Over the course of three sessions last Thursday and Friday, groups of over 200 faculty, staff, administrators and students brainstormed ways for USM to innovate to offset yearly budgetary gaps and declining enrollment.
Fewer than 30 students came to each session. “I would have liked to see more quite frankly,” said Jerry Lasala, chair of the physics department and faculty senate.
Jay Vogt with Peoplesworth, a Boston-based consulting firm, oversaw the three sessions. Vogt specializes in facilitating large groups using “Open Spaces Technology,” a technique where participants collectively create the agenda and output of the meeting. On the first day, participants sat in a circle of chairs surrounding Vogt as he filled in attendees on how the convocation would unfold. He said this technique works because it’s not a top-down process; everyone can share and be involved. “It works because we get out of the way and let people work,” he said.
Vogt began each session by inviting attendees to to propose topics to the group.
The crowd split up into small groups to brainstorm around those topics and posted summary sheets on the gym walls. After switching groups several times, convocation attendees came back together at the end of each session to review what ideas had been generated.
Many participants in the first two sessions complained that the process was too broad and lacked specific restructuring plans. One faculty member declined to say what they really thought about the convocations, in fear their program would be targeted for elimination. “This feels kinda amorphous, like Jell-O,” said another faculty member who also asked to remain anonymous.
Despite concerns about the broad scope of the convocations, many who attended said the third session was more productive because larger themes were narrowed down to specific proposals and ideas.
“This format is really great. I used to be in student government so I have a lot invested in the university,” said senior geoscience major Eric Favreau. “It allowed for self selection for what people wanted to talk about.”
“I’m here because I want my degree to matter after I’m gone and I see the health of USM as part of my professional health,” said William Walker, graduate student and president of the Muskie Student Organization.
“These conversations are very valuable,” said Student Body President Maggie Guzman. “What was really unique about this process is that faculty, staff, students, and admin are talking about USM, and even if those things aren’t necessarily utilized in final plan they still are very valuable and we as a community and university should have these conversations on a regular basis.” She said the student senate will be formulating a proposal before the Design Team publishes a draft report for public comment on Feb. 26. After the draft is published the senate will host forums for students to offer additional ideas for restructuring.
Some of the more popular topics were finance and budgets, and introducing a customer service model to USM. At the end of the third session participants ranked the topics by priority for the consideration of the Design Team, a task force appointed by President Botman to draft the university’s restructuring plan.
“The Design Team is not a committee or representative body but the product of this working group will be very public and visible and everyone will be able to comment,” said USM Provost Kate Forhan. Incorporating comments into their draft is part of the Design Team’s job, along with incorporating proposals from departments and individual members of the USM community, she said. Forhan said that Botman tasked the Design Team with forming a plan with three simple goals in mind: put students first, make sense academically, and save the school money.
Throughout the convocation participants posted their groups’ ideas to a Blackboard site where the entire USM community can view what was discussed and add their input.
Vogt brought the participants back to the circle at the end to read several of the innovations people came up with and ask for their reactions to the process. “I asked you to speak from the heart. We’ve gone deep today,” said Vogt.
Vice President for Student and University Life Craig Hutchinson attended all three events and said he was pleased with the turnout and ideas generated. “Those of us who have worked here for years thought we had a customer service model and it turns out not so much,” said Hutchinson.
Over 100 different topics came out of the convocations ranging from energy efficiency and sustainability to new doctoral programs and cutting unnecessary administrative positions. A proposal for a new campus center from staff member Helen Gorgas-Goulding was met with applause. During group discussions, an idea to build a pub in the campus center was also broached.
Jim Shaffer, USM’s Chief Operating Officer and Chairman of the Design Team lamented that USM revenue management has historically been separated from cost management and this leads to over-spending. Shaffer sees the Design Team’s goal as cutting down USM’s “administrative superstructure” with an eye to reducing the number of deans not in changing things at the faculty or department level at this point.
“The underlying problem is that we’ve grown from the Portland and Gorham Teacher’s College to a regional comprehensive university without any increase in our state appropriation,” said Shaffer. “Maine’s needs are different from 30 years ago but [USM’s] allocations have not changed and that reflects a major missed opportunity.”