University of Southern Maine Faculty Senate 

meeting of September 8, 2006 (2 - 4 p.m., 1 Payson)

 

MINUTES

 

Present:

 

Officers: D. Lynn (chair), T. Parchman (vice-chair), N. Bouzrara (secretary);

 

 Ex officio: D. Malhotra, R. Pattenaude, M. Rodgers, J. Wood

 

Voting members : H. Amoroso, Jr., N. Artz, G. Caffentzis, L. Cole, E. Eagan, B. Edmands, L. Elliott, C. Hammer, V. Hart,  J. Irish, M. Vazquez Jacobus, P. Johnson, R. Kuesch,  D. Lambert,  L. Miller, E. Raimon, C. Suscavage, D. Thompson, L. Turesky, T. Wagner, S. Waldrep, A. Whitmore, E. Wiley

 

Non-voting members & guests: A. Bossie (Jeremy Collette attending), S. Campbell, A. Clarey, G. Johnson, S. Kimball, M. LaRocque, D. Nutty

 

Absent:

 

Ex officio: B. Foster, P. Pitegoff, B. Shaffer, Z. VanZandt, B.L. Whitford,  J. Wright

 

Voting members : J. Andonian, K. Ashley, J. Brunette,  R. Chen, B. Clary, E. Collom, D. Gilbert, M. Hamilton, C. Ostis, W. Phillips, S. Pollock, R. Swartz, V. Tarbell, J. Uzzi, T. Ward

 

Non-voting members: H. Fred Walker

 

Summary:

 

 

Present

Absent

Voting members

23 (61%)

15 (39%)

Ex officio

4 (40%)

6 (60%)

Non-voting/ guests

7

1

 

 

 

 

2:03                 1.  Call to order by Chair Dahlia Lynn.

 

2:03                 2.  Introductions (3 minutes)

 

2:06                 3.  Approval of minutes of 5/5/06

            Notes approved unanimously via voce.

 

2:07                 4.  Reports

            a. Provost Joseph Wood (2 minutes)

            No report in the interest of time.

 

            b. Chair Dahlia Lynn (3 minutes)

Chair Lynn thanked the faculty for agreeing to serve on the Faculty Senate and encouraged the faculty to become active on standing and ad hoc committees.  She announced that written reports will be submitted, starting in October.  The number agenda items will be reduced. Three town meetings will be scheduled to allow discuss on various issues. 

 

            c. Board of Trustees Representative Fred H. Walker

            No report, but one will be posted on the Senate web page.

 

            d.  Jeremy Collette reporting for Student Body Representative Andrew Bossie (1 minute)

            The student organization has been meeting throughout the summer and will inform the Senate of their activities later.

 

            e. Classified Staff Representative

                        No report.

 

            f. Professional Staff Representative

                        No report.

           

            g. Part-time  Staff Representative

                        No report.

 

2:13                 5.  New Business

           

a. President Richard Pattenaude   (66 minutes)

 

-         thanked the faculty and students serving on their Senates

 

-         commented on:

 

-the opening breakfast and open meetings

 

-USM’s mission and the need to organize work into meaningful clusters (health, economy, human capital, education)

 

-the power of education to transform & improve people’s lives & the community

                                   

                                          -US News & World Report’s placement and rankings

                                   

-McTaggert, who has 5 years of experience in the Chancellor’s Office is back, being very helpful

                             

-soft enrollment (-2 % in FTEs, creating a 2 million $ hole, 1 million $ in the E & G budget)

      -first-year students, transfers  + 2 %

      -down 200 graduate students

      -slower transfer rate from community colleges than expected

 

-retention has not changed in 3 years.. the need to assure that the blip does not become a trend.

 

-1250 E & G FTE employees for 10,600 students

 

-project in 2008 to have 11,000 students, -50 employees in 2 years

 

-goals:                    (1) support from the Legislature

                              (2) strengthening enrollment

 

      -control costs (need to be rigorous about financial costs)

      -restore enrollments

 

      SEVEN KEY ITEMS

 

1.      doing things, strengthening our undergraduate and graduate admissions

2.      marketing campaign (louder & prouder)

working with a marketing campaign

3.      retention.. gathering more data

budgets linked to enrollments

4.      distance education (CETL) (Machias with 34 employees delivers more distance education than USM) .. market to US, not just to Maine.. , grant $

5.      capital campaign –University Commons, Gorham building projects, Portland Pipe will be out in November

6.      create new majors, minors, concentrations (available course with repackaging, declining enrollments linked to everything financial)

7.      3 month hiring freeze in place, with a few exceptions (time to assess the situation .. books not closed at USM .. harvest $ for debt, plan whom to hire, considering, revenue, safety, compliance, legal issues, 82% of budget is people related)

 

                                    Questions to President Pattenaude included:

 

Senator Artz raised a question on how the loss of 50 positions plays out in terms of faculty and staff, to which President Pattenaude responded that he would be “delicate with faculty positions because that’s our core business.”  He added that the process would be transparent and that USM suffered from undue overhead because of the 3 campuses. (as does Illinois State and Kent State)  He commented that we have spent too much energy trying in a structural way to emulate Orono. We are looking into what we do and what is appropriate for our institute type.

 

Senator Cole raised the question of retention, stating that students are underprepared or can do the work but only want to stay at USM for 2 years and transfer.  Comments were made about our low scores on NESI about student and faculty engagement and community life.  Senator Amoroso pointed out the need to ask the right questions and to devote time to the wealth of complementary narratives to be collected.  He pointed out that the USM web page does not communicate well who we are and that summer in Maine could be exploited with better success.  Susan Campbell addressed the question of persistence to graduation as did Senator Miller who explained the role of student momentum to graduation.

 

President Pattenaude then read to the Faculty Senate the press release concerning the closing of the current art exhibit. He explained his view of the events surrounding the exhibit. A discussion ensued, with President Pattenaude affirming his decision to close the exhibit, stating that “at the end of the day, my overall responsibility is to look out for the good of the institution.”

 

3:19     Old Business

 

a.       Robert Hansen, Extended Academic Programs (27 minutes)

He gave an overview and update on  the Division of University Outreach.  (See distributed documents: Strategic Plan 2006-2010, document dated June 20, 2006 and Faculty Grants Pilot Program.) Questions raised included those about the opportunity for people already having done classes on-line, the absence of quality control, faculty capacity issues.

 

            3:48     Senator Cole made a motion, seconded by Senator Miller to add an item to the agenda.  Senator Raimon read the motion:

           

                        The Faculty Senate at the University of Southern Maine expresses support for our colleague Carolyn Eyler, Director of the USM Art Gallery, in her efforts to promote civil conversation about an emotionally and politically charged topic. We applaud her efforts to bring exhibits to campus that demonstrate the relevance of art to local, national, and global issues.

 

                        The motion passed unanimously, via voce.

 

            3:52     Meeting adjourned.

           

Respectfully submitted,

 

Nancy Erickson Bouzrara,

Recording Secretary, Faculty Senate