March 4, 2020

FACULTY SENATE MINUTES
March 4, 2020

Present: Lynn Atkins, David Barrett, David Batuski, Donald Beith, Susan Bennett-Armistead, Erik Blomberg, Alice Bruce, Mauricio da Cunha, Paula Drewniany, Phil Dunn, Nuri Emanetoglu, Per Garder, Mark Haggerty, Emily Haigh, Heather Hamlin, Leonard Kass, Sara Lello, Natalie Machamer, Robert Meulenberg, Grant Miles, Patti Miles, William Nichols, Christopher Nightingale, Deborah Saber, Kathryn Slott, David Townsend, Phil Trostel, Todd Zoroya, Faye Gilbert Interim Provost, VP Research Kody Varahramyan, Claire Strickland CBO, Robert Dana, Ken Ralph, Kimberly Whitehead Chief of Staff, Jen Bonnet (PEAC), Camryn Hammill (Undergrad Rep)

Absent: Amy Booth, Stephanie Burnett, Kristina Cammen, Julie DellaMattera, Torsten Hahmann, Sam Hanes, Judith Josiah-Martin, Anil Raj Kizha, Amanda Klemmer, Colt Knight, Peter Koons, Margo Lukens, Robson Machado, Renae Moran, Elizabeth Payne, Nigel Pitt, Laura Rickard, Deborah Rogers, Holly Schreiber, Michael Scott, Mary “MJ” Sedlock, Howard Segal, Mohsen Shahinpoor, John Singer, Sean Smith, Andrew Thomas, Peter Van Walsum, Mark Wells, Xudong Zheng, President Joan Ferrini-Mundy, Chris Lindstrom, SuriyaPrakaash LakshmiBalasubramaniam (Grad Stud Gov), Jennifer Chiarell (CEAC),

I.  Welcome, Announcements and Comments
The National Survey on student engagement for 1st years and seniors is available.

Q.  Did students receive an email and is the survey on the Portal?
A.  Yes, it’s on the Portal and multiple emails have been sent.

II.  Approval of Minutes
February 5, 2020
Approved with edits.

III. Committee Reports
BOT – Patti Miles
Patti attended the BOT Academic Student Affairs meeting. There was a short talk about data management protocol on the UMaine System website. The degree in Athletic Training is moving forward. The Facilities, Finance and Technology meeting discussed how the MaineStreet upgrade is mostly done. The section to work with phones is 22% done. Brightspace update – still planning for use in the fall, it will sync every 5 minutes with MaineStreet. The lease on the Art Museum in Bangor was renewed and added another floor. Funding was brought up for the engineering building, $72 million cost, a $50 million bond, and a $10 million gift. A proposal was made to lower tuition rates for Canadian students, the recommended tuition rate would be the same as in-state. The Maine Economic Improvement Fund, for each dollar added there’s a return of $4.4.

Q.  Is the in-state tuition for all Canadians or the Maritimes?
A.  Patti thought it was all Canadians.

Academic Affairs – William “Dee” Nichols
The committee is working with the Committee of the Administration for online student evaluations (SET). There were questions about data storage, access, etc. They are working on an FAQ. There will be more discussion at the next Executive Committee meeting with a motion for discussion at the next elected members meeting.

Gen Ed – Subcommittee of Academic Affairs – Sam Hanes
The committee is working on Gen Ed reform with working groups to look at best models. Another group is looking at perceptions of staff, faculty and students. The committee is also looking for a clear path with so many Gen Ed courses.

Constitution & Bylaws – Grant Miles
There’s a handout today with proposed changes for the Constitution and Bylaws. Any comments should be sent to Grant Miles for discussion at the next elected members meeting. Bylaws can be changed with 2/3 vote of Faculty Senate, Constitution changes needs 2/3 vote of senate and then approval by all campus faculty. Most changes don’t change direction; they only clarify and clean up language.

Research & Scholarship – Sean Smith, Deborah Saber & Nuri Emanetoglu
Since the last senate meeting, the committee met regarding the 211 Scholarship and met with the Vice President for Research (VPR) yesterday. Sam Hanes came to the 211 meeting to discuss best practices for research and building students in to that research. The committee discussed components to that before changes in Gen Ed. Regarding the outstanding motion regarding indirect cost return, during the meeting with the President and Provost it was discussed and a letter will come from President Ferrini-Mundy.

A meeting with the Foundation and President is being set up and Risk Management will meet with the committee regarding safety for students in research. At the VPR meeting he presented his Strategic Map for UMaine to Become a Modern 21st Century University. It would remove roadblocks between research and academic units, interdisciplinary research and teaching, undergraduate learning programs for the 21st century, CORE shared research facilities, research commercialization, a centralized budget and decentralized budgeting, and modern administrative infrastructure.

Comment: The motion that passed Faculty Senate was rejected by President Ferrini-Mundy but then she reconsidered it.

Finance & Institutional Planning – Mauricio da Cunha & Mike Scott
There is a budget presentation tomorrow with Jeff Hecker, 3:00 – 4:30. It’s important everyone go so questions can be asked, based on the presentation, at the next senate meeting.

One item regarding research for undergraduate students is to have inclusion for all students in all units.

University Environment – Erik Blomberg
There will be a meeting Monday with Provost Gilbert. Some items to be discussed are instructor promotion, the Rising Tide search, partner accommodation, childcare, and parental leave. There have been discussions centered on potentially moving childcare off campus to allow more space. The Paint and Polish update, 26 projects, 18 are classrooms, a $400,000 investment.

Also discussed, instructors/lecturers and how there’s a lack of any promotional structure and if there’s a potential to give them a performance based structure.

Service & Outreach – Colt Knight
No report. 

Committee on Committees – Grant Miles
There was a request for the Taskforce on Little Hall’s potential name change. That committee needs someone from Faculty Senate. The committee will look at criteria for when considerations are made for any name change. David Townsend volunteered to be on the committee.

Per the Faculty Senate Constitution and Bylaws, nominations for officers should be made today for a vote at the next Full Faculty Senate meeting. Names currently submitted, President William “Dee” Nichols, Vice President Deborah Saber, Secretary Kathryn Slott, and BOT Harlan Onsrud. If you’re interested, or want to nominate someone with their approval, contact Grant Miles.

Program Creation & Reorganization Review – Margo Lukens
There are a couple active items with the committee currently. Data Science in Engineering and there is a motion under New Business.

Library Committee – Howard Segal & Robert Rice
There is a Resolution under New Business. One other item, Science Direct of Elsevier Publishing is very expensive but has over 2,200 journals and STEM resources. The UCal System dropped Science Direct but after investigation it wasn’t due to the cost, they asked for full access to articles produced by

UCal but Elsevier said no. So the system dropped them. They’re currently in talks to get the journals back to libraries in their system.

Information Technology Committee – Patti Miles
Qualtrics won’t be going away or change, it will still be available on campus. The faculty all now have “sandboxes” within Brightspace. Faculty can try things, create content, tests, etc. Peter Schilling is hiring to field more questions as people try the program. Brightspace will go in to effect in the fall. Peter Schilling stated they’re using more complex courses to see that everything migrates and works. Next week migration begins and they’ll be checking to make sure it goes smoothly. Small training sessions will be starting next week and will continue as needed. All Blackboard info will be in Brightspace.

Q.  When you say all courses will migrate, does that mean all courses taught over seven years?
A.  Blackboard archives are three years.

Q.  With our college accreditation cycle student work samples are reviewed. Will there be access to that student work?
A.  Peter said he will get back with an answer.

Q.  A new semester on Blackboard can pull older semesters. Is that what you’re talking about with Brightspace, we’d have to go in and change dates but it will be there?
A.  Yes, but it may require a little more manipulation.

Q.  Why the change in programs?
A.  Blackboard was an old version and it’s going away. Migration would have needed to be done no matter what program was used. Also, Blackboard was not very mobile friendly.

Migration will start next week but it will take a little time.

Q.  Next week all courses get migrated and then there will be classes for training?
A.  Yes, but it will be done in segments by semester.

Patti said there is an RFP going out for new copiers on campus. They’ll be looking for input at the user level. Also, related to Active Directory, there have been questions on whether random people from IT have the ability to look at everyone’s computers and what’s on them. They do use a program that says your computer can be looked at but if remote desktop isn’t set up they cannot log on.

Q.  Then why put it on there?
A.  It allows push updates for software.
Comment: It’s not required to log in to push

Q.  IT can change configuration and software?
A.  Yes.

Q.  Where are policies published on push of programs, is there one?
A.  Robin agreed on the need for policies, and stated there is a document but it needs work and updates.

The IT committee should work on it and give that info to IT for an Acceptable Use Policy.

Comments: All faculty should be made aware of this since some grants specifically ask if computers are private.

Box migration will take place over the next year.

Kaltura videos are available through the library and searchable. Once a video is shared with a class it can be kept in the library for others to use. Peter Shilling said videos purchased can then be used by other faculty for classes.

Q.  Who owns material on Blackboard for class, can other departments use it?
A.  This actually follows the contract for intellectual property.

Comment: Harlan Onsrud commented that an Intellectual Property Policy was pulled together by a Faculty Senate committee several years ago. It was a faculty group that put through the policy and the UMaine System approved it. There are other campuses with pieces but the UMaine campus has more rights for copyright of video etc.

Ad Hoc Shared Governance
No report.

Reports of Faculty Members on Committees of the Administration
The UMaine Research Council met and there are a few dates to remember. Abstracts are due March 13, for the Symposium. The Symposium will be April 17, in Alfond Arena.

A new grant management mechanism is being looked at to replace PARS.

AI initiative reinvests in Maine and supports the workforce.

Advance Research Computing to address computer research needs, the vision is to make world class computing at UMaine.

The CORE director resigned, Chris Boynton will be the Interim Director. There are currently seven CORE facilities.

The Post Doc Policy will change extending to five years from three years and raise fringe rates. 

IV.  Announcements and Updates from the Administration and Questions of the Administration
Provost Gilbert stated they’ve been working on things surrounding Corona Virus, if it reaches a level 3 or 4 people must stay home. Rumors are rampant so she hopes people keep calm. Dean Dana said they’re meeting twice a week with the Chancellor, and staff, for monitoring and emergency operations on campus. Plans are being put together.

Q.  What were the H1N1 recommendations?
A.  Letters went out, recommendations on hand washing, etc. There is currently touch cleaning in all residence halls.

The administration is looking at the Maine CDC and US CDC for guidance. There will be a call center open soon; it’s being set up now. Seven trained Student Life people will field call center calls.

The Provost asked about travel plans but they only need to know about official travel plans. The administration is trying to gauge an effect and risk profile.

David Townsend said he tried to compile a list of travel for all faculty, staff and students based on a directive from the Dean’s Office. He said it was unclear that it should only be for official travel, later he was told business travel. David asked Debbie Saber about current Covid 19 testing, any holdups, etc. Debbie stated she thinks there’s a lot of demand and everyone is playing catch up. She said there needs to be caution and knowing where people are.

It was stated that asking the question so students are not punished if there is a closure, it’s a thought process on what will and can be done. Dr. Dana said there are students from several countries that UMaine is trying to accommodate.

Q.  With office travel filed with Concur, can you get travel information there?A.  Yes, unless they haven’t put it in yet.

Jeff St. John said he sent the email out regarding faculty travel on business not the Provost.

The Rising Tide search announcement should be out next week. The budget meeting tomorrow will discuss a proposed budget process.

V.  Old Business
No old business.

VI.  New Business 

Resolution of the Faculty Senate in Support of Fogler Library February 2020 

Preamble
Fogler library is a critical resource for the University of Maine, the colleges of the University of Maine System and the State of Maine. The Senate Library committee has gathered a number of statistics that relate to the library and show its importance. Some of those are as follows:

  • Fogler Library is a net lender to other libraries. In FY19 Fogler loaned more than 16,848, primarily monographs to libraries in the State and elsewhere. This includes service to 260 public libraries, 32 academic libraries, 42 special libraries (includes health science libraries) and 573 K-12 libraries. Budgets have also been constrained elsewhere in the UMS. For example, USM no longer purchases monographs and relies on UM for lending in most cases.
  • Downloads via electronic access to library resources and through library controlled databases for FY 19 were in excess of 661,401 and all electronic database searches including the Digital Commons exceeded 2.4 million
  • Fogler Library building attendance in FY19 was 572,413. During the academic year the library is open 102.5 hours each week. The library is also open to the public.
  • Fogler has been a United States Government Publications Depository since 1907 and a Regional (complete) Depository since 1963.  Fogler is responsible for the depositories in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.
  • Reference staff answered more than 20,309 questions in FY19. Staff prepared library guides and course guides were accessed 225,126 times. In answer to requests, help is provided to students, faculty, and staff of UM and UMS, the public, business personnel, state government officials, and other professionals from across the state.

Challenges:
For two years (FY20, FY21) Fogler’s budget has been cut. The total is now over $0.5 million, nearly 5 percent of the total budget of this critical resource. By necessity, most of the budget cut results in a curtailment of acquisitions that affect teaching and research at the University of Maine and, by extension, to the other campuses within the UMS. Cuts last year resulted in the removal of a number of databases from the library as well as a loss of monograph purchases. The impending cut will curtail the purchase of nearly all monographs as well as new journals and serials. A reduction of library personnel and operating supplies will also be necessary.

Resolution:
The members of the Faculty Senate, representing the faculty of the University of Maine, are keenly aware of budgeting issues facing both the University and the University of Maine System. However, in view of the fundamental importance of Fogler Library to the teaching and research missions of the State’s Land Grant University and the entire UM System, we call upon the administration to take the following actions immediately:

  • That future budget cuts to both the operating and acquisitions budgets of Fogler library be limited to levels that will not affect the needs of students or faculty.
  • That a plan be clearly established that will search for the necessary funds to prevent further erosion to the research and teaching resources of Fogler library 

Discussion: Fogler Library is important but so are a lot of things. Is this just for Fogler meaning everyone else should take cuts? There are other ways to raise funds for the library and as Ryan Low said these cuts came from the Administration. The library is working on alternate sources but an increase in students doesn’t help the library as it does other units. This isn’t just for UMaine; it’s for all campuses and could be leverage for more money for that reason. Someone commented that this seems to prioritize the library. It asks for future cuts to be limited. This goes beyond campus, it goes to the state and other campuses.

Vote:    Question called, approved.
Yes 17
No 7
Abstain 2

 

Motion regarding change of major in Sociology – Criminal Justice
PCRRC Committee
March 5, 2020 

Background for Faculty Senate that will be deleted from the Motion
In December of 2019, Jeff St. John and Emily Haddad reached out to Dave Townsend, Dee Nichols and Margo Lukens requesting a meeting to discuss plans for a new degree, Criminal Justice in the Department of Sociology. As background:

The Sociology Department came forward to the CLAS Academic Council in fall 2019 seeking to augment its existing offerings in Criminal Justice in response to numerous requests for (and queries about) Criminal Justice by high school students/families at high school recruitment events, open houses, and accepted student days. The focus on Criminal Justice reflects ongoing curriculum and enrollment trends in the Sociology Department. The “Crime, Law, and Justice” concentration in the Sociology major is a popular option for current students.

From the outset, the department and the college conceived of the proposed changes to Criminal Justice as a substantive change to its existing “Crime, Law, and Justice” concentration, building on what Sociology already does so as to be able to offer a major that is much in demand. The changes did not constitute a new program from a disciplinary perspective, and the UMS Vice Chancellor’s office had indicated that changes of this nature did not need to be proposed to the System Office as a new program. When the proposed curricular changes came forward to UPCC, Jeff St. John spoke with Tim Cole (twice) and then with Emily Haddad to confirm that this was in fact not a new (from scratch) major, but rather a modification of an existing program. Dee Nichols then returned a call from Dave Townsend to assure him that Sociology/CLAS was not creating a new degree.

In December as the new proposal was making it through that stages, Student Records contacted Jeff St. John to report that from a MaineStreet perspective– i.e., the necessity of building a new program code or “stack” for Criminal Justice as newly configured– Criminal Justice technically represents a new degree program. This interpretation was not anticipated (by anyone) including a preliminary review from the PCRRC chair, Margo Lukens and committee member Dee Nichols. If it had been anticipated, PCRRC review would have been included in the process.

Given the gap between the academic intentions for Criminal Justice and the definitional constraints of MaineStreet, the Sociology Department and members of CLAS brought all parties together in January 2020 to determine how best to move forward.

After this meeting, the PCRRC reviewed the proposal and while it is still unclear if this proposal needed to go through this level of review, we are bringing it forward to Faculty Senate.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

 Motion regarding change of major in Sociology – Criminal Justice

The Department of Sociology seeks to establish a new major and degree in Criminal Justice.  This new major in Criminal Justice is a modification of the Sociology major’s existing optional concentration in Crime, Law, and Justice. This change in classification of a new degree and name change would be housed within the existing Sociology department, and continue to have an interdisciplinary scope. In addition to the new major a new minor would also be identified. Both of these options already exist as concentrations for sociology majors, but this change would make these options more marketable and identifiable for students.

Rationale
Sociology majors may currently choose to fulfill the requirements for a criminal justice concentration, and successful completion of these requirements is then noted on their transcripts. More than one-third of our majors do choose the concentration, which the Sociology department established many years ago because of keen interest in our courses in this area.

High school students at University of Maine Open Houses and Accepted Student Days regularly express interest in this concentration and also ask whether the university offers a major in this area. Reflecting this interest, UMaine Admissions has encouraged the development of a criminal justice major.

Because the Crime, Law, and Justice concentration has proven so successful, the Department now wishes to expand it into a full-fledged CJ major. CJ majors around the nation are extraordinarily popular, with many majors, at large universities and smaller colleges alike enrolling hundreds of students. The number of CJ students in the United States has grown steadily and even dramatically during the past few decades, with this growth showing no signs of abating (American Sociological Association 2010; Sloan and Buchwalter 2017). Reflecting the large number of jobs in criminal justice and related fields and the popularity of crime and criminal justice stories in the popular and news media, bachelor degrees in criminal justice at nearly 700 institutions rank among the ten most popular bachelor degree programs in the United States (Sloan and Buchwalter 2017). Maine features approximately 2,500 full-time sworn law enforcement personnel and perhaps an equal number working in other areas of criminal justice, while the United States features approximately 750,000 full-time sworn law enforcement personnel and perhaps at least that number working in other areas of criminal justice (Banks et al. 2016). At the same time, law enforcement agencies in Maine and elsewhere report a noticeable shortage of qualified candidates to fill their many vacancies, with this shortage expected to worsen because of anticipated retirements in the years ahead (Burns 2016; Lear 2018; Moss 2018; Rodriguez 2019).

Many other criminal justice positions exist in Maine and elsewhere, including probation and parole officers, juvenile intake officers, crime analysts, border patrol agents, bailiffs, correctional officers, crime prevention specialists, victim service specialists, substance abuse counselors, and fraud investigators. Criminal justice majors also go on to obtain advanced degrees to become attorneys, professors, and other professional positions.

Burning Glass data gathered in July 2019 for the prior twelve months point to the demand for criminal justice positions in Maine and beyond, with 582 job postings in Maine between July 1, 2018 and June 30, 2019 across the range of positions for which a criminal justice education would provide excellent preparation. In addition to many of the positions just listed, the Burning Glass positions also included paralegals and legal assistants, security managers, and occupational health and safety specialists. Using different search criteria, another   Burning Glass search for all of New England yielded 2,698 job postings in the broad area of Legal Support, and 2, 141 postings in the area of Youth and Career Counseling, with expected growth during the next decade in these

These considerations all strongly suggest that the addition of a CJ major at the University of Maine will help attract many new students to the University and to the Department while also benefiting the law enforcement and more general criminal justice workforce of the state and beyond. Befitting its placement within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, this major will have a strong liberal arts orientation and offer a B.A degree rather than the vocational orientation and B.S. degree of many criminal justice programs around the nation. A liberal arts education and its attendant development of critical thinking skills are considered increasingly important for law enforcement and other criminal justice personnel in today’s society (DuFour 2018; Phillips and Burrell 2009; PoliceOne 2016).

Although the University of Southern Maine already offers a B.A. criminology major in its Department of Criminology, our proposed major in criminal justice differs from USM’s major in two significant ways, providing a valuable alternative for students from Maine and beyond who are seeking to enter the workforce in areas related to criminal justice. First, unlike USM’s program, which is grounded in theoretical criminology, our proposed major focuses heavily on the criminal justice response to crime, with core and elective courses on policing, criminal courts, and corrections, while still providing an excellent foundation in criminological theory and criminological research methods. These emphases of the proposed program will provide students the intellectual and practical knowledge they will need to become criminal justice and related professionals, with their research methods training helping them to stand out in a competitive market. This comprehensive set of required and elective courses offers students a CJ major that should thus have considerable appeal for them and for potential employers. Students with our criminal justice degree will be marketable in a wide range of employers, from non-profit agencies and private companies to the federal government.

Second, the proposed major will be interdisciplinary, with requirements in Psychology and Political Science among a wide range of elective options in these essential fields. These interdisciplinary requirements will acquaint our criminal justice students with other disciplines’ perspectives on criminal behavior and the legal system and will further develop the flexibility of mind that a liberal arts education promotes. As B.A. students in the UMaine College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, all CJ majors must also complete a minor or second major, providing yet another opportunity for students to develop complementary, cross-disciplinary expertise in a field relevant to their professional goals.

Beyond all these considerations, the addition of a criminal justice major to Maine’s flagship campus in the more northern part of the state will expand the opportunities for students from Maine and elsewhere to major in this very popular and professionally desirable area. On a related note, faculty and other parties at the University of Maine at Machias have expressed excitement over having a new criminal justice major in Orono in view of their campus’s interests in rural law enforcement and conservation law. Possibilities thus exist for synergies across the Orono and Machias campus in criminal justice, which would be appropriate in view of UMM’ s developing status as a regional campus of UMaine.

Motion:
The Program Creation and Reorganization Review Committee (PCRRC) has met with the various units associated with the creation of this new degree, thoroughly examined and reviewed the proposal, and moves to accept the creation of the new degree and minor in Criminal Justice housed within the Department of Sociology.

Vote:    Approved
Abstention 1                         

Adjourned 5:00 pm

Respectfully submitted,
Grant Miles

Prepared by Kim Junkins