PORTLAND — The Faculty Senate of the University of Southern Maine voted today in favor of a restructuring plan which will consolidate eight schools and colleges into five, and eliminate three academic dean’s positions.
The plan is supposed to save USM as much as $750,000 a year, and does not include any reduction in faculty or class offerings.
Now the plan will be submitted to the University of Maine System board of trustees, for consideration at its meeting May 23 and 24. If approved, the USM reorganization plan would go into a “year-long implementation phase,” said Robert Caswell, a university spokesman.
The vote was 25 to 17 in favor. Though the vote was advisory, university officials said it was important to get faculty support for the reorganization.
Jeannine Uzzi, an associate professor of classics and vice chair of the faculty senate, said that even though 17 faculty members voted against the plan, there was no organized opposition to it.
“Academics have lots of strong and different opinions. Some wanted four colleges, some weren’t crazy about where they’d be placed,” said Uzzi. “But there wasn’t any one or two main things people were opposed to.”
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