April Committee and Representative Reports

April 21, 2026 Committee Reports

Faculty Governance Council Representative – Bill DeSisto

The last meeting was March 30, 2026. Heather Ball spoke about continuing efforts on calendar syncing. She mentioned that summer syncing is not possible. Jeff St. John provided a heads up to renew a call to form an Arts and Humanities task force this Fall to address goals in the UMS plan. There will be some money invested, $250K in FY27 and $210K in FY28 applied to existing structures and activities across the system. A formal announcement will happen this Fall. He is looking for one representative from each campus. Reach out to him with questions.

Board of Trustees Representative – Colleen Marzilli

At its March 16, 2026 meeting at University of Maine at Augusta, the University of Maine System Board of Trustees approved a series of actions advancing governance, financial stewardship, infrastructure investment, and academic growth. Key actions included confirming the Student Representative, approving the FY2028 meeting calendar, and adopting consent agenda items. The Board authorized capital and financing measures, including EV charger land leases at University of Maine at Presque Isle and University of Maine at Fort Kent, a reimbursement resolution for capital expenditures, and up to $35 million in revenue bonds to refinance prior debt. It also approved a $4.065 million Energy Savings Performance Contract at UMPI to support campus-wide infrastructure and energy efficiency upgrades. Academically, the Board approved 2026 tenure nominations and, notably, authorized the creation of the College of Nursing and Health Professions at University of Southern Maine to expand healthcare workforce development and interdisciplinary education. The next meeting will be held May 17–18, 2026, at University of Maine at Fort Kent.

Program Creation and Reorganization Review Committee – Glenda Pereira (Chair) & MJ Sedlock (Co-Chair)

  • A proposal for the elimination of the B.A. in Romance Languages remains under review with the expectation that the committee will bring a draft motion to endorse or oppose the proposal to the Elected Members Committee meeting on April 29.

Environment Committee – Tim Waring (Chair)

  • Committee meeting on April 9th. 
  • The Faculty Experience Survey (closed) has been a useful example of a simple means by which the Faculty Senate can be better in touch with faculty sentiment. The survey had a high response rate (~41%) across the university, and has helped advance senate and administration understanding of faculty sentiment. In the future, we encourage the Senate to use similar methods, specifically simple, short, carefully designed faculty surveys on occasion to gain critical insight on important issues. 
  • A second faculty survey, in collaboration with the Provost’s office, from the UCLA HERI research center is still open (closing this week). Please take the survey and encourage your faculty to take it as well. 

Academic Affairs Committee – Jen Perry (Chair)

  • The committee last met on 4/8, next meeting scheduled for 4/22. 
  • Work continues to move forward with the syllabus bank project. A proposed format for truncated syllabus document has been developed and a motion to support the formal exploration of the particulars for implementation is expected for the last open senate meeting. 
  • We are currently gathering questions and concerns related to several issues planned as areas of focus this fall. Any input is welcome and can be sent to any committee member by email.
    • SAS: communication issues, challenges related to types/number of accommodations
    • YourPace programs
    • Academic Materials Program: changes to items covered, lack of transparency regarding cost of items provided, challenges opting out
  • Academic Affairs will be bringing another motion to the May meeting to support the formation of a task force to continue explorating the establishment of a syllabus bank.
  • For questions, comments, or suggestions regarding agenda items for the committee, please contact the Academic Affairs Committee members.

Constitution & Bylaws Committee – Henri Akono (Chair)

We will bring proposed revisions to the Constitution and Bylaws for a vote May 13th.

Cultural Environment Subcommittee – Michael Grillo (Chair) and Sara Flanagan (Co-Chair)

We are still awaiting discussion and review with Alumni Hall on a motion to reject the Federal Compact and anything like it propagated by the White House and what remains of  the Department of Education.

Committee on Committees – Lauren Jacobs (Chair)

Senate Leadership position elections are occurring today. Please note that William Somes will be handling all ballot counting for these positions. Though this is typical, it also supports best practices as Lauren is both Chair of this committee and is running for a Senate leadership position. 

In response to the draft resolution (SM2614) addressing concerns about updates to the website, we have been invited to have two Faculty Senators serve on MarComm’s Academic Web Content working group. FIT members are best positioned to serve in this role and are encouraged to reach out both to Colleen and Lauren if interested. (Non-FIT members are also welcome to reach out if interested in serving.) The group meets bi-monthly and new members will be connected to Mike Kirby to begin. 

Finance and Institutional Planning Committee – Henri Akono (Chair)

  • Met with the administration on Friday 4/10: (a)presentation from Associate Provost Allen and follow-up discussion about online revenues and incentives, as UMaine is thinking of increasing online offerings. Online incentives takeaways: senators recommended consideration for quality and differential incentives across disciplines, because the level of difficulty in providing online courses is not the same (e.g., Physics vs. Business). Break even points for online courses are 6 enrolled in graduate level and 12 enrolled at undergraduate level. There was also a presentation from Associate Provost Carter related to Overloads at UMaine. Overloads takeaways: CM from many overloads is positive; >40% overload courses are offered when other courses have seat capacity – further analyses being conducted to understand the rationales. FY28 & 29 budget takeaways: an earlier budgetary timeline is being considered by the administration (traditionally campus wide discussions start late fall early spring); factors considered include the predicted magnitude of the gap based on the MYFA, shared governance and contractual deadlines. The motion on rethinking the Presidential Budget Advisory Committee (PBAC) was also discussed and no additional feedback provided. Research infrastructure takeaways: currently the faculty senate has one seat on the grad board, but Scott Delcourt and Amanda Klemmer are open to having more senators on the grad boards. We could start with two seats in Fall 2026. FIPC Chair update: FIPC is soon getting a new chair or co-chairs for the end of the term.  
  • Met on Wednesday 4/8 and Thursday 3/12: discussed two motions (PBAC rethinking and Enrollment strategy support). Discussed two anonymous letters sent to President Klemmer: (a) Travel expense: This is not a major item on the budget and while travel information is compiled, there is no way to assess ROI. (b) Other questions: There were also questions about payment of the President senior advisors and individuals vacation payments. Ans: While potentially interesting, it’s important to note that severance packages for a couple of employees or compensation of the president’s senior advisors are not the significant drivers of UMaine financial deficits.

General Education Stewardship Committee – Derek Michaud (Co-Chair)

GESC has added an FAQ for advisors, breakdowns of the differences between the older Gen Ed and the new Core, etc., to our website (see the Core Curriculum page on the Provost’s Office website (opens in a new tab)). GESC and OIRA continue to work on developing rubrics for the new Core PLOs. And finally, GESC continues to work on pathways, or “thematic clusters,” as an advising tool to help students navigate the Core with intentionality. These will become available on our website as they are developed. 

Library Advisory Committee – Jonathan Barron (Chair)

The Library Advisory Committee met on 4-9-2026 to create an advisory document for Dean Singh. This document outlined possible strategies to help ensure that the library’s importance to the twin tasks of research and teaching will remain central with regard to the university’s budget planning process.

Research and Scholarship Committee – Benjamin L. King (Chair) & Jay Wason III (Co-Chair)

  • Met 4/8 to discuss next steps. Continuing to work on:
    • Discussions with administration regarding the research enterprise structure
    • Notice of Intent deadline policy with Office of Research Administration
    • Reviewing admin response to grad workers motion
  • Working with VPR’s office on a faculty survey on research
  • Next meeting with full committee is May 6th

Faculty Information Technology Committee – Sudarshan Chawathe (Chair) & Colleen Marzilli (Co-Chair)

No report.