The State of the
University of Maine
Page 2
The issue I lay before you today is this: How are we going to sustain our progress and fulfill our promise as Maine's most essential, relevant, and valuable educational resource?
Those of you who were part of the UMaine community last academic year will recall the series of campus discussions we held on developing a strategic plan for the university. The effort was led by our interim provost at the time, Don Zillman. The discussions continued in greater detail during the spring and summer, involving the college deans as well as other campus administrators.
Provost Kennedy has taken over the lead role of overseeing the strategic planning process and implementation. The plan as it is developing reflects our mission, our historical role as the university System's premier university, our recent successes, and our ongoing challenges.
Let me share with you the essence of our vision of the University —nine primary assumptions on which the strategic planning is based:
That's the essence of the vision I shared with the vice presidents, deans and other administrators over the summer. It has been modified here and there to reflect their collective involvement. It is covered more extensively in the document that Provost Kennedy and others will be issuing in October.
The challenge to the Provost, Vice Presidents, deans, and others across campus is this: Through what strategies can we turn this vision into reality?
I've got some thoughts on this to offer.
The first order of business is to make sure we maintain strength in those signature academic programs that have always made the University of Maine the state's pre-eminent university. Examples are many: engineering; forestry, agriculture, and other physical and biological sciences; graduate education; our library; and liberal learning in a residential-education setting. To ensure their strength, and the strength of other key programs essential to maintaining overall quality at UMaine, we will need to scrutinize our academic program array to determine or ensure that what we are offering is satisfying student interests and the needs of society.
We will undoubtedly find that some programs need enhancement or establishment. There are many likely candidates for such attention: international business, in connection with our Cohen Center; New Media Studies; environmental science and policy; government and public policy; health sciences and health engineering, informatics, the biosciences; and others. We also need to work especially hard and diligently to graduate more students in high-need areas such as mathematics and science education and information technology. All of the above are areas where we should expect student and public demand in the new century. Our administration and faculty need to determine the best ways to deliver what Maine's citizenry and society need and want from their state university.
One such area where the imperative for greater involvement clearly exists is in K-12 education. It needs to be a university-wide responsibility to make sure Maine's schools and their personnel are prepped and primed to make Maine the nation's leader in student achievement and performance.
Academically, we must strengthen our commitment to providing a highly relevant, first-class undergraduate educational experience. This requires academic programs and co-curricular opportunities that maintain UMaine's preeminence among Maine's public institutions and furthermore, one which rivals the state's outstanding private colleges in rigor and quality. Our general education requirements must continue to stress the value of liberal learning, no matter what disciplines a student is majoring in. With more than 2600 students majoring in its programs, and by serving every undergraduate on campus, our College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is the largest liberal arts college in the state. It serves more students each year than Bates, Bowdoin, and Colby combined, with a faculty and programs every bit as strong as those outstanding private schools. That's why UMaine, Bates, Bowdoin, and Colby are the only schools in Maine to be granted Phi Beta Kappa chapters. Not only should we maintain a strong liberal arts foundation as a strategy for excellence, we should brag about it.
One way to underscore the rigor and quality of our undergraduate offerings would be to create an Honors College, building on our existing Honors Program. Our honors college would offer UMaine students the best of both stellar academic worlds—the focus, intimacy, and challenges of the best liberal arts schools, as well as the breadth of academic diversity, co-curricular and extra-curricular activities, and exposure to graduate-level education and populations that are part of a land-grant university experience. As we have discussed it, the Honors College would not draw students away from one of the five existing colleges; instead, they would hold “dual citizenship” in the college of their discipline and in the Honors College.
The Honors College will be more than an academic option. Our belief is that its existence and its approach to scholarship will set a higher standard for achievement and aspirations across the entire University. We envision it as becoming a signature element of the University of Maine — a prestigious point of reference when people think and talk about our strengths and reputation.
And if we're going to offer a first-class undergraduate experience, we have to aggressively pursue the best students in Maine and elsewhere to take advantage of it. We have to offer incentives such as internships, more attractive financial aid packages, and undergraduate research opportunities that they are unlikely to experience elsewhere. These strategies must be undertaken with both in-state and out-of-state prospective students.
And furthermore, something clearly important to strengthening the university's ability to deliver a first-class undergraduate education: We must make greater progress in achieving the goals of our Diversity Action Plan. A world-class education is not possible if the learning community is essentially monochromatic and homogeneous. Frankly, we simply have to be even more aggressive and innovative in recruiting students, faculty, and staff who can provide our community with broader perspectives and life experiences.
Staying with this discussion of academic quality and strategies, we must also strengthen our graduate education offerings and enrollment. It's realistic to think that we could achieve a graduate enrollment of 2500 students within three to five years. That's roughly a 20 percent increase. A couple of things have to happen to make that goal reachable: we need additional funds to make graduate stipends more competitive; and we will have to make the recruitment of top-notch graduate students a marketing and institutional priority.
Along with the areas of emphasis I've covered so far, we need to continue our cultivation of our research enterprise. I cannot think of any other development in recent years that has done more than the growth in R&D funding and activity to reposition this university — and redefine UMaine as something other than “UMO.” Because of this emphasis, much attention has been paid to science and engineering. But along with that, increased attention and respect toward other forms of faculty and student scholarship at UMaine has been noted as well. I don't mean to embarrass anyone, but I can't imagine we could have found ourselves in this position if it hadn't been for the statewide awareness and advocacy campaign Professors George Jacobson, Steve Norton, George Markowsky, Mac Hunter and David Smith championed four years ago; their efforts resulted in getting university-based research on the public policy agenda. They deserve our thanks, and the thanks of the entire state.
The quality of our research infrastructure is critical to our strategies in this area. I mentioned earlier that renovation and limited new construction is taking place on campus this year; some of that pertains to our research mission. One project I have not yet mentioned is a new complex we're calling the Engineering and Science Research and Education Center, or ESREC for short. It's a big project — perhaps costing more than $40 million. The Center is intended to create additional teaching, laboratory, and study space by renovating and expanding Aubert, Barrows, Boardman, and Bennett Halls, as well as two smaller buildings, Crosby Lab and the Machine Tool Lab. This project will be conducted in phases and will be funded by a combination of state and System R&D funds already earmarked for UMaine, as well as by private donations. This engineering and science center will play a significant role in the quality and growth of our research enterprise. It will also serve as a real attraction in the University's efforts to recruit outstanding professors as well as top graduate and undergraduate students.
With the help of federal funds and state matching grants, I believe the University can achieve a level of $100 million in sponsored research before the end of this decade. Some of that growth should result from successful efforts to engage the university more in the wide number of bioscience and biotechnology areas as well as other health-related areas. Along with the funding, the result of this activity should be significant increases in patent and copyright activity as well as regular and frequent spinning-off of new business ventures based on UMaine-held intellectual property rights.
The pursuit of research funds is not driven by dollars; it's driven by our land-grant mission and on the advantages university-based research provides to our educational offerings. Such funding creates opportunities for spin-off and incubator companies like Sensor Research and Development here in Orono, and Applied Thermal Sciences of Sanford, which was recently awarded a $15 million Department of Defense contract to make guidance systems for missiles.
The kind of research growth we have in mind goes beyond the needs and interests of the government and producers and consumers of goods. We seek to increase our involvement in biomedicine and other human health-related research. That's one research area in which we've had relatively little involvement. However, we have been working with The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor to assist its scientists with genetic research . Our Department of Spatial Information Science & Engineering has been collaborating with The Jackson Lab on that project. Currently we are developing an articulation agreement with Jackson Lab that would draw us closer together, and provide a variety of educational opportunities for their personnel and our faculty and students in ways that would be mutually beneficial. Dr. Barbara Knowles, the Director of Research for The Jackson Laboratory, is here with us today, and has been on campus all day for discussions on this topic. Dr. Knowles, thank you for sitting in with us this afternoon, and for taking such a strong interest in working with us.
Research activity is fundamental to our responsibility to create and disseminate knowledge. So is the role of our outreach and public service efforts. I feel very strongly about the importance of shifting from a philosophy of delivering services to members of the public to engagement with all segments of the public. As some of you know, I served on the Kellogg Commission on the Future of State and Land-grant Universities. One of our six reports, called "The Engaged University," was issued last year. In that publication, our commission uses the term "engagement" to describe universities that have redesigned their teaching, research and extension service functions. The result is a land-grant university that is even more sympathetically and productively involved with its many constituencies.
Well, you say, what does THAT mean?
For our students, it means more emphasis on cooperative education opportunities through internships and various kinds of off-campus learning experiences.
It means enriching the student's experiences by bringing scholarship and service even more directly into the curriculum.
It means extending our interest beyond the state borders, becoming more national and global through expansion of academic, economic, and cultural connections and opportunities.
And it means that the university treats its outreach work as a more integral part of its land-grant responsibilities, not as a function to be accommodated when time and resources allow.
A focus on engagement, as defined here, is critical to the fulfillment of our 21st-century land-grant mission. By doing this, our university will be THE place to which citizens and policy makers turn—without hesitation—when they need help solving problems, understanding complexities, and achieving their personal and career objectives.
In numerous ways, our engagement responsibilities OFF-campus are dependent on the quality of what we have to offer ON-campus. Along with the projects I mentioned earlier, we have a capital construction and renovation plan in place that attempts to continue the progress toward better facilities and resources. One of our top priorities is a new visual arts building. It's long overdue. As you may know, our art department is spread out all over campus, making its work very difficult. We estimate that it will take at least $5 million to create a new home for it. To fund the project, we are looking for state and private support.
We also need to build a major addition to Fogler Library. It needs to handle both the increased demand for space as well as the burdens and possibilities that accompany rapid changes and advancement in library tools and resources.
Renovations and improvements to the Maine Center for the Arts are on our list of facility needs; so is the addition of a new recreation and fitness center. Though far different in function, both facilities are essential to the type of climate and culture we need to maintain on campus to satisfy the expectations of our students and our various constituencies.
I'm sure everyone listening today has, at some point in my presentation, thought, How can we afford to make this happen? Part of the answer is, a lot depends on the adequacy and stability of the university's financial base. It relies heavily on increased fundraising from individual donors, foundations, and other private entities. It's a given that we will need a capital campaign in the very near future, one in excess of $100 million. Our ability to realize this vision also depends on maintaining the momentum and conditions that have existed for the past three years — strong and influential supporters within the State House; continued growth in public support for the university as measured in opinion polls and voter response to bond proposals; and continued development of our research enterprise, which provides public- and private-sector partners whose financial support enables our students and faculty to perform both the “R” and the “D.”
When I began my remarks today, I told you about the importance of eradicating thoughts of, and references to, UMO. I hope this afternoon I've given you a clear understanding of why the name issue matters. The university I've attempted to describe for you is not — COULD not — fit the mission, resources, and purposes of the university of the 1970s and 80's. But today is different. We have the talent on campus, and general encouragement from the Chancellor's office, the State House, and the public.
I want this academic year to be seen as a time when the public and our own community come to recognize the full purpose and restoration of this university as a progressive, essential, and valuable resource and catalyst.
Ours is a university that has more potential than any other educational institution in Maine. Yes, we will offer a world-class education. But we will not stop there. Through research and engagement, we will work continuously to help create the kind of state where citizens of all ages can find satisfying and rewarding career opportunities and an attractive quality of life.
As I stated at the employee breakfast last week, we have the ability to influence our destiny right here within our campus community — through teamwork on campus, and advocacy off campus. So long as we stay focused on our responsibilities, and treat every individual situation, interaction and opportunity as though our handling of them will influence our collective objectives, we can make this academic year the most productive and rewarding ever.
Thank you for your indulgence this afternoon. In this, my fourth September at the University of Maine, I want you all to know how much I appreciate the good nature and the good humor with which you have received me, the sincere and cheerful way you've carried out your duties, and the diligent way you have applied your talent and intellect to educating our students and serving our state. I am truly honored to be your president and I am grateful for your support. I look forward to a bright future at this wonderful university. Thank you very much.