It was commented that out-of-state students would be affected as well as International students. This split will mean they’re thrown out of the dorms twice and that could be costly for them.
There are research reasons also for two consecutive weeks. As for the students, Dean Dana stated that students want a two-week break and a graduate student present said graduate students also want a two-week break.
V. Old Business
None
VI. New Business
None
Adjourned at 5:00 pm
Respectfully submitted,
Kathryn Slott
Prepared by Kim Junkins