{"id":3656,"date":"2018-05-30T09:30:01","date_gmt":"2018-05-30T13:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/facultysenate\/?page_id=3656"},"modified":"2019-09-19T07:35:53","modified_gmt":"2019-09-19T11:35:53","slug":"senate-minutesmay-8-2019","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/facultysenate\/senate-minutes\/2018-2019\/senate-minutesmay-8-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"May 8, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

FACULTY SENATE MINUTES<\/strong>
\nMay 8, 2019<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Present: <\/strong>Seanna Annis, Erik Blomberg, Alice Bruce, Dick Brucher, Sandy Butler, Mauricio da Cunha, Paula Drewniany, Per Garder, Mark Haggerty, Torsten Hahmann, Sam Hanes, Leonard Kass, Margo Lukens, Robson Machado, Molly MacLean, Grant Miles, William Nichols, Christopher Nightingale, Laura Rickard, Michael Scott, Howard Segal, Andrew Thomas, David Townsend, Phil Trostel, Clayton Wheeler, Tora Johnson UMM, President Joan Ferrini-Mundy, VP Research Kody Varahramyan, Claire Strickland CBO, Robert Dana, Ken Ralph, Jen Bonnet (PEAC), Jennifer Chiarell (CEAC), Jaqulin Wallace (Grad Stud Gov) Harrison Ransley (Undergrad Rep)<\/p>\n

Absent: <\/strong>Emmanuel Boss, Stephanie Burnett, Julie DellaMattera, Phil Dunn, Scott Dunning, Nuri Emanetoglu, Nancy Hall, Valerie Herbert, Margaret Killinger, Anil Raj Kizha, Colt Knight, Peter Koons, Robert Meulenberg, Patti Miles, Renae Moran, Nigel Pitt, Deborah Rogers, Deborah Saber, John Singer, Kathryn Slott, Sean Smith, Mona Therrien, Stephanie Welcomer, Mark Wells, Xudong Zheng, Provost Jeff Hecker,<\/p>\n

The meeting was called to order at 3:15 pm<\/p>\n

I.\u00a0 Welcome, Announcements and Comments
\n<\/strong>A reception will immediately follow the Faculty Senate meeting today. It was announced that this is Dick Bruchers last senate meeting of his career. There will be a Faculty Forum on May 14, 3 pm for an update on the First Year Student Success Initiative. Also, in the process of updating committees of the administration, will be looking for names to fill vacant positions. Dr. Dana stated Maine Day had over 2,000 student volunteers totaling 6,000 +\/- service hours. Claire Strickland stated paving is starting on campus. Ken Ralph, Athletic Director, said it\u2019s possible the baseball series with Hartford will be in Orono.<\/p>\n

II.\u00a0 Approval of Minutes
\n<\/strong>March 13, 2019
\nApril 10, 2019
\nApproved<\/p>\n

III.\u00a0 Committee Reports
\n<\/strong>BOT \u2013 Patti Miles
\n<\/strong>The budget has gone to the BOT for a vote at the May meeting. There has been an increase in revenue and additional faculty hired. It was asked if enrollment projections are good regarding the budget projections, Claire Strickland said she is waiting since students are still being admitted.<\/p>\n

Academic Affairs \u2013 William \u201cDee\u201d Nichols
\n<\/strong>The Committee of the Administration for Infosilem submitted a report to the Provost this week. A date has been set for the Research and Creative Activity Day for next year, Friday, April 17. A subcommittee of Academic Affairs is looking at the Academic Integrity Policy and comparing it to UMaine\u2019s policy and Student Conduct Code. Over the summer the committee will look over the Prior Learning Assessment, need to see what the implications are.<\/p>\n

Gen Ed \u2013 Subcommittee of Academic Affairs \u2013 Sam Hanes
\n<\/strong>The assessment session with be May 17, 8:30 am to 12:00. Email Sam if interested.<\/p>\n

Constitution & Bylaws \u2013 Grant Miles
\n<\/strong>No report but will work over the summer to bring changes in the fall.<\/p>\n

Comment: Dave said he had looked at the Faculty Handbook and there were broken links. He\u2019d like the committee to take a look at the handbook for changes that may need to be made. Also, Dave received communication from the BOT General Counsel regarding Policy 214, the restriction of free speech. The policy is actually a restriction on the University President\u2019s and Chancellor. The BOT passed the policy quickly so it was asked that there be a meeting to discuss the issue, no response. Dave sent another letter regarding free speech and a right to hear what the President thinks. The two memos have been included for the BOT\u2019s upcoming discussions.<\/p>\n

Research & Scholarship \u2013 Deborah Saber & Nuri <\/strong>Emanetoglu
\n<\/strong>The committee met yesterday and has a motion under New Business.<\/p>\n

Finance & Institutional Planning \u2013 Mauricio da Cunha
\n<\/strong>A reminder to everyone, please respond to the survey sent out a few weeks ago so feedback can be relayed back to the Provost for a June deadline.<\/p>\n

University Environment \u2013 Erik Blomberg
\n<\/strong>Erik had a request from the Presidents Office to serve on the Childcare Taskforce Implementation Committee. Action should be taken over the summer.<\/p>\n

Service & Outreach \u2013 Colt Knight
\n<\/strong>No report.<\/p>\n

Committee on Committees \u2013
\n<\/strong>No report but a call to fill committees will be coming soon.<\/p>\n

Program Creation & Reorganization Review \u2013 Clayton Wheeler
\n<\/strong>There\u2019s a motion under New Business<\/p>\n

Library Committee \u2013 Howard Segal
\n<\/strong>Canopy hasn\u2019t been eliminated but it\u2019s costly. It previously cost $4,350, went up to $9,450 and then to $17,400 and is currently set up for curriculum only.<\/p>\n

Information Technology Committee \u2013 Patti Miles
\n<\/strong>MaineStreet upgrades are close to being complete. There may be a short outage when the upgrade takes place in June. Upcoming, the Blackboard change since it is outdated, looking at three systems, Blackboard, Canvas and Desire to Learn. There will be presentations in Augusta, if anyone can go, if not there will be videos available. There are scenarios to watch to compare the three options. Each campus has two votes on the committee.<\/p>\n

Comments: When will the change take place? It\u2019s a one-year transition. UMaine has one voice out of seven campuses yet has the majority of users.<\/p>\n

Also David Townsend asked if anyone had trouble with student evaluations reverting to online SET this year. It appears that because his class had a remote delivery it triggered online SET even though it wasn\u2019t an online course. Jeff St. John stated he will get an answer but assumes it was because it was a remote class it triggered the change to online SET.<\/p>\n

Reports of Faculty Members on Committees of the Administration
\n<\/strong>No report.<\/p>\n

IV.\u00a0 Announcements and Updates from the Administration
\n<\/strong>President Ferrini-Mundy said she\u2019s excited being at the end of her first year and watching the good work everyone does to get to commencement. Some are aware of the plan for Strategic Research and Development for the UMaine System. The BOT will look at it during their next meeting. The Executive Summary is available online. One finding, double MEIF money allowing for priorities of the state and economic development. A student has made a request for discussion on renaming Little Hall. Michigan State dropped the name last year.<\/p>\n

Q.\u00a0 When the report is final by the BOT is it shared with Student Government?
\nA.\u00a0 President Ferrini-Mundy said yes.<\/p>\n

V.\u00a0 Questions of the Administration<\/strong><\/p>\n

Q.\u00a0 I\u2019ve heard there may be interest in mental health services, can you elaborate?
\nA.\u00a0 Dr. Dana stated the American Psychological accreditation has been completed. The Counseling Center has had increased funds but information needs to get out better, campus is doing okay but can do better. Psychology Services on campus is working with an agreement with the Counseling Center to see clients and working with the Mabel Wadsworth Center. There are a lot of pieces in play.<\/p>\n

Q.\u00a0 Is there a way to pull all the information together and have it on a website as a resource?
\nA.\u00a0 Possibly presenting to the senate would be one way.<\/p>\n

Comment: Is there a way for faculty to know resources to refer to? Dr. Dana said they would figure out the best places to have all the information.<\/p>\n

Q.\u00a0 Recently saw a list of classroom upgrades but it was listed as Classrooms of the Future. Is that separate from Paint and Polish or the same thing?
\nA.\u00a0 Dollars unspent from Classrooms of the Future went to Paint and Polish. There are a few major upgrades but minor upgrades as well.<\/p>\n

Q.\u00a0 At the last meeting of the Institutional Planning Committee the Provost said a group from the President\u2019s office was going to put together goals, has that been done?
\nA.\u00a0 Yes, but they\u2019re two different plans. R&D is the whole UMaine System, Strategic Vision and Values is what the Provost is working on. There are also goals and strategies under those.<\/p>\n

Comments: Jeff St. John said the preliminary report goes to the President and then to the BOT Strategic Vision and Values. President Ferrini-Mundy said the first look looks great with a long list of goals. The strategies will look at outcomes. Sample goals and values to become campus projects from suggestions.<\/p>\n

Tora Johnson, UMaine Machias Faculty Assembly, stated she has been charged by Provost Hecker to form a committee of faculty and relevant staff to make a plan for the partnership on the academic side. It seems like a good time to get thoughts of UMaine Machias faculty and feedback from UMaine faculty along with those who may sit on the committee. A lot of effort has gone into academic planning but hasn\u2019t moved forward. UMaine Machias welcomes an \u201coverarching plan\u201d but want to make sure of outcomes, building value for both campuses and managing workload since the partnership. Moving forward with planning, a couple things came up; 1) it\u2019s crucial to determine who from UMaine will be on the committee, someone who sees benefits of the partnership. There are only 30 faculty at UMaine Machias compared to many Orono.<\/p>\n

Q.\u00a0 Can you specify academic partnership and how it has or may be worked out?
\nA.\u00a0 Programs with 2+2 starting at UMaine Machias then transferring to UMaine but the other direction also. The GIS lab has a lot of undergrad teaching and UMaine students take the UMaine Machias classes. Engineering\u2019s 2+2 to take excess freshman that may then transfer to UMaine or some may decide to stay at UMaine Machias.<\/p>\n

Q.\u00a0 You want a focused selection based on outcomes?
\nA.\u00a0 Yes. Provost Hecker would have a better explanation but seems overarching goals and recommendations for academic partnerships and specific programs that should go forward as academic initiatives for both campuses.<\/p>\n

President Ferrini-Mundy said UMaine Machias is a regional campus of UMaine so the first step is to look at administration and operations in place. Academic arrangements between campuses will impact students, UMaine Machias being a small campus, part of the community and research that\u2019s integrated in the community. The question is what\u2019s next, what are the big goals. Finding a few people from Orono that want to partner with UMaine Machias, are there people already excited by Machias and the partnership.<\/p>\n

Q.\u00a0 Is the UMaine Machias Faculty Assembly on May 9 and what time?
\nA.\u00a0 Tora stated she would contact William Nichols soon with the time.<\/p>\n

VI. Old Business<\/strong>
\nMotion from April 2017, the motion asked that the Vice President for Research and upper administration to consider points from a survey and report back on actions they\u2019d consider taking. At that point the then Vice President for Research left and so the committee would like to reintroduce the motion. The VPR said he can address it at least partially and President Ferrini-Mundy said revisiting the motion is very timely.<\/p>\n

VII. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 New Business<\/strong><\/p>\n

PCRRC Motion to Support the Intent to Plan a Master of Science in Data Science and Engineering
\n<\/strong>May 8, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Faculty Senate Program Creation and Reorganization Review Committee has reviewed the Intent to Plan (ITP) a Master of Science degree in Data Science and Engineering by the School of Computing and Information Science. Some of the program goals as stated in the ITP are:<\/p>\n

The objective of the Data Science and Engineering M.S. program is to meet the growing demand for graduates with core skills in managing and analyzing complex data and analytics challenges. The degree will provide a pathway for students from diverse fields to transition to multiple data science career paths by providing them with core graduate level courses across the spectrum of the data lifecycle. In support of the interdisciplinary spirit of data science and engineering, the program is designed to accommodate students from a wide range of undergraduate degrees or other graduate degree backgrounds with options for specialization in different domains.<\/p>\n

A collection of hybrid courses with in-class and on-line options will support students in residence as well as meet the needs of people currently in the workforce or otherwise place bound and needing training or retraining in the area of Data Science and Engineering.<\/p>\n

Students will develop knowledge and technical skills in a subset of at least four of the following five thematic areas depending on their backgrounds and interests:<\/p>\n