FROM: Interim President Joseph S. Wood
September 20, 2007
The following is a summary of the comments, questions, and feedback from the campus town meetings of September 24-25.
PORTLAND TOWN MEETING, September 24 (70-80 attendees)
Comments/questions
1. In terms of spending less: could you give us an example of how to spend less when we are already too lean?
2. Question about the financial status of other campuses in UMS, also about funding formula.
3. Concern expressed about the cost of new programs and buildings, are these sustainable over time? Won’t our e&g budgets have to pick up the cost over time?
4. Suggestion to help retention – front load the cost of tuition and hold it steady over time for continuing students.
5. How can we cut administration when those folks are already working many hours overtime? If undergrad programs are losing students, shouldn’t we reduce there?
6. Every 10 years we seem to have a budget/enrollment crisis. Higher education is notoriously poor at projections, same problem in the 90s. Be careful not to make decisions that will do harm in the long run. These things seem to turn around.
7. Suggestion to involve students in the conversation.
8. Concern expressed over conditions in the classrooms (Bailey, P.S. L.B.) not every place looks like Abromson and that can impede recruitment and retention.
9. Need to do more fund raising for schools, colleges, and deptments, e.g. social work.
10. Plea made for funding marketing, and in particular TV ads.
11. Question/concern raised about how we retain employees in this environment.
12. Uncertainty is stressful for employees, will they have jobs? When will we know? Need for a time line.
Answer: -over the next 10 days we will send out reorganization Ideas
-discuss and plan during fall semester
-begin implementation in January
-whole reorganization could take 2-3 years.
13. Today MCCS is holding press conference to announce 57% increase in students over 5 years. There is competition for those students to transfer and USM has to be a destination of choice. Margie Fahey has a dual role with CCS and USM.
14. Good to finally get budget numbers out -- need to continue to share numbers so USM community will understand.
15. How will this impact the current search for a new President?
GORHAM TOWN MEETING, September 24 40 attendees
Comments/questions:
1. Let dept’s decide what they should or should not be doing. As deptments do their internal work, they will need to share with others so the impact of work reduction, redesign is understood USM wide.
2. Don’t forget to seek out successes and talk about what we have learned from them. Need to hear about an exciting future for USM.
3. Can you estimate the numbers of positions we will need to reduce on the heels of the reduction of 30 employees in 2007?
Answer: may need to reduce by another 60 plus.
4. What criteria would you use to define a successful program? How will programs be judged -- enrollment, revenue, course size?
5. Travel: concern over needing to travel to stay current in professional/field.
6. How do we compare to other institutions in terms of sustainability?
7. Who is going to decide on the mission?
8. As we move forward, what investments are being made to support/help employees?
9. What are the benchmarks for student success?
10. SMART STOP is a good example of a consolidation.
11. Retention: financial aid is a piece of retention – financial concerns can stop students from succeeding.
LAC TOWN MEETING, September 25 (25 attendees)
Comments/questions:
1. Are we considering an early retirement program? COLT proposed one during just completed negotiations.
2. Retention suggestion: set up a small groups of faculty/staff to talk to students on a walk-in basis.
3. Question about fund raising, can we get a bigger return on the dollar?
4. Curriculum management: is there some way to find out if faculty would be willing to teach a 4+4 load and be relieved of scholarship?
Answer: you can do this now by negotiating with your dean.
5. Given the suggestion in the digest that LAC be spun off, should they be worried about LAC’s future?
6. Discussion of data in reference to a comment about LAC’s personnel costs at 87% of the budget, that percentage may be high but need to get other data and put it into a broader context. Can LAC get data/comparative information (Delaware Study)?
7. Central processing center delays: will that be a problem next year as well?
8. USM faculty should interact more with MCCS faculty to better ensure that their curriculum prepares their graduates to succeed at USM. Keep developing articulation agreements, increase interaction with MCCS, (Mark Lapping is visiting all MCCS campuses beginning soon).
9. Retention/community building idea: spend more time with students, go to cafeteria and eat with/talk to students and colleagues.
10. Don’t think we can do more with less; separate the essential work from the nonessential “stupid” work. ID 25% of the work that doesn’t need to be done.
11. LAC faculty have offered to teach at Portland and Gorham with no response. Common Market idea, encourage faculty to teach at other locations.
12. After reading the comments about the heat in Gorham in the summer, offer summer courses at LAC -- we’re air conditioned.
13. Move from the “I” perspective to the “we” perspective.
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