November 14, 2018

FACULTY SENATE MINUTES
November 14, 2018

Present: Erik Blomberg, Alice Bruce, Dick Brucher, Stephanie Burnett, Mauricio da Cunha, Paula Drewniany, Phil Dunn, Nuri Emanetoglu, Per Garder, Mark Haggerty, Nancy Hall, Sam Hanes, Leonard Kass, Anil Raj Kizha, Colt Knight, Margo Lukens, Robson Machado, Molly MacLean, Grant Miles, Patti Miles, William Nichols, Christopher Nightingale, Deborah Rogers, Deborah Saber, Kathryn Slott, David Townsend, Phil Trostel, Mark Wells, Clayton Wheeler, President Joan Ferrini-Mundy, Provost Jeff Hecker, VP Research Kody Varahramyan, Jen Bonnet (PEAC), Jaqulin Wallace (Grad Stud Gov) Harrison Ransley (Undergrad Rep)

Absent: Seanna Annis, Emmanuel Boss, Sandy Butler, Julie DellaMattera, Scott Dunning, Torsten Hahmann, Valerie Herbert, Margaret Killinger, Peter Koons, Robert Meulenberg, Renae Moran, Nigel Pitt, Laura Rickard, Michael Scott, Howard Segal, John Singer, Sean Smith, Mona Therrien, Andrew Thomas, Stephanie Welcomer, Xudong Zheng, Carmel Blankenship-Livi (CEAC)

The meeting was called to order at 3:20 pm

I. Welcome, Announcements and Comments
David Townsend introduced the new Vice President for Enrollment Management Lizzie Wahab (not in attendance) and Ken Ralph, Athletic Director.

Dee Nichols stated that during campus open forums it was stated that UMaine had it’s highest graduation rate, Provost Hecker said that number goes back to 1985. He also mentioned record fundraising. During the Chancellors forum it was stated that UMaine needed to do its part to reach state workforce needs. There will be a Strategic Visioning meeting tomorrow in Wells Conference Center.

II. Approval of Minutes
October 17, 2018
Approved with a minor edit.

III. Committee Reports
BOT – Patti Miles
The BOT Academic and Student Affairs Committee, academic partnership was discussed but doesn’t affect UMaine. Phase 1, fall 2019 will be USM (Nursing BS to Masters degree) and UMPI (Competency Business classes), Phase 2, UM Machias and UM Farmington. Also discussed was how enrollment is up by 200, student credit hours up by 5,000. The Finance and Scholarship Committee compared funding with peer institutions. UMaine freshman, 35% of incoming freshmen receive financial aid, 39% is the IPEZ average and 28% with the Hanover peers. The 2020 – 2021 calendar is waiting for approval by the BOT. Board Policy 311 is set to be approved, related to the policy is Native Transfer between schools. One issue is that Native credit meaning it transfers in with grades. When students transfer back in the credits come a Native transfer.

Program examination is being discussed but UMaine wasn’t discussed. If a program has less than three faculty and less than 15 enrolled it will be looked at.

Finance, Facilities, and Technology meeting, 120+/- classrooms were upgraded. There have been 100 responses to the survey regarding classrooms. Wireless has been upgrade in many classrooms and more are scheduled. The MaineStreet HR module is complete, it will automatically update for Benefit Enrollment each year with the exception of Flex Accounts. Student Solutions has an aggressive upgrade schedule, it should be done by fall of 2019.

Q. Regarding student numbers, some faculty are concerned with student performance and registration rates.
A. Provost Hecker stated the Median SAT score has gone up over the last few years. The scores are up 30%, taking fewer students from the lower end of scores.

Q. Native credit, if a student transfers from USM is the grade attached?
A. No, it comes in as credit no grade.

Q. Smaller programs?
A. The BOT will look at all programs across campuses, looking annually at programs that don’t meet criteria. This means engaging in a conversation about the programs. Talking with Deans, they were asked to send forward explanations and should there be a change to the structure of programs. The Provost will then present the programs. For instance, Botany has a low number of graduates but it’s a resource because it is offered to cover other majors. It’s good to have the conversation regarding programs that are under enrolled.

Academic Affairs – William “Dee” Nichols
The most recent meeting, combined with University Environment Committee, was well attended. One item discussed was confusing links, tenure and promotion criteria links, and links that are not active, etc. Also had a conversation regarding a reduction in tenure track faculty.

Student Accessibility Services, Sarah Henry, has attended the Academic Affairs meetings; she took guidelines and refined them. Recommendations went to Faculty Senate Executive Committee and a motion is forthcoming.

Infosilem, there wasn’t a lot of information at the time of the meeting. In 2012 there were 39 different course start times and 32 different course durations. The target was 20 start times and five course durations. Classrooms are utilized approximately 50% and should be 75%.

Usage by room size:

20-30 students 56%,

30-40 60%

40-50 67%

50-60 71%

70-80 83%

It was suggested a presentation be scheduled with Jeff St. John and Kim Page for the elected members meeting in December.

Course distribution hasn’t changed much, in fall 2015 there were 359 course conflicts and today there are 37 course conflicts. There was a recommendation to have better communication and build the calendar earlier.

Mark Brewer will be the coordinator for the Electronic SET; units have been visited to discuss it.

Diversity and Inclusion on campus needs a value statement. It’s hard to locate any policy, one dates back to 1986. It was asked if there should be a position in the Presidents Office to oversee this area. Dean Dana stated that President Ferrini asked him to assess what policies, or opportunity, already exist on campus. There’s a lot of activity across campus but it’s poorly organized, there’s a problem with shared services. He found updates are needed with 1,500 students of color and 200 faculty and staff.

— Academic Affairs subcommittee – General Education – Sam Hanes
The chair of statistics has a problem with the current proposal and would like time to go over it. He stated that Nigel Pitts approves of the plan.

Q. Regarding SET and labs in Chemistry, there are 80 sections so there is a problem doing SET since TA’s don’t show up on MaineStreet. The TA is who would be evaluated.
A. Jeff St. John asked to be sent an email regarding the issue.
Comment: Mathematics is able to do it; the TA’s name appears separate from an instructor.

Constitution & Bylaws – Grant Miles
The committee met and made progress on organizing inconsistency and practice. There’s still more work but issues are being identified to move forward. Also looking at Constitution and Bylaws of other institutions in New England for comparison. The committee will meet after Thanksgiving.

Comment: Dave Townsend commented that Grant Miles is taking on a huge job. He encouraged members to look at the Constitution and Bylaws on the Faculty Senate website and make comments.

Q. Does the committee have notes from last year?
A. Yes.

Research & Scholarship – Deborah Saber & Nuri Emanetoglu
The committee met with the Vice President of Research (VPR) and discussed research priorities for campus; the committee will be meeting tomorrow. The VPR has said there are 442 tenure and tenure track faculty with 100 in Health and Life Sciences. He’s met with faculty and will soon launch a webpage listing all existing areas of Life Sciences. One objective is to increase NIH funding on campus. The next meeting will be November 19, 9:00 am.

Finance & Institutional Planning – Mauricio da Cunha
At the last meeting, the committee discussed feedback from the faculty survey. The next meeting is November 27, 2:00 pm.

University Environment – Erik Blomberg
The last meeting was in October, there is a meeting tomorrow at 10:00 am in Nutting Hall. Attending will be Kris Lindstrom from HR and AFUM’s Lisa Newman to discuss faculty and graduate student parental leave policies, what they are, areas to improve, and then meet with the Provost Hecker. The Childcare Center Taskforce met and will meet again on November 28. There had been a request for an update in December but appears that will be pushed to January.

Service & Outreach – Colt Knight
The next meeting is December 17, 11 am at the University Club.

Committee on Committees –
Names for two committees were forwarded to the Provost Office.

Program Creation & Reorganization Review – Clayton Wheeler
No report.

Library Committee – Howard Segal
No report.

Information Technology Committee – Patti Miles
The committee met with Robin Sherman to go over data from 100 survey responses. The committee also met with the IT Planning Committee working to get UAD running. If you have any questions send them to Patti. Also, the IT work order system is working well.

Ad Hoc Shared Governance – Grant Miles
No report.

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

IV. Announcements and Updates from the Administration
President Ferrini stated that the recent bond question passing is good and supports the UMaine System. It shows the state supports higher education. Provost Hecker stated that the Strategic Vision presentation is tomorrow at 3 pm and encouraged all to attend and bring their cellphone. The FY20 Budget presentation is on November 26, 101 Neville. There will be 100 faculty and staff participating in the First Year Success Planning Initiative. Mark Brewer agreed to take the position managing

Electronic Student Evaluations. Regarding diversity, UMaine is mindful and needs to do things to show how diverse and inclusive the community is. The American Public Land Grant Universities (APLU) has an initiative, ASPIRE, looking at under represented groups in STEM. UMaine is part of 130 universities organized by APLU to look at student success, retention and eliminating the gap on achievement. UMaine has been asked to lead the northern cluster.

V. Questions of the Administration
Q. Where will the bond money be spent at UMaine?
A. As part of the proposal, a plan was made a year ago. Part of it is for the Neville Hall upgrade. UMaine Machias will also receive funds for infrastructure that is needed.

Comment: It was stated that the Chancellor said it’s important for units to use data driven decision and get that data to legislators. President Ferrini said it is important, UMaine contributing to developing workforce and yes, data driven tied to programs and student success.

It has more to do with telling the UMaine story. The Board of Visitors discussed how to get the message out.

Q. Regarding diversity, is it more important in STEM than non-STEM?
A. No, it’s an initiative with opportunity to focus on STEM but it’s not just STEM. Dean Dana said there are several initiatives in other areas. President Ferrini had discussions with Libra Chairs to get their insight on the issue.

Q. Heard the immigrant community of southern Maine appears to be moving north as costs increase. Is this on the UMaine radar?
A. Yes, Enrollment Management is looking how to build relationships in the community. There is work being done on getting immigrants into higher education. There is a multicultural center in Bangor. Last year, during a meeting with the Mayor of Portland, there were discussions on how to get educated people moving north in to the workforce.

Q. For the Athletic Director, Ken Ralph, faculty are contacted when an athlete is in class but the info that goes in doesn’t appear to change what may be going on with the athlete in class. Where does the information go, how is it used, what is the follow-up, is there follow-up?
A. The AD said, since he’s been here a short time, he’s still learning all systems in place. He does get some of the mid-term grade reports and follows up with coaches and Ann Maxim is on top of it. The NCAA requires certain levels of grade, persistence, achievement, and graduation rate. A score of 930 is required for teams to be eligible. He stated he wasn’t sure of the follow-up it varies by team.

Comment: Provost Hecker stated that student athlete’s graduates are at a higher rate at UMaine.

Q. Under the scale how does Kentucky score higher than 10?
A. If a student leaves for a professional contract it doesn’t count towards the numbers. That includes any professional team.

Q. Engineering Technology showed a conflict with online students needing to complete “residency requirement” (e.g. 30 credits of 300 or higher level courses). Is there a way around that? They’re having difficulty with that policy and their online degree program.
A. There has been a residency requirement for a long time. There’s success in that degree so Jeff Hecker said he would take a look at it.

Q. Could announcements for upcoming meetings come from the Provost or President’s office instead of Human Resources? If it said it was coming from the Provost or President it would appear more important and not get deleted.
A. Provost Hecker said they’d look into it.

Q. Dunn Hall had two cases of viral meningitis, everyone in the building learned about it in the Bangor Daily News. Why? The article also stated everyone had been notified but had not.
A. The communication went to Cutler Health, part of Eastern Maine Medical, and they deemed it a non-reportable event. Since communication was moved to EOC, there should be better communication moving forward.

Jeff stated it’s a good point and something to think about. It wasn’t deemed to be critical but then what did come out was that people had been notified when they weren’t. Moving to EOC will hopefully make it better.

Comment: There’s a need to advertise more to the state what the university does, not just the legislature. The Community Colleges bond passed by a larger margin than the UMaine System bond.

It’s a good point, it could appear that the UMaine System is large and has more money than the Community College system.