April 7, 2021
FACULTY SENATE MINUTES
April 7, 2021
Zoom Meeting
Present: David Barrett, David Batuski, Donald Beith, Erik Blomberg, Amy Booth, Debbie Bouchard, Alice Bruce, Sandra Butler, Kristina Cammen, Mauricio da Cunha, Phil Dunn, Per Garder, Allison Gardner, Jacquelyn Gill, Michael Grillo, Mark Haggerty, Emily Haigh, Heather Hamlin, Sam Hanes, Amanda Klemmer, Andre Khalil, Jessica Leahy for Anil Raj Kizha, Sara Lello, Colt Knight, Margo Lukens, Natalie Machamer, Ivan Manev, Dmitri Markovitch, Jim McConnon, Sid Mitchell, William Nichols, Harlan Onsrud, Elizabeth Payne, Deborah Rogers, Deborah Saber, Michael Scott, Asli Sezen-Barrie, Kathryn Slott, Sean Smith, Andrew Thomas, David Townsend, Peter Van Walsum, Mark Wells, Todd Zoroya, President Joan Ferrini-Mundy, John Volin Provost, VP Research Kody Varahramyan, Robert Dana, Chris Lindstrom, Joanne Yestramski, Rebecca Bragg (UMM), Jen Bonnet (PEAC), Peter Altmann (CEAC), Kylie Trawick (Undergrad Rep)
Absent: Henri Akono, Susan Bennett-Armistead, Stephanie Burnett, Nuri Emanetoglu, Derek Michaud, Renae Moran, Robert Rice, Mary “MJ” Sedlock, Mohsen Shahinpoor, Ken Ralph, Karina Iskandaro (Grad Rep)
I. Welcome, Announcements and Comments
No announcements.
II. Approval of Minutes
March 10, 2021
Approved
III. Announcements and Updates from the Administration Provost Volin said the Research Learning Experience (RLE) request for course proposals received 36 proposals across all disciplines. There will be more information on which proposals are supported later.
The total number of student applications is down slightly from last year but still one of the largest groups of applicants. Summer numbers are up over 20%, the available courses for summer have been doubled. Many universities are not doing as well with their application numbers and offering incentives to get students to commit. There is a lot of work ahead to secure the upcoming class.
The four dean searches are underway and moving quickly. All searches are being coordinated by Dianne Avery. The Provost said just one search is a huge amount of work and Dianne is doing four.
Q. Senate has been trying to understand how to address undergraduate RLE. Mike asked if there was any room on the committee for someone from Faculty Senate to help get information.
A. Provost Volin said yes but there may already be someone on the committee. He said he would double check or ask for a name.
Q. Enrollment numbers sound good but the stand on requiring vaccinations could impact them. Northeastern and Brown Universities are requiring students to be vaccinated. Harvard asked students to report if they are vaccinated, others are doing polls. What is UMaine doing to encourage student vaccinations?
A. President Ferrini-Mundy said students are now eligible for the vaccination and they are being encouraged to get it. There are student ambassadors making public statements that will hopefully encourage others to get vaccinated. UMaine is watching to see what the state does with clinics. PCHC and Northern Light Health will not be able to set up a clinic on campus at this point but are supporting students to get to a vaccination center. Also, with a UMaine ID students can get vaccinated even if they are from out of state or international. That is not the case with other states. As far as requiring the vaccine, if the emergency use classification changes a requirement could change. When it is said that a vaccination is required it really means registration to know who has been vaccinated. It’s possible using campus facilities like the rec center, or sporting events could require a vaccine registration. There may also be a state requirement for the vaccine in the future, that will be watched. There will be a symposium on April 15, 2021 with Dr. Shah speaking.
Q. Can there be a poll to see if students intend to be vaccinated in the fall?
A. President Ferrini-Mundy said there is a survey out or going out. Deb Allen said there is one that went out asking intent.
Comments: Kylie Trawick, Student Government Rep, said they have talked about students now being eligible and recommended everyone get vaccinated.
Q. What about faculty and staff in the fall, will there be an expectation people get the vaccination? Also, faculty and staff that had covid, does that count as being vaccinated?
A. While the vaccine is under emergency use it will not be required. Once that shifts, a new conversation will take place. Some universities do not require faculty to be vaccinated but expect them to have it.
Dr. Dana said students are being encouraged to get vaccinated and continue with safety protocols. People that had covid should still get vaccinated.
President Ferrini-Mundy thanked Faculty Senate for helping with a name for the UMaine Machias Regional Campus Taskforce. Dean Emily Haddad is the chair and meetings have been scheduled. This will give definition for what it means for UMaine Machias to be a regional campus of UMaine. The committee has agreed on eight areas of focus and members were selected based on those areas. There will be items coming to Faculty Senate from the Taskforce.
Q. Is this connection with UMaine Machias as a Regional Campus the model the Chancellor was talking about in a recent letter, saying USM and UMaine remain the same size and other campuses will be smaller? Is the model of UMaine Machias and UMaine what he had in mind for the other campuses?
A. President Ferrini-Mundy said she thought the intent was for growth where there’s potential and stabilize smaller campuses to be fiscally stable. The move for UMaine Machias to a Regional Campus was started before Unified Accreditation. Also, numbers are different, smaller, from other campuses.
Q. As Unified Accreditation moves forward, is there attention being paid to accreditations in departments?
A. Discipline based accreditation inventory is around 40. Those agencies were either contacted or rules checked for each to see how it would work with Unified Accreditation. There were very few changes and do not see any issues moving forward. There may be some back and forth with some accreditation bodies.
Q. Is there a process if a program may run into issues?
A. Make Provost Volin aware as soon as possible. Some department/colleges did notifications early on in this process.
Provost Volin said those that have been done, to this point, have had no issues. Michael Grillo said, “we need to be careful” since we are not to Unified Accreditation yet. President Ferrini-Mundy said there is a need to be vigilant to those details. Dee suggested Faculty Senate get behind this with a faculty driven taskforce to look at Unified Accreditations and the Unified Catalogue, so faculty have a voice in what is happening. Dee said Jeff St. John will attend the May Full Faculty Senate meeting to share more information.
Q. Will there be an opportunity, for those continuing with online teaching, to offer those courses to other campuses?
A. Yes, we will see more of that and it is behind the push on a unified catalogue. It is not easy now but hope to make it easier in the future. There is a possibility that data will be available by Friday from a recent survey. Higher education will keep advancing due to the pandemic.
Q. Regarding a Unified Catalogue, is there a thought that students will shop for courses they want across campuses instead of what their advisor recommends? It could also be based on cost at different campuses.
A. The department offering programs determines if a course from other campuses is accepted. Control comes from the department and faculty.
Q. Are there any updates on summer and fall as far as Covid testing goes?
A. The summer focus is on K-12 camps and how that will work. There are discussions regarding the level of testing needed when people come back to campus. Some testing could be self-test and report.
Dr. Dana said nothing has been determined at this point. Summer could be that people pick up tests and do them themselves, more will be known later.
President Ferrini-Mundy mentioned her new title, Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation. She is asking people and groups (mostly outside the university) for what is expected in those areas. She also offered the same questions to researchers on other campuses.
Q. What about large lecture halls for fall, what will the capacity be?
A. The current plan is to move forward with classes on the schedule. It really is a wait and see and what the guidelines are in the future.
IV. Questions of the Administration
Q. Margo Lukens said she serves on the President’s Council on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) but noticed there is also an Equity and Excellence Taskforce. What is the relationship between the two committees?
A. The President’s Council on DEI is a standing council of the university. The work will shift over time after finding places of racism and inequity and to look at policies and structure changes. It will be a permanent group. UMaine Equity and Excellence 2025 is short term and focused on the pandemic, racial justice and injustices, and climate change, a focus on complex issues. Overall, large changes/issues for the world and university. It is to ask what to do with all of that and how to be different and help students be part of shaping the future.
Q. Are there any updates on Commencement?
A. The plan is still to have it be virtual and to encompass 2020 and 2021 graduates. It is complicated but hope to have a wonderful ceremony and memories for students. It may be possible to have something in the fall but that is currently a wait and see. Logistics and safety do not allow for in-person in May.
Q. Mauricio asked VP Research Kody Varahramyan if there are any changes on the number of people allowed in labs?
A. There is an anticipation as people get vaccinated, but the process currently followed can be relaxed as situations change.
The Faculty Governance Council just submitted the NECHE progress report. Dee said they are hoping the final charter will be done soon. There will be a Faculty Senate member elected to that council.
V. New Business
Election Results for Faculty Senate Officers
President Dee Nichols
Vice President Amanda Klemmer
Secretary Kathryn Slott
BOT Rep Mike Scott
Faculty Governance Council Rep Ivan Manev
VI. Committee Reports
BOT – Harlan Onsrud
The last Board of Trustee meeting was in March, the next meeting in May. During citizen comment mostly students spoke regarding divestment of oil funds. Also discussed was a UMaine System DEI steering committee and BOT approved tenure. The Maine Economic Impact Fund (MEIF) was approved and the $240 million dollar grant from the Alfond Foundation was accepted.
Also highlighted at the meeting, a faculty feature on public health research.
Reports by Jake Ward on the Advanced Composites Center and Habib Dagher for R&D Faculty of the Future.
Q. Where positions must go to the BOT, will there be reports on how decisions are made, what campuses, approved or not approved etc.?
A. President Ferrini-Mundy said one idea proposed, and tabled, was about tenure line positions and how they would be handled with the BOT. Separate from that is a new process, since the pandemic, for position management that requires Chancellor approval, not BOT approval. The former is still tabled.
Tenure is a celebration, so BOT needs to understand more about that.
Q. Michael Grillo asked if the new process since the pandemic will remain or go back to the previous process?
A. The Chancellor level approvals work as before. Department hires, as usual, by the person that department falls under; Facilities need to go to Joanne Yestramski etc. If a position is vacant for a year, there may be a question of how the work was getting done during that year. Usually, a stop comes from the President’s office and only a couple from the system office. Chris Lindstrom said he could not think of any that went to the UMaine System and were not approved. Hundreds have been approved over the last year, positions, funding, etc. Externally funded positions can have issues, but a way has been found to deal with those.
Q. It sounds like the process is more for informing but it does cause delays or appears to. Is there any analysis on extra delays and if it is worth the effort?
A. President Ferrini-Mundy said any delays have not been at the system level but on campus; things are now moving quickly. Questions do not cause a delay now, may have in the past but no longer. If there is a serious delay faculty have called to move things quicker.
Q. We seem to be late in the hiring season. Is there a goal to do searches earlier in the year or can that be done?
A. Some delay is timing of budgets, still figuring out that issue. We’re not comfortable approving a hire then say if the money is not here we cannot hire you. Timing is not good, but others are running late this year also.
Comment: Maybe FIPC can look at this issue. President Ferrini-Mundy said UMaine wants to be in growth mode. We need to be better to get out ahead. If growth, UMaine will need a good argument on why it will generate revenue etc.
Joanne Yestramski said they are doing multiyear planning now for the UMaine System. Any planning that can be done ahead is the best plan. Progress is being made but they need to try harder.
Academic Affairs – Michael Grillo
Looking forward to a response from the motion passed at the last meeting. The committee is discussing RLE for Gen Ed assessments and moving forward.
Gen Ed – Subcommittee of Academic Affairs – Sam Hanes
Regarding Unified Accreditation, there is not a way for faculty to participate other than those that volunteered. Sam questioned whether he needed to be the one to reach out? He would like clarity from Jeff St. John.
Comments: Dee said the committee working on the RLE section reached out; Ali Gardner has agreed to join that committee.
Constitution & Bylaws – Debbie Saber & Kathryn Slott
The committee met yesterday to go over proposed changes; a lot was done. There will be a series of meetings because of the amount that needs to be discussed. Everything will then move to Faculty Senate for review. Many suggestions were minor, but senate elections will require more discussions.
Research & Scholarship – Sean Smith & Nuri Emanetoglu
The pandemic research and scholarship survey data will be analyzed. Some things mentioned in the survey were how online reduced productivity, faculty with dependents having difficulties and faculty without dependents supporting those with dependents and impacts on responsibility among faculty. Comments about the cost to move online to home. Also, in additional information section, the adjustment to the tenure clock was mentioned and some options for that. It will take time to interpret the information. The committee has asked for a research assistant for three months to assist in analyzing data. The committee will submit a position description for that.
Comment: Are RLE workshops being formed?
Asli said how to help faculty jump back after challenges during the pandemic also. One suggestion on how to help was to create learning communities for faculty; share ideas, develop ideas, etc. Sean said the committee was also asked to have a member sit on the RLE Committee. Last was the intersection of student success, research activity and grant requirements which is an ongoing conversation. A member of the committee has been asked to sit on the Graduate School Board.
Finance & Institutional Planning – Mauricio da Cunha & Mike Scott
Please respond to the survey, if you haven not already, today is that last day. The Provost’s office sent the survey on March 24 with a reminder on April 2. The committee will meet to discuss an agenda for the meeting with the administration.
Mike mentioned that this survey has received four times the number of responses from the previous survey. The information will be shared with the Provost and Vice President at the next meeting.
University Environment – Erik Blomberg & Amanda Klemmer
There will be a committee meeting next week. Partner accommodations will be discussed again. There was a concern raised from someone about a colleague stuck overseas since the start of covid. That concern will be sent through different channels.
Service & Outreach – Colt Knight
No report.
Committee on Committees – Heather Hamlin
There is one request for a member of the Radiation Committee They request the person have experience with radiation. A nomination form will be distributed next week with more information.
Program Creation & Reorganization Review – Margo Lukens
The Criminal Justice proposal will be sent out soon. Also, of the five committee members, two are not senators. Next year the committee will need better representation.
Library Committee – Deborah Rogers & Robert Rice
No report but Deborah asked everyone to make sure they reply to the FIPC survey and vote for Library funding.
Faculty Information Technology Committee – Todd Zoroya & Michael Scott
The committee met and talked about the use of Clickers, there are three or four types used on campus. If students are required to have them it would be best if they did not have to purchase multiples. One brand should be used instead to save students money.
Mauricio said he uses a QUIZZ clicker, and it has all the features.
Ad Hoc System Shared Governance – Renae Moran
No report.
Ad Hoc Diversity, Equity and Inclusion – Margo Lukens
There will be a draft motion at the next Faculty Senate meeting.
Reports of Faculty Members on Committees of the Administration – Heather Hamlin
No report.
VII. Old Business
Kim Stewart Navigate Presentation
Navigate Now, Next, Future S21
Navigate Now, Next, Future S21 part 2
Adjourned 4:55 pm
Respectfully submitted,
Kathryn Slott
Prepared by Kim Junkins