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The chancellor’s task force, University of Maine President Robert Kennedy’s salary and FirstClass spam – among other items of concern – were discussed by the UMaine Faculty Senate during its April 1 meeting.
Reporting from a recent task force meeting, professor Robert Rice, a member of the task force, said it analyzed the University of Maine System’s past 40 years of funding and will use the data to plan future recommendations.
“There have been no conclusions reached at this point in time, and it tends to be going a little more slowly than I’m used to,” Rice said of the task force’s progress.
The task force will receive recommendations from various experts regarding university systems that have gone through what system is going through now, during its April 9 meeting, Rice said. The task force will use what it learns from these experts to improve its recommendations.
Kennedy, returning from a meeting with Chancellor Richard Pattenaude, said he and many other people on campus were skeptical about the task force’s expected recommendations. He also said a draft document for public comment on the task force’s efforts will be circulated among the campuses some time in May, which will be sent back to the task force for consideration.
Kennedy also said requests for reducing or changing compensation bonuses were addressed during his meeting with the chancellor. He said the only compensation request concerning UMaine – that he was aware of – was about his own compensation.
“I wouldn’t, in my case, call it overly generous. We’re well behind the average for administrative and faculty positions,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy said he is not accepting a raise in fiscal year 2009 and is taking furlough days.
Kennedy also mentioned federal stimulus money. He said, in his opinon, any money received for fiscal year 2010 and 2011 should be distributed directly to campuses, and he said the chancellor agrees. UMaine is expected to receive $6.5 million in stimulus money for fiscal year 2009.
“They’re coming up with a couple of different proposals to distribute that [stimulus] money,” Kennedy said.
A motion to create an Advancement Initiative Council designed to offer equal opportunities for women in engineering and science passed unanimously. The council will fulfill a requirement of a National Science Foundation grant proposal.
A 15-step process for creating new programs passed unanimously. The university originally used a de-facto policy to establish new programs. The new policy establishes an official process, according to James Warhola, chair of the Program Creation Review and Reorganization Committee.
A new policy for deciding incomplete grades was passed unanimously. The new policy will give faculty and students 140 days after the final day of a semester to resolve incomplete grades before they automatically become F’s.
Hoff finished the meeting by confirming the Faculty Senate will meet some time in May, instead of following their usual schedule which ends in April.
Bangor Daily News