18 December 2024

December 18, 2024 Minutes


Attendance

Present:

Senators: Henri Akono, Jonathan Barron, Karen Beeftink, Keith Berube, Amy Booth, Timothy Bowden, Jack Buttcane, Bill DeSisto, Sabrina DeTurk, Paula Drewniany, Nils Haëntjens, Jianjun Hao, Matt Hawkyard, Liliana Herakova, Ellen Hostert, Kelly Jaksa, Jesse Kaye-Schiess, Bashir Khoda, Benjamin King, Amanda Klemmer, Sara Lello, Danielle Levesque, Sarah Lindahl, Roberto Lopez-Anido, Ivan Manev, Will Manion, Derek Michaud, William Nichols, William Otto, Elizabeth Payne, Glenda Pereira, Jennifer Perry, Aaron Putnam, Deborah Rogers, Amber Roth, Kathryn Slott, Susan Smith, Jay Wason, Todd Zoroya

Guests: Debra Allen, Jason Charland, Vice President Kevin Coughlin, Dean Robert Dana, President Joan Ferrini-Mundy, Angela Fileccia, Dean Emily Haddad, Dean Giovanna Guidoboni, Associate Provost Scott Marzilli, Nolan Merz, Susan Myrden, Associate Provost Gabriel Paquette, Peter Schilling, Michelle Rogers, Dean Diane Rowland, Vice President Kelly Sparks, Dean Daisy Singh, Vice President Kody Varahramyan, Provost John Volin, Dean Ellen Weinauer

Absent: 

Senators: Mahdi Al Badrawi, Seth Campbell, Sudarshan Chawathe, Phillip Dickens, Esther Enright, Alexis Foster, Allison Gardner,C. Matt Graham, Cynthia Isenhour, Lee Karp-Boss, Steven Kimball, Garret Lee, Roberto Lopez-Anido,  Colleen Marzilli, Craig Mason, Shannon McCoy, Robert Rice, MJ Sedlock,  Rosemary Smith, Manuel Woersdoerfer,Peter Van Walsum,Timothy Waring, Tingting Ye

Welcome & Announcements

    • Amanda Klemmer opened the meeting with the Land Acknowledgement.
    • She congratulated Dean Robert Dana on his retirement and thanked him for his long standing service to UMaine.

    Announcements and Updates from Administration

    • President Ferrini-Mundy thanked Dean Dana and also thanked the faculty for their work during a challenging semester. 
    • She noted that an initial presentation of the multi-year financial plan was given at the 12/18/24 Finance, Facilities and Technology (FFT) meeting of the Board of Trustees.
      • VP Sparks provided an update on the presentation and noted that the materials are available online.
        • She noted that the assumptions given are still in flux; for example, the currently allocated percent increase to the shared services budget will be adjusted.
        • Student credit hour predictions are based on the best information available this fall, but these will also likely change in the coming weeks.
        • The UMaine multi-year financial plan (MYFP) goes from a deficit of $711,000 in FY 26 to $14.7 million in later years. This is due to the need to make changes based on the work of the SRE and to build those adjustments into the budget for future years.
    • Provost Volin announced that 4 faculty and 21 staff participated in the search advocate training program from Oregon State University this fall. The Provost’s Office will be working to create a plan to ensure that those who have been trained will be included in search processes moving forward. Dean Weinauer provided a description of the program and its goals.
    • Provost Volin also announced that an RFP for Research Learning Experiences and Advanced Research Learning Experiences has just been issued and urged senators to review those opportunities.
    • He provided an additional update on the increase in four year graduation rate to 45%.
    • Dee Nichols announced that a series of general education workshops for chairs and other faculty will be offered in conjunction with the Provost’s Office and General Education Stewardship Committee.

    New Business

    • November 20, 2024 minutes were approved.

    Jaime Dover – Comfort K-9 program through UMPD

    • Officer Dover shared some of his background as a school resource officer and his knowledge of comfort K-9 programs in law enforcement. These are designed to provide mental health support, particularly for juveniles, during interventions.
    • UMaine Police Department is working to establish a comfort K-9 program at the University, particularly to provide support to victims and during mental health crisis situations.
    • Elizabeth Payne asked about where the dogs would be sourced.
      • Officer Dover indicated that they are looking at a breeder in New Hampshire.
    • Elizabeth also asked about whether they would have canine good citizen certification.
      • Yes, but also substantial additional training.
    • Amber Roth asked about the timeline for implementing the program.
      • Ideally start of next academic year.
    • Glenda Pereira noted that some AVS students are starting a dog training club and would most likely be interested in being involved if possible.
    • Jay Wason asked what faculty can do to support this initiative.
      • Office Dover indicated that he is happy to meet to discuss opportunities and that a letter from different groups to say they support this would be helpful, particularly to secure funding.
    • Ellen Weinauer noted that a support dog program at a previous institution was incredibly successful and is enthusiastic about bringing the program here.
    • Paula Drewniany noted that just having faculty members’ dogs on campus can be very helpful. She asked if all encounters with the dogs would always be with a handler.
      • Officer Dover replied that yes, they would.

    Angela Fileccia – Update on student mental health and wellness

    • Counseling Center Director Angela Fileccia provided longitudinal data from Fall 2019 to present, but eliminated 2020 as anomalous. The data showed a substantial increase in use of mental health services over time. She noted that the wait time for first appointments is now down to 7 days (for non-acute concerns; crisis appointments are available same-day). The full presentation is available in the faculty senate Google drive.
    • Ms. Filleccia also announced that a Black Bears Care Council will be formed to address ongoing concerns around mental health and that faculty representatives will be added to that group.

    Questions of Administration

    • Sabrina DeTurk asked for an update on the staffing situation at Student Accessibility Services.
      • Dean Dana reported that the Director search is in progress; they anticipate hiring for that position before the spring semester.
    • Todd Zoroya asked about the possibility of not having late evening finals in favor of returning to earlier morning slots.
      • Kathy Slott noted that in fall semester it may not be practical to have 8am finals due to the possibility of needing to do snow removal. 
      • Associate Provost Paquette offered to look into this if Todd could share concerns from the faculty.
    • Danielle Levesque asked about the need to justify carryover funds from small grants, specifically MAFES accounts.
      • Dean Rowland noted that this is designed as information-gathering, not to indicate that the funds will be taken back. 

    Update on SRE Process

    • President Ferrini-Mundy thanked those who attended the town hall on December 13 and provided feedback. She reviewed the SRE process, including data gathering, and reiterated that the concepts shared during the town hall were quite newly generated and require additional vetting. Next steps will include evaluating these ideas for budgetary and mission impact and relevance, as framed by the learner-centered R1 concept. Collaborative working groups will be formed to review the following specific areas:
    • Academic Portfolio Review
    • Relationships between Colleges and Research Centers/Institutes
    • The President will provide a brief weekly update on the SRE website.
    • Paula Drewniany asked for any updates about the hiring pause.
      • The President reiterated that there is a process for requesting to move hires forward and review of those is underway. Next, the administration will be looking at open positions that are not already in the hiring process to see if they can be reallocated in ways that better align with the SRE.
    • Bill DeSisto reiterated the need for transparency so that faculty can better plan. He also acknowledged that interdisciplinary collaboration might be spurred by a greater sense of necessity spurred by providing data.
      • The President acknowledged that this is a challenging process and asked what information would be most helpful to faculty? Bill replied that departments are particularly interested in knowing which open positions will not be filled. 
    • Susan Smith asked if it is realistic to think that with shared services/resources the student experience will not suffer and faculty and staff will not be further overburdened.
      • The President acknowledged the importance of ensuring that students are always considered in any potential restructuring but does believe that there are redundancies that could be addressed and result in better service and reducing loads in some cases. 
      • Provost Volin acknowledged that student, faculty and staff well-being needs to be considered in any changes that are made.
    • Jennifer Perry asked if there is an expectation for when specific programs will be identified for elimination.
      • Provost Volin stated that, at this stage, no programs have been recommended for elimination. However, there is data to look at that still needs to be reviewed to see if such recommendations might be warranted. 
      • Amanda Klemmer noted that many faculty have approached her to ask for access to this data and that it is important to find a way to make it accessible to faculty. 
      • President Ferrini-Mundy noted that the data needs to be provided with relevant context so that it can be interpreted effectively by those who need to use it to plan.
      • Paula Drewniany asked for clarification about whether no decision has been made on elimination at this point but that some programs could still be eliminated? Provost Volin confirmed that this is the case.

    Committee Updates

    Committee on Committees – Esther Enright

    PLEASE email me to (self-) nominate for a role: esther.enright@maine.edu

    • The Provost’s Office is looking for nominations for the third year administrative review for Daisy Singh, Dean of Libraries.
      • AT LEAST 3 more nominations of faculty ASAP (then, the Provost will choose representatives to serve on the committee)
      • Serve for 4 months (~10 meetings), starting January 2025
    • Qualifications:
      • a. Tenure Required? No
      • b. Member of Faculty Senate Required? No
      • c. Ideally, we will fill the review committee with faculty
      • from various titles (Lecturers, Assistant, Associates, Professors)

    Academic Affairs – Dee Nichols and Allie Gardner

    • No report.

    Research & Scholarship – Danielle Levesque and Ben King

    • From Office of Research Compliance: ​​We have been attempting to secure nominations for faculty to serve on the Research Integrity Standing Committee (FKA ‘Committee on Scientific Misconduct’) since the start of the academic year in Sept. Still need two members, all colleges currently represented except for the Maine Business School. 

    Finance & Institutional Planning – Henri Akono

    • Met with administration on Friday 12/13/2024
      • Provided faculty feedback into how the SRE work could be presented
        • For instance, presentation of the implementation phase could include more tangible elements of cost savings short-term vs. long-term
      • Discussed the Headcount report and where to go from here in terms of further analyses by FIPC senators and reporting back to senate
      • Inquired about current searches related to administrative positions
        • Associate VP of Facilities position; rationale and if it’s new admin position;- Restructuring to preventive 
        • Director of the Maine Research and Development Solutions Program from the VPR – mostly non E&G

    Environment Committee –Elizabeth Payne and Timothy Waring

    • No report.

    Program Creation & Reorganization Review – MJ Sedlock

    • No report.

    Library – Jonathan Barron

    • No report.

    Faculty Information Technology Committee – Sudarshan Chawathe

    • No report.

    Diversity, Equity and Inclusion – Timothy Bowden

    • Committee met on December 2nd
    • Discussed continuing to build a list of UM/UMM entities that have a DEI remit
    • The neurodivergent student support working group met on December 11th to discuss support for faculty and staff in advising/instructing neurodivergent students. The group agreed to continue the discussion in the new year. In the meantime, support materials will be made available for further discussion
    • We discussed the President’s Council DEIB group. However, it has since been announced that this group will not be created at this time.

    Board of Trustees Representative – Ivan Manev

    • The Academic and Student Affairs Committee of the BOT approved the proposed MS in Business from UMPI on Dec 16. It will be competency-based.
      • UMaine jointly with USM offers an MBA (the Maine MBA). The similar name of UMPI’s program is likely to confuse students.
      •  The proposed program will offer several concentrations which overlap with those of the Maine MBA.
      • The faculty of the Maine Business School are concerned that:
        • the proposed program may syphon off some students
        • the fragile institutional arrangement with USM and its faculty may take a hit (we were supposed to collaborate in the system, not compete)
        • UMPI did not discuss the proposed program with us, despite repeated requests.
    • VCAA Jeff St. John will next discuss the proposed program with the Maine Business School over the winter break. The proposed program will be on the agenda for the BOT meeting on Jan 13th.

    Faculty Governance Committee – Bill DeSisto

    • Intent to Plans for M.Ed. in Education (UMF), M.S. Homeland Security (UMFK), A.A. in Human Services (UMPI)
    • Feedback requested by 1/27 to Jeff St. John

    Adjourn

    Time adjourned: 4:41pm

    Prepared by,
    Sabrina DeTurk