Faculty Senate

This article covers the second open Faculty Senate meeting of the year, October 21st, at the University of Maine at Orono.

Faculty Senate prepares for swine flu
By Sara Breau
Posted on Thursday, October 22nd, 2009, 3:38 am

The University of Maine Faculty Senate met Oct. 21 to discuss the availability of H1N1 virus vaccines, university policy on doctors’ notes and absences and an idea to introduce a new online portal to the UMaine online system.
Faculty members also discussed University of Maine System Chancellor Richard Pattenaude’s visit to campus, scheduled for Oct. 28. Students and faculty members are encouraged to attend the open forum as Pattenaude, along with other members of the system board of trustees, discuss their plans for the future of the university.
“There are major changes facing us at this university,” said Senate President Judy Kuhns-Hastings. “Come prepared with questions.”
Sen. Stuart Marrs offered to clarify the confusion regarding the university’s policy on student absences and the requirement of doctors’ notes.
“Regarding faculty inquiries, the associate provost’s office concurs with the CDC [Center for Disease Control] recommending that doctor’s notes not be required due to H1N1,” Marrs said. Despite this recommendation, professors are given the final decision on documentation for absences.
“What we’re suggesting is that we not burden the doctors with writing notes if there is an H1N1 outbreak, but we are not at that point now,” Marrs said.
Sen. Kathryn Slott asked if there was a set date for when the H1N1 vaccine will be available for students.
“Nov. 9 and 10, presuming the vaccine gets here. Students can even start signing up for it now,” said Vice President of Student Affairs Robert Dana. Faculty members can go to Cutler Health Center the following week to receive the vaccine.
The university is also considering the implementation of a new online portal that would allow users access to multiple resources at once, while providing more user-friendly service than PeopleSoft.
“The portal is a Web-based tool that would have one specified for students, one specified for faculty,” said John Gregory, executive director of UMaine’s Information Technologies department. “It would bring all the resources that you need together, that’s one component of what a portal would do. It would make PeopleSoft easier to use and more accessible, and would also allow for single sign-ons where you can click a button and go there, you don’t need to log in each time. It would be a convenience. Most universities have some sort of portal, so we’re behind in that regard.”
Sen. Roy Turner asked about the cost of the portal and how this would effect the university’s budget and raised concerns regarding security measures.
“How it would be funded has not been discussed yet. My understanding is the decision [to adopt the portal] will be made before the end of the fall semester,” Gregory said. “Most universities use some sort of security device that monitors the network. There haven’t been a great deal of problems with security, but it is a valid concern.”
The expense of implementing the portal also caused concerns among faculty members.
“I guess the basic question is why are we looking to spend more money when we’re going to have less of it to spend with all the budget cuts we are having?” asked Slott.
Vice President for Administration and Finance Janet Waldron offered another perspective.
“The origin from the system’s perspective is that people are going to remember the problems with PeopleSoft and how user unfriendly it was. Priorities and expenditure needs have changed, and that may be more the context for the discussion around the portal,” Waldron said.
The senate discussed concerns of duplication throughout the UMaine campus and other system members. Questions have been raised about whether there are duplicate programs and courses being offered at different UMS campuses, which is something the universities have made efforts to avoid.
“In the task-force report, the charge that there is too much duplication across the University of Maine System is incredibly vague,” said Sen. James Warhola.
“The reality is no one is envisioning us doing anything differently,” said Provost Susan Hunter.
Toward the end of the meeting, the senate briefly addressed declining enrollment.
“I met with the other university land-grant presidents, and they are facing the same issues. Many other universities are in the same boat; it’s across all institutions, public and private. Given the decline of student enrollment this fall, we’re very focused on that and trying to help that,” said UMaine President Robert Kennedy. “We need to remember the importance of this institution to the state. We’re looking ahead and trying to decide the focus, the strengths of the institution and the mission. This is very much a point of discussion, and I think we’re forced into having these discussions right now because there is no alternative.”

http://mainecampus.com/2009/10/22/faculty-senate-prepares-for-swine-flu/?ref=hp