BANGOR, Maine — The University of Maine System board of trustees is poised to make some major decisions next week concerning how the state’s universities will offer education in the future.
The two-day regular meeting will be held Sunday and Monday, Nov. 15-16, in the Fireside Lounge at the Randall Student Technology Center at the University of Maine at Augusta.
“Agenda items will include an update on the work our faculty is doing to coordinate academic programs across Maine as well as reports on how advancements like technology-enabled classrooms, including virtual classrooms, and improvements to our online delivery systems can create cross-campus connectivity to support services, faculty, content and classroom collaboration for all of our students.” UMS spokesman Dan Demeritt said Thursday.
These initiatives fall under Chancellor James Page’s One University push, an effort to make the struggling system financially sustainable by reducing redundancy, increasing collaboration among campuses and changing the way education is provided to students.
UMS hopes to offer more classes online, which could be taken by students no matter where they’re enrolled. That requires major improvements to its Information Technology infrastructure.
During a presentation Monday, system IT officials will outline the state of the department and recommend upgrades. Their report suggests investing $24.8 million in wireless technology improvements on the system’s campuses, plus $17.2 million toward outfitting classrooms to make them more accessible for Web-based learning.
Trustees also will hear updates on the Unified Online plan, as well as the status of academic transformation progress.
Some faculty members have expressed concerns about what One University changes could mean for individual campuses and programs, and whether the redesigned models of education will be as effective as what has been in place.
In other business, University of Southern Maine President Glenn Cummings will ask trustees for approval to start an international high school on campus.
USM says this is an effort to boost the campus’ flagging enrollment, which it calls a “crisis,” that could persist for years to come because of the state’s demographic challenges and increasing regional competition to attract limited numbers of college students.
The school would start off with 50 “academically advanced,” English-language-ready students who would come to USM to complete their junior and senior years of high school. During that time, they would take 100- and 200-level college courses to complete their diploma, and gather early college credits.
USM expects the program could cost $1.6 million, which would be offset by the $32,000 per year that each student pays in tuition. The goal is to bring in 50 students, which would allow the program to break even.
Also on Monday, trustees are expected to approve the demolition of Kimball Hall at the University of Maine at Machias.
UMM officials evacuated the building in February after a “facility assessment” called the structural integrity of the brick walls into question. Repairing and renovating the century-old, 28,000-square-foot building could cost up to $8.5 million, according to contractor estimates.
The Finance, Facilities and Technology Committee recently authorized spending up to $950,000 to tear down the building, clean up the site and convert it into green space.
For the full meeting agenda and related materials, visit maine.edu/about-the-system/board-of-trustees/meeting-agendas.
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