Faculty Senate Links

 Home

 About Us

 Membership
 Constitution
 Bylaws
 Committees List

 Meeting Dates

 Minutes
 Subjects Under
 Discussion
 Meeting Agendas
 Motions Passed
 Senate History
 Strategic Plan (PDF)
 
 Mid-semester
 Teaching Evaluation
(DOC)
 

Quicklinks A-Z Directory Athletics Bear Necessities Bookstore Calendar Campus Security Fogler Library Center for the Arts MaineStreet Phone Directory President's Office Privacy Policy Web DSIS

Faculty Senate

Motions Passed

Motions Passed March 2001

A.)  Domestic Partner Employment Facilitation:  J. Kuhns-Hastings brought forward this motion from the University Environment Committee

Preamble: The Faculty Senate recognizes the importance of facilitating dual-career campus community couples. Increasingly, such facilitation is necessary in order for departments and schools to be successful in their recruitment and retention efforts.  We, the Faculty Senate, note that dual career couples will enrich the campus milieu.  While we recognize the Opportunity Hire Program, we also recognize that it is not adequately publicized for the university community.

Because dual-career partnerships typically involve employment needs and/or opportunities across units, university-level policy is required.

Motion:  The Faculty Senate requests that the President of the University of Maine appoint a committee whose membership is comprised of at least half faculty members, to develop and make public a policy relating to the facilitation of employment of dual-career couples in matters of faculty retention and recruitment, and that University resources related to that policy be made equally available to all units on campus.

 B.)  Proposed Amendment to the Constitution

 Section 9.  Evaluation of UMaine administrators.  The Faculty Senate, acting through the Executive Committee chaired by the President of the Faculty Senate, shall conduct faculty evaluations of UMaine administrators, in consultation with the President of the University.

 J. Maddaus made the above motion, pointing out that it requires a 2/3 vote of approval from the Faculty Senate and must then be submitted to the faculty at large, which also requires a 2/3 vote for approval in order for it to be adopted.

 The amendment was approved, with 47 votes in favor, zero against, and two abstentions.

D.)  Definitions of Faculty, Units, Programs of Study 

P. Bauschatz went over wording changes from the draft motion discussed at the elected members meeting.  The motion now reads as follows.

Motion: In order to clarify policies for hiring and evaluating faculty, it is MOVED that the University of Maine adopt the following definitions and procedures: 

1.)  All courses taught at the University of Maine are taught by faculty (or by Teaching Assistants enrolled in advanced degree programs and directly supervised by faculty.)

2.)  All faculty teaching courses, full time or part-time, are appointed according to criteria established in the department, division, or appropriate unit in which the faculty member teaches and in which the courses are taught.

3.) An appropriate unit at the University of Maine is a department, division, school, institute, or college, maintaining for the purpose of evaluation, reappointment, and promotion, regular approved procedures for forming peer committees.  The unit offers an approved program of study leading to an academic degree or, in the case of support programs or institutes, a program of study leading to matriculation in a degree-granting program.

4.) A peer, as here defined, has full-time faculty status (a unit member according to the AFUM contract) and is tenured or is on a tenure track.

5.)  Requests to hire faculty are initiated by the appropriate department, division, or other appropriate unity (as described above) and are approved through regular academic channels, culminating with approval from the Provost.  Members of search committees named by the department, division, or other appropriate unit are faculty members as defined in items 2-4, above.  Additional members of search committees may be non-faculty members, if such members are approved by the peer committee of the unit.

6.)  In some cases, faculty teach courses in more than one program of study and are appointed in more than one department, division, or appropriate unit.  Such appointments are approved by all of the interested units and the subsequent academic channels, culminating with approval from the Provost.  Such faculty are evaluated by a peer committee whose makeup is determined by the standing peer committees of the interested academic units.

7.)  Some faculty have adjunct or cooperating status: that is, they hold non-academic appointments inside or outside the university but have expertise making them qualified to teach.  Such faculty are also appointed and evaluated according to the procedures outlined above.

8.)  When time constrains the implementation of the hiring procedures outlined in 5.), above, emergency appointments may be made administratively (according to Article 7.3 of the AFUM contract).  Such appointments do not normally extend beyond one academic year.  Faculty so appointed are evaluated by procedures adopted by the relevant unit’s peer committee.

9.)  Appointment of faculty with joint research/teaching status are approved by both the Vice President for Research and the Provost.  Such faculty are subject to the procedures outlined in 2.) 5.), above, and they are evaluated by procedures adopted by the relevant unit’s peer committee.

Return to Motions Passed
 

Faculty Senate
The University of Maine
205 East Annex
Orono, ME 04469-5725
Phone: (207) 581-1167
E-mail: ellen.woodhead@umit.maine.edu