The committee in charge of redesigning the academic structure of USM released on Monday the first draft of a plan, which calls for a reduction in the number of colleges and schools from eight to five, eliminating three deans’ positions and eight department heads in the process.
The proposal recommends restructuring USM into five distinct colleges: Nursing, Health Professions, and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math College; Communication Culture and the Arts College; The Muskie College of Public Service, Management and Society; The University of Maine School of Law; and Lewiston-Auburn College.
The committee who wrote the draft consists of eight administrators and faculty members.
According to Jim Shaffer, chief operating officer and chair of the committee, each dean position currently costs USM $250,000 a year. By eliminating three deans along with stipends for department heads, USM can save over $1 million without firing faculty.
The proposal aims to trim another million dollars from other non-academic areas for a total estimated savings of $2.3 million a year.
The plan is open to feedback until March 15. President Selma Botman will approve the final draft on March 19 before presenting it to the Board of Trustees on April 24.
Botman and members of the committee presented the plan to a meeting of the Muskie School faculty, staff and students immediately after its noon release today. "We anticipate that with fewer colleges but more support in those colleges this will actually be more student friendly," said Shaffer. Muskie School faculty in Augusta participated in the meeting live with a video up-link.
Several Muskie School faculty members expressed support for the new plan at the meeting and excitement about the opportunities for more contact with undergraduate students and "three-two" degrees where students leave USM with a master’s degree after five years of study. "It’s very seldom that the work of a committee is this articulate and straight forward. It affirms the integrity of the Muskie School and offers very exciting interdisciplinary opportunities," said Muskie professor Richard Barringer.
Provost Kate Forham said that the Open Space Technology method for collecting community input via the recent convocations helped the design team determine priorities for the restructuring proposal. No budgetary items were mentioned in the beginning of the meeting until later when concerns were raised on that issue.
Law professor Orlando Delogu cast doubt on the use of the convocations to justify the plan. "I think these touchy-feely justifications for doing this will not carry the day with our colleagues, with the Board of Trustees and with the Maine State Legislature. I suggest that someone put together a hard headed economic justification for doing this," said Delogu.
Despite estimated savings of $2.3 million annually through restructuring, USM still faces a budget shortfall of $2.3 million in 2011 that is expected to increase to $3.4 million in 2014. The shortfall is due in part to projections that Maine State appropriation for USM will decline from $41.1 million in 2011 to $39.9 million in 2014.
Comments on the plan can be sent to [email protected].