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PORTLAND — The University of Southern Maine may combine its eight colleges into five and save up to an estimated $1.38 million a year, pending the approval of a draft proposal released earlier this month.
The savings would stem from eliminating three deans and their support staffs, and merging departments with fewer than 16 faculty members to create what the report calls a superstructure.
In a March 3 interview, USM President Selma Botman said the restructuring was “driven by the finances, there’s no question.” But, she added: “You have the chance about once every three generations to remake a university. This is our chance.”
No other system campus has gone through such a restructuring in recent years, according to system spokeswoman Peggy Markson.
USM consists of the University of Maine School of Law; the College of Education and Human Development; College of Nursing and Health Professions; Edward S. Muskie School of Public Service; School of Applied Science, Engineering and Technology; School of Business; and the Lewiston-Auburn College.
The proposal would leave the law school and the Lewiston-Auburn campus unchanged, but would introduce three new colleges: Communications, Culture and the Arts College; Muskie College of Public Service, Management and Society; and Nursing, Health Professions and STEM College. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and math.
Botman said she didn’t think students cared what college they were in as long as they got their desired degree. USM student body president Maggie Guzman and USM Student Senate chairwoman Molly Dolby echoed this sentiment.
USM’s student government held a series of forums to inform students about the restructuring process and allow them to comment. Guzman said turnout was relatively high, but said that students brought more questions than input.
Administration officials attended the forums and the student government presented Botman with a summary of the students’ concerns, but whether the comments were taken into account cannot be determined until the final draft of the plan is unveiled March 19.
“The really important part is going to be the next stage, where the schools reorganize themselves,” Guzman said. She said the most common concerns from students were whether their degrees would still be as prestigious under the new plan as under the current plan, and that faculty aren’t laid off.
A final draft of the plan is expected Friday. It will be submitted to the University of Maine System board of trustees for approval in April.
