December 12, 2018
FACULTY SENATE MINUTES
December 12, 2018
Present: Seanna Annis, Erik Blomberg, Alice Bruce, Dick Brucher, Sandy Butler, Mauricio da Cunha, Paula Drewniany, Phil Dunn, Scott Dunning, Nuri Emanetoglu, Nancy Hall, Sam Hanes, Anil Raj Kizha, Colt Knight, Margo Lukens, Molly MacLean, Grant Miles, Patti Miles, William Nichols, Christopher Nightingale, Laura Rickard, Deborah Saber, Michael Scott, Howard Segal, Kathryn Slott, David Townsend, Mark Wells, Clayton Wheeler, VP Research Kody Varahramyan, Jen Bonnet (PEAC), Carmel Blankenship-Livi (CEAC), Jaqulin Wallace (Grad Stud Gov) Harrison Ransley (Undergrad Rep)
Absent: Emmanuel Boss, Stephanie Burnett, Julie DellaMattera, Per Garder, Mark Haggerty, Torsten Hahmann, Valerie Herbert, Leonard Kass, Margaret Killinger, Peter Koons, Robson Machado, Robert Meulenberg, Renae Moran, Nigel Pitt, Deborah Rogers, John Singer, Sean Smith, Mona Therrien, Andrew Thomas, Phil Trostel, Stephanie Welcomer, Xudong Zheng, President Joan Ferrini-Mundy, Provost Jeff Hecker,
The meeting was called to order at 3:15 pm
I. Welcome, Announcements and Comments
President Ferrini-Mundy and Provost Hecker were not available for the Faculty Senate meeting. Dr. Robert Dana will represent the administration.
II. Approval of Minutes
November 14, 2018
Approved
III. Committee Reports
BOT – Patti Miles
Patti asked that senators give feedback on a draft document, Declaration of Strategic Priorities to Address Critical State Needs. She just found out the BOT is scheduled to vote on the declaration next Wednesday. David Townsend said he and President Ferrini-Mundy sent an email to campus for input. Feedback has been coming in according to Dr. Dana. He will have Kim Jenkins send Patti the information.
Q. What is the biggest area?
A. One concern, the first page set up isn’t factual. One statement is that the working population will decrease by 100,000; it hasn’t decreased that much in the last 15 years so where do the numbers come from. It also stated 50% of high school seniors graduate with 60 credits towards college. The document is focused all on workforce – teaching and research is never mentioned. The number one goal is to “increase enrollment,” UMaine has increased enrollment over 10 years and still growing.
Comments: This gives the Chancellor and the Board of Trustees the power to reorganize, what does that mean? Is it heading toward changes without traditional protocol?
Academic Affairs – William “Dee” Nichols
The committee hasn’t met. The next meeting will, most likely, be in February. There was a meeting with Jeff St. John regarding Infosilem and waiting for a date to discuss the set up for Electronic SET. Two motions are on the agenda for today.
Gen Ed – Subcommittee of Academic Affairs – Sam Hanes
Regarding the proposal from Jane Smith changing 3 credits in Language for 3 of quantitative literacy, Sam didn’t find other institutions doing the same thing. It’s possible the exchange takes place at the college level. This will be discussed at the next committee meeting.
Q. What is the rationale for making this change?
A. That’s a good question.
Comment: Some think quantitative reasoning is a language in itself, which may be part of the rationale.
Dave Townsend had a meeting with Dr. Dana regarding inclusion issues. There will be more discussion upcoming but there are some action items that will make things better.
Q. Are you talking about Diversity and Inclusion?
A. Yes, trying to align everyone working on the same issue. There is no committee at this time.
This came about as a recommendation to President Ferrini-Mundy that she appoint a Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion. She has been discussing it with Dr. Dana and he has pulled information together.
Comment: When there was an Athletic and Advisory Board, one thing addressed was this issue under Evelyn Silver. There were one or two university wide documents at that time. Dr. Dana said he has those documents. Age, ability, race, ethnicity, sex, gender, religion, etc., there is data for the university in those areas.
Constitution & Bylaws – Grant Miles
The committee will continue to look at issues, pull pieces together and have something for next semester.
Research & Scholarship – Deborah Saber & Nuri Emanetoglu
The committee met with the VPR and was briefed on the research plan President Ferrini-Mundy is preparing on behalf of the BOT. Discussed, how to increase research and scholarship on campus, invest in faculty etc. There is a motion upcoming today and the committee is drafting a motion based off one from 2016 that the committee will be discussed at the January meeting.
Finance & Institutional Planning – Mauricio da Cunha
The committee has two motions under New Business today. There also was a meeting yesterday with the Provost regarding input provided by faculty. Items to be addressed this year and others for next year were discussed.
University Environment – Erik Blomberg
The Children’s Center taskforce is done and a draft document will be sent to President Ferrini-Mundy soon. The draft should be ready for the January Faculty Senate meeting. The committee also met with HR and AFUM regarding parental leave. The information was forwarded to the Provost and hoping to having a meeting to discuss it in January.
Service & Outreach – Colt Knight
No report.
Committee on Committees –
No Report.
Program Creation & Reorganization Review – Clayton Wheeler
No report.
Library Committee – Howard Segal
The committee is going over drafts regarding a campaign to improve areas of Fogler Library.
Information Technology Committee – Patti Miles
Peter Schilling suggested all classrooms have an email posted for issues that come up. Currently, faculty have to determine if it’s an IT, facilities issue, etc. The MaineStreet update will probably be done in June. A survey sent out to faculty showed more complaints about classroom facilities than IT. Ten classroom updates should be completed over the next six months.
Q. The new email posted in classrooms, does that replace the phone number listed now?A. No, if it’s an urgent issue still call but anything else an email can be sent.
Reports of Faculty Members on Committees of the Administration
Molly MacLean gave an update regarding the Navigate Early Alert System. The committee met last week, a timeline was discussed and whether it’s too soon to implement the system. The timeline has been shifted to allow more time to make sure the system works. A team went to UVM where the system is being used, there will be a meeting soon to discuss that visit.
First Year Student Success Initiative taskforce will discuss supporting faculty success in first year courses. The taskforce will be asking for information on who teaches these courses, what can be done to help prepare faculty teaching them, having ongoing resources, etc. There’s an attrition rate of new students and a need to address larger classes and issues students may be having. They will be looking for people willing to be interviewed on this issue.
The Search Committee for Assistant Provost of Institutional Research and Assessment, there was an open forum today with a candidate. The search will be final in a couple of weeks and the position will start in January.
The Search Committee for Undergraduate Dean for MBS, information has been sent to the Provost. There were four external candidates. The Graduate Dean will be located in Portland, Undergraduate Dean in Orono.
IV. Announcements and Updates from the Administration
Dr. Robert Dana, filling in for President Ferrini-Mundy, said she wanted to thank Faculty Senate and faculty for engagement with the Strategic Visioning and Values Statement data collection process. She see’s the Dynamic Vision and Values Document as a usable tool. Regarding the BOT draft, Declaration of Strategic Initiatives document, there is a meeting already set up.
Dr. Dana asked Jeff St. John give an update on NEASC. A working draft was sent to the President and Cabinet. There are nine sections, drafted last fall and spring. Revisions were done over the summer and fall; it appears the document is 95% complete. It will be sent to Vice Presidents, Deans and the Faculty Senate president soon. Everyone will be asked for help with errors of facts or interpretation. January 15, editing will stop and it will be sent out for external review and to NEASC. The site visit will be March 31 – April 3, 2019.
Q. Is there any anticipation regarding issues the visiting team may question?
A. There are two areas identified for additional guidance. The ten-year actions asked to address have been done. Diversity, student learning outcomes, etc. comes up every visit. There are no major red flags foreseen. The document provides a picture of what’s happening on campus with pages of data.
V. Questions of the Administration
No questions.
VI. Old Business
No report.
VII. New Business
Academic Affairs & General Education
December 12, 2018
Motion 1:
The Faculty Senate of the University of Maine requests that the administration increase resource allocations to SAS so that support available to students in need of accommodations keeps pace with the demands of a growing and changing student body. We further ask that the Administration of the University report back to faculty senate regarding progress in this area.
Vote: Approved
Motion 2:
Faculty senate endorses the recommendations described in the appendix, and encourages faculty to follow SAS protocols whenever possible, in order to temporarily alleviate demands placed on this office while additional resources are being secured and implemented.
Discussion: Grammar change correction done. A question was asked about the faculty testing their students instead of Student Accessibility Services (SAS). The motion says “whenever possible”. There are 800 students with documented disabilities on campus.
Vote: Approved
Research & Scholarship Committee
December 12, 2018
Motion
The Faculty Senate moves to amend the Faculty Handbook’s Section 2.3 “Professional Ethics and Plagiarism” to include self-plagiarism, also known as duplicate publication or text recycling, as follows:
“4. Plagiarism. Scholars must give full and fair recognition to sources both for the substance and for the formulation of their findings and interpretations. Using the ideas, methods, or written words of others without acknowledgment is plagiarism. Equally unethical is the practice of self-plagiarism, or duplicate publication, where authors re-publish substantial portions of their own previously published work as new without providing appropriate references, and in doing so deviating from the standard practices in their fields.”
Comments: Grammar was discussed and a minor change was made and approved.
Vote: Approved
Finance & Institutional Planning Committee
December 12, 2018
Motion
The University of Maine Faculty Senate requests that the administration institute this academic year proper mechanisms whereby faculty can request with justification the implementation of a fee for lab/course delivery.
Jeff St. John stated he just read the motions today and stands behind a report completed last year.
Q. Can a course ask for additional money for a class trip?
A. Jeff said, not having the report in front of him, he can’t answer that.
Mauricio said he thought the information is in the document Jeff discussed.
Q. Does the report have a mechanism?
A. No, the report is a set of recommendations.
Vote: Approved
Finance & Institutional Planning Committee
December 12, 2018
Motion
The Faculty Senate of the University of Maine requests that the Administration work with the Financial and Institutional Planning Committee of the Faculty Senate to acquire the information necessary to understand the current system of distribution of the Unified Fee, and to provide an annual report of distribution and expenditures of annual Unified Fee monies, to commence this academic year.
Comments: It appears the Unified Fee is used as one large pot. Looking at other institutions and UMaine, separate fees were rolled into one. Going back seems pointless.
This is in the interest of shared governance to see where dollars go, not necessarily to split it all out?
Q. In a letter Provost Hecker sent regarding the taskforce, why is the taskforce only looking at fees distributed to colleges?
A. The focus of work was because of what Faculty Senate asked.
Discussion: If $1 million goes to colleges, where does the $15 million go? If fees were originally to support some course expenses and that is no longer there then it shows there’s a need for a mechanism to keep up with courses. If there were a lab fee, would it then be put back into the unified fee? The fee of $958 per student, what is that for? It doesn’t seem wrong to ask where the money goes, it may be difficult answering but there’s nothing wrong with asking.
Vote: Approved 23
Opposed 2
Abstention 1
Adjourned 4:40 pm
Respectfully submitted,
Grant Miles
Prepared by Kim Junkins