Maine university Chancellor Joe Westphal gives area chamber members a glimpse of the system’s future.

AUBURN – What pleased Marvin Druker the most about Joe Westphal’s talk was the University of Maine chancellor’s emphasis on quality.

Westphal consistently called for quality Thursday morning as he spoke to several hundred Androscoggin Chamber of Commerce members at Lost Valley Ski Area.

He was touting the University of Maine System’s efforts to update its strategic plan. It hasn’t undertaken such an effort since its founding 36 years ago.

Druker, a faculty member at the system’s Lewiston-Auburn College, said he decided to attend Thursday’s breakfast because he wanted to hear what Westphal had to say. He was particularly interested in hearing how the strategic plan might affect L-A College.

“His talk about quality, rather than just restructuring” was music to Druker’s ears, the associate professor said.

What rankled him was possibly an oversight, but one that hit close to home.

“He didn’t mention L-A College,” Druker noted of Westphal’s talk.

He found that odd, since Westphal more than once said that the system’s seven universities need to find ways to consolidate programs, offerings, services and staff to improve quality and reduce costs.

Westphal pointed to the Universities of Maine at Fort Kent, Presque Island and Machias as examples. They need to overcome parochial issues, he said, to better serve students and better their bottom lines in the process.

“L-A College is already doing that,” Druker noted when Westphal had finished talking. The college is an affiliate of the University of Southern Maine, but also offers programs under the auspices of the University of Maine at Augusta.

“We’re a model for what he’s trying to do,” Druker said.

Westphal’s draft strategic plans list eight major points:

• Strive for quality through rigorous academic program planning, strengthened services and realignment.

• Build a systemwide high-quality and well-supported staff.

• Improve and expand the system’s distance education program through new technology and coordination with K-12 educators for use of electronic classrooms.

• Expand and improve the system’s library resources.

• Strengthen and expand university-based research to enhance the state economy.

• Establish performance measures to ensure prudent stewardship and public accountability.

• Centralize systemwide business and administration functions to bolster effectiveness, free up resources and maintain customer service.

• Modify the system’s organization and structure to clearly define niches and interrelationships of institutions, ensure that the system serves the higher education needs of Maine and move it toward greater financial stability and sustainability.

Westphal likened the state’s universities to being “engines of economic development.” Not only are they significant employers and consumers of goods and services in the cities and towns where they’re located, they help to train and develop the work force that makes business here run.

Change, he noted, can be threatening to some people. A reorganization such as that envisioned in the system’s strategic plan “needs discussion,” he said. “I”m hopeful for a good dialogue to reshape the state’s universities.”

People can comment on the system’s plans for the future between now and June 30 by e-mailing Vice Chancellor Elsa Nunez at [email protected] or by mail addressed to Nunez at UMS, 107 Maine Ave., Bangor, ME 04401.

State Sens. Neria Douglass and Peggy Rotundo, both Twin Cities Democrats, have called on Westphal to schedule a public hearing or forum in either Lewiston or Auburn before June 30 to gather local opinion on the strategic plan.

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