For the past two years, USM – the second largest college in the University of Maine System, and the premier school in Maine’s largest city – has been embroiled in a series of budget crises, beginning with the discovery of a massive deficit in 2007 when Richard Pattenaude was president. Since then, Maine’s ability to pay for public education dropped, along with USM’s enrollment.
After a year of reacting to budget cuts from the state legislature, USM’s administration is now looking within to stave off future deficits by reorganizing the system of colleges at USM. The school faces a $3 million budget gap in 2011. The reorganizing effort began with a series of “convocations,” or group meetings, with USM students, faculty and staff earlier this semester. The meetings were a way to gauge the community’s feelings about USM’s future and to solicit ideas for restructuring.
The notes from these meetings will guide a committee of faculty and administrators, known as the Reorganization Design Team, who are set to release a report Monday at noon recommending changes to the structure of the university.
Jeannine Uzzi, chair of the classics department, and one of three faculty on the committee, said they met over the last two weeks to draft the plan. She declined to comment on specific proposals mentioned in the meetings because the information was not yet public. The Design Team was set to release the first draft on Friday, but widespread power outages delayed the reports release until Monday at noon.
“It was very open and honest,” Uzzi said of the meetings.
Uzzi said the committee will not recommend retrenchments – the elimination of entire programs – but are instead focusing on the overall structure of the school.
“Retrenchments will happen, it just won’t happen from this committee,” she said. Provost Kate Forhan and President Selma Botman will be responsible for deciding what departments or programs will be cut.
But some are reluctant to accept change.
“All the deans have been advocating to keep their colleges pretty much the way they are,” Uzzi said. “It’s really not in anyone’s best interest from a deans perspective to see things change.”
Forhan said that while the restructuring will outline major changes, USM’s core mission as a “regional comprehensive university” should remain intact, she said.
“I’m hoping it will be more fiscally sustainable and be better integrated and [provide] more opportunities for internships and experiential learning,” she said on Sunday.
“What I really want to be able to do is invest in hiring new faculty and new programs that are important for the region,” she added.
But before that can happen, USM will most likely pare back the number of course offerings, and lay off faculty to save money. The university has already identified German Studies – a self-designed major that has graduated only one student in the past three years – as a program likely to be eliminated. Others are likely to follow, though the university has not announced which would be cut. That call is up to Forhan and President Selma Botman.
Forhan pointed to the need to provide classes that can serve the diverse Portland community. The region needs graduates who can speak foreign languages and “transfer science and technology apply into reality,” she said.
“The world’s changing faster than any of us can keep a hold of,” Forhan said. USM should reflect that change, she added.
Forhan and Uzzi both said they were excited about the first draft of the plan.
“We actually had a really good idea just imaging how USM would look in the future,” said Uzzi
“Let’s get the champagne out. This is going to be really exciting,” Forhan said.