December 14, 2016

DRAFT FACULTY SENATE MINUTES
December 14, 2016

Present: Bob Bayer, Jason Bolton, Emmanuel Boss, Laura Cowan, Mauricio da Cunha, Farahad Dastoor, Paula Drewniany, Per Garder, Michael Grillo, Sam Hanes Leonard Kass, Peter Koons, George Markowsky, Grant Miles, Patti Miles, William Nichols, Clint Relyea, Bob Rice, Deborah Saber, Michael Scott, Howard Segal, Kathryn Slott, David Townsend, Shihfen Tu, Mark Wells, Gail Werrbach, Clayton Wheeler, President Susan Hunter, Provost Jeff Hecker, VP Research Carol Kim, Jen Bonnet (PEAC), Brian Preziosi (Grad Stud Gov)

Absent: John Allen, Dean Astumian, Erik Blomberg, Tony Brinkley, Sudarshan Chawathe, Scott Dunning, Thane Fremouw, Amy Fried, Chris Grindrod for Nancy Hall, Jason Harkins, Zhihe Jin, David Kress, Jordan LaBouff, David Marcinkowski, Brian McGill, Sidney Mitchell, Brian Olsen (sabbatical), John Singer, Owen Smith, Mona Therrien, Andrew Thomas, Peter C. Altmann (CEAC), Hashim Allah (Stud. Gov.)

The meeting was called to order at 3:20 pm

I.  Welcome, Announcements and Comments:
No announcements.

II.  Approval of Minutes
November 16, 2016
Approved

III. Committee Reports
BOT Rep – Patti Miles
There will be a meeting of BOT Reps with the Chancellor on December 19. One item to be discussed is Strategic Resource Allocations.

Academic Affairs – Michael Grillo
The committee met on Wednesday to discuss course funding, the number of funding streams and how to create greater stability to strengthen courses. Provost Hacker commented that he would welcome being included in the conversation. He felt some progress has been made but more is needed on how decisions are made.

Constitution & Bylaws – David Townsend
There was a draft resolution at the Elected Members meeting; it will be discussed again at the next Elected Members meeting.

Research & Scholarship – Emmanuel Boss & Mauricio de Cunha
The committee met today and discussed a possible resolution/motion regarding research. They will meet again in January. There is a motion under New Business.

Finance & Institutional Planning – Grant Miles
The committee met recently and will meet again soon. There is a public Budget Forum January 25, the committee will meet with Claire Strickland prior to that forum.

Service & Outreach – Jason Bolton
No report.

Committee on Committees – Michael Grillo
Program Integration is looking for one person and will forward that name to Provost Hecker. The scope of work is a work in progress.

Library Advisory – Robert Rice & Howard Segal
The committee met last week and were given updates on the trial of a new product which helps make journal lookup faster. The library has extended hours during finals. The Digital Commons has over 42,000 collections with over a million downloads. Science Digest’s subscription will be renegotiated. A Public Relations person was hired to help with monthly online updates. The budget will increase by approximately 4%, good news.

Program Creation & Reorganization Review – Sid Mitchell
No report.

General Education – Farahad Dastoor & David Townsend
There is a motion under New Business.

Ad Hoc IT – Michael Scott & Patti Miles
No report.

Ad Hoc Shared Governance – Jason Harkins
Colleges are making good progress drafting bylaws, the committee is looking at doing a survey on the culture/climate of faculty and how they feel about shared governance on campus. Provost Hecker stated he’s seen versions of bylaws from Honors College, Education & Human Development, CLAS and Engineering are very close, NSFA, with dean change, say around January and Maine Business School are ironing things out.

University Environment – Kathryn Slott & Clint Relyea
The committee will meet with Dean Humphrey on January 5 to work on diversity. They’d like to hear from Faculty Senate for challenges and any diversity issues. Kathryn said lighting and custodial issues are being discussed and the tabled motion from last spring will come forth the first of the year.
Comments: Is there an Equal Opportunity Office on campus or is it part of the System?
Provost Hecker said it is part of the System now. There is Diversity Institute on campus that does training.

Reports of Faculty Members on Committees of the Administration
Patti Miles commented that Infosilm seems to be going well. She also stated she’s the only faculty rep on the Blackboard Core Committee. She asked for more input from faculty. After Christmas everyone will get a Box account linked with maine.edu accounts. Robin Sherman said Box is a cloud based storage and allows document collaboration.

Robin was asked for an update on campus WIFI; working on access now, wireless upgrades are following classroom of the future project.

Q.  Will Peter Schilling be involved in the rollout of Box?
A.  Yes

IV.  Announcements and Updates from the Administration
Vice President Carol Kim commented that a graduate student from the Biomedical Science recently passed away unexpectedly. She requested that if you see anyone needing support to let them know there are counselors available.

President Hunter stated there would be a Legislative Breakfast for 15-17 local legislators tomorrow. Also, she was asked to accompany the Chancellor to USM and meet with the Business faculty. They asked to meet with the Chancellor and he asked if she’d go. She also thanked everyone for supporting, and attending, the campus lunch. Even with bad weather there was a good turnout.

V.  Questions of the Administration
Q.  Does the administration have an opinion on class sizes? Regarding negotiating contract and language about class size.
A.  Online is different and the language was done quite a while ago. It was stated that the administration is mindful of the need to grow enrollment but can’t say every class should get larger.

Q.  Is there a policy to give professors more than a one-class credit if classes go above a certain number?
A.  Not at the University level, maybe at the college level.
Comment: Some Universities have an FTE calculator. The Provost said he has mixed feeling on that.

Q.  President Hunter was asked if the MBA meeting would include Provost Hecker and Dean?
A.  No. The request came from USM faculty to the Chancellor. The Chancellor asked her to attend because it will be a UMaine MBA program.
Provost Hecker said the goal seems to be to engage USM and UMaine faculty. Concerns need to be discussed so USM will reengage.

Q.  Provost Hecker was asked if he could speak about a letter regarding the investment structure.
A.  The Vice Chancellor has developed a program innovation fund, it will look at funding for enrollment growth and collaboration across campuses. It’s anticipated this will be an annual event. Preference of funding will be given to teams that have already done work. Provost asked to have it run through the UMaine structure and sent deans RFP’s asking to present to faculty. They’ll be due the end of March, preliminary ideas to Deans by the end of January.

Q.  Is the Machias report due in January and what is the status of the relationship?
A.  President Hunter said yes, there will be input from campuses and the BOT will take action in March. NEASC goes forward in April and they’ll look closer for a plan on enrollment management. It’s unclear of a final relationship, nothing is final yet. Once the report is done there will be input and action in March. Provost Hecker stated that it goes to the BOT but that won’t make it final at that point.

VI.  Old Business
None

VII. New Business
Motion in Support of UMaine Research and Creative Activity Day
Research and Scholarship Committee
December 13, 2016

The University of Maine Research Day provides a high profile opportunity for graduate and undergraduate students to present their research to the broader university and surrounding communities.  The Faculty Senate also recognizes this event as an excellent mechanism to promote the breadth and depth of the research enterprise and creative activity at the University of Maine, and to showcase UMaine leadership in the state.  The event aims at increasing the participation of the general public, business people, members of city council and the legislature. The Faculty Senate encourages student participation and also encourages faculty to utilize this showcase as a resource to be incorporated where possible into the learning experience in their courses.  To facilitate these activities, the Faculty Senate encourages the office of the Vice President for Research to optimize the logistics to best accommodate teaching and research schedules during that day, and to communicate the schedule of talks and events well in advance of the event. The Faculty Senate looks forward to working with the Vice President for Research in future planning of the University of Maine Research and Creative Activity Day.

Comments: Monday is not the best day to hold this, Tuesday or Thursday will be used going forward. VP Carol Kim said communicating the schedule ahead of time could be dependent on when students submit proposals. If faculty could encourage their students to get proposals done in a timely manner. It was asked about the opportunities to participate. Carol Kim said any student that wants to present work are eligible. Dave Townsend said his graduate students perceived they were required to participate if they received GSA funds. Carol Kim said it was discussed but never voted on. There will be transportation throughout the day so students can attend between classes. Is the university committed beyond this year or could it be brought back to campus at some point? VP Kim said all of the data shows the Cross Center is a better location than on campus.

Vote: Approved
Motion to Align General Education Courses with Faculty Senate Approved Criteria
General Education Committee, December 2016
Introduction:
In April 2012, Faculty Senate adopted criteria broadly describing the essential components of the different General Education categories.

All General Education courses introduced since 2012 have been required to satisfy these attributes. To date, no mechanism to evaluate alignment of courses that existed before 2012 has been developed. This has led to a de facto grandfathering of some courses while courses created after 2012 have been required to meet new general Education criteria. In order to provide a valuable and consistent General Education experience to all UMaine students, all of our General Education courses should be encouraged to satisfy the Senate approved criteria.

Motion:
The Faculty Senate of the University of Maine ask in the spirit of shared governance and academic integrity for the Administration to work with the Senate to develop a feasible and timely mechanism to periodically review all UMaine General Education courses such that all these courses reflect current expectations.

Comments: Provost Hecker said the administration welcomes this motion. How many unique courses are there? Brian Doore stated there were about 900. Is it known how many courses currently meet the criteria? That information is being gathered now. It’s possible that Department Chairs will look at current Gen Ed courses and determine if they meet the criteria.

Vote: Approved

Dave Townsend mentioned the UMaine Faculty NCAA Rep is looking for Athletic Faculty Liaisons. These liaisons serve for two years.

Adjourned at 4:30 pm

Respectfully submitted,
Grant Miles

Prepared by Kim Junkins