USM would absorb the University of Maine at Augusta under a new University of Maine System strategic plan recently submitted for public comment. The plan would also merge the Machias, Presque Isle and Fort Kent campuses to create the University of Northern Maine.
The UMS strategic plan draft was submitted to the public on March 29. Gov. Baldacci originally asked the trustees to delay release of the plan until September to give time for his task force on K-16 education to get their work underway. But officials at the various campuses expressed concern that such a long delay would cause unnecessary anxiety amongst employees, and the Board of Trustees decided to release the draft immediately.
Chancellor Joseph Westphal and the Board of Trustees, who created the plan, predict system-wide savings of $15.5 million per year once the plan has been in effect for five years. Much of the money saved is slated to go toward student financial aid and increased salaries for faculty and professional staff.
According to the strategic plan, the savings would be possible because combining administrations would reduce costs to the system. Services like purchasing, financial aid and admissions would be centralized to avoid duplication.
The new plan is being created in order to leverage resources amid decreasing public funds and growing public expectations, according to USM Media & Community Relations Director Bob Caswell. “In the nearly 35-year history of the system,” Caswell said, “this certainly is the boldest, most significant reorganization that’s been proposed.”
Although he did not participate in creating the plan, USM President Richard Pattenaude gave input during the drafting process over the past few months. He said last week that he was pleased with the result and argued that acquiring UMaine at Augusta would be a great benefit to USM. It would expand the university’s role and reach in the state while making it “the biggest university in Maine,” Pattenaude said.
The plan, while vague in its current draft, does imply the need for USM to compromise on some points. But Its language is so unspecific that it is difficult to say what compromises are intended.
A section of the draft reads, “USM must be much more focused and targeted in its academic program offerings.” Asked about this point, Pattenaude said that the statement merely reflects the efforts already underway through the “Transforming USM” initiative. Vice Chancellor Elsa Nunez confirmed that Pattenaude’s current efforts are consistent with the system plan.
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Joseph Wood said the passage about being more focused and targeted is “part of a rhetorical problem with the plan. There is an assumption that USM is trying to do too many things.” Wood said the University is already scrutinizing its programs to determine how it can best serve the people of southern Maine.
In phone interviews, Wood and Pattenaude were eager to talk about programs that may be expanded based on demand, such as nursing, applied research and master’s degree programs. They were reticent to name any programs that might be scaled back.
Wood said the primary measure of a program’s merit is how relevant it is to the mission of the University and the population it serves, but he would not be more specific. He said that if a degree program has a low number of majors, that does not necessarily mean it is more likely to be cut. Some departments with few majors, like physics and geosciences, serve an essential function in undergraduate education, he said.
How will the Chancellor’s and Board of Trustees’ sweeping new plan affect USM students? With the Augusta campus over an hour’s drive away, the merger seems unlikely to change things for most, at least in the short term. It appears that the majority of the current academic programs and resources will remain centralized on the Portland and Gorham campuses.
“I think [students will feel] very little impact,” Pattenaude said, claiming that the merger will be “mostly invisible” to current USM students.
Pattenaude emphasized that the consolidation plan will not put jobs in jeopardy. “Our plan is to do this with turnover,” he asserted. “This is not about layoffs.”
The trustees are scheduled to vote on a final version of the UMS strategic plan this November. The intervening months will be used to solicit comments from the public. Forums will be held for people to express their views of the draft starting this month, with the USM forum tentatively scheduled for April 27.
Matthew Rodrigue, the student member of the Board of Trustees, will attend a USM Student Senate meeting on April 16 at 2 p.m. to explain the strategic plan. All students are welcome to attend Student Senate meetings, which usually take place at 11 Baxter Blvd. in Portland. Call 228-8501 for information.
To see the University of Maine System strategic plan draft, view www.maine.edu/spp on the Internet computer network.
Brian O’Keefe can be contacted at [email protected]