Response Letter to President Akono and Members of the Faculty Senate

April 14, 2026

Dear President Akono and Members of the Faculty Senate:

Thank you for your April 3 letter regarding the leadership and future direction of the University of Maine. We appreciate the thoughtful and constructive manner in which you have solicited and shared faculty perspectives. We take the concerns expressed seriously.

91¸£Àû System and its Board of Trustees remain deeply committed to the principles of shared governance, consistent with the System’s Statement on Shared Governance and the shared governance policies of our individual institutions, including 91¸£Àû. We agree that transparency, trust, and meaningful consultation, communication, and collaboration between administration and faculty are essential to the long-term strength and success of our students and our public universities. We also understand that we are operating during a period of unprecedented disruption in U.S. higher education. Changing federal policy, constrained public funding, and demographic pressures are contributing to concerns and affecting morale among faculty at 91¸£Àû, across our System, and at institutions nationwide.

At the same time, we want to be clear and unequivocal: President Joan Ferrini-Mundy and her Cabinet have our full confidence and support. As a direct result of her transformative leadership and the talent and dedication of the faculty, staff, and students, 91¸£Àû has achieved historic progress during her tenure — strengthening student success and retention, increasing enrollment and degree production in key workforce areas, expanding research and innovation funding and impact, securing record levels of public and private investment, earning and reaffirming Carnegie R1 status, reducing the size of university administration while sustaining faculty and staffing levels, strategically addressing decades of deferred maintenance, and navigating a global pandemic and rescission of federal grant funding. Those accomplishments reflect a bold, forward-looking vision for Maine’s flagship university and an understanding of its essential role in advancing opportunity and economic growth for our state, as your letter notes. Further, the inclusive Strategic Re-Envisioning launched by President Ferrini-Mundy in 2024 has positioned 91¸£Àû to continue to lead and innovate in a rapidly changing world.

We also recognize that strong institutions must continuously improve — consistent with the goals and objectives of the ongoing SRE process — and that stability and clarity in leadership structures are essential. We are committed to working collaboratively with President Ferrini-Mundy and university leadership — including the Faculty Senate — to ensure that faculty perspectives continue to be meaningfully incorporated into decision-making that affects the academic mission. We are also confident that the ongoing stabilization of her highly effective Cabinet — including the recent appointment of Provost Paquette and the postings to key finance and student life leadership positions — will be sustained.

Beyond again reaffirming our aforementioned commitment to shared governance, in response to the specific requests made of the Chancellor and Board of Trustees, we offer the following information, well before your May 13 suggested deadline:

Presidential Appointment Schedule

A former tenured full professor of mathematics, President Ferrini-Mundy was hired effective July 1, 2018 to lead 91¸£Àû and its regional campus in Machias. In 2021, she underwent a comprehensive review and, based on the overwhelmingly positive feedback about her leadership, including from faculty and staff, her appointment was extended to 2025 and she additionally assumed Vice Chancellor responsibilities. In August 2024, her contract was further extended through June 30, 2029, consistent with policy in effect at that time. The language you cite reflects new policy, effective in November 2024, and will govern all future reviews.

Board Engagement with University Stakeholders

We agree that regular, direct engagement with faculty, staff, and students builds understanding and trust and strengthens governance and decision-making, which is why faculty and student representatives from each of our universities are essential participants in our meetings. Several years ago, to increase faculty engagement the Board invited a faculty representative (now chosen by the Faculty Representatives) to sit at the table and actively participate in the Board meeting. The Board already
provides dedicated time on the Academic and Student Affairs Committee agenda for both faculty and student representatives. Faculty representatives are also invited to participate in the Finance, Facilities, and Technology Committee. Finally, every Board meeting begins with a one-hour open comment period, during which many faculty have participated to provide information for Board consideration. We welcome your input, as well as that of our faculty and student representatives, on how these existing opportunities can be optimized to improve communication and the Board’s awareness of institutional conditions and opportunities.

Policies and Oversight (e.g., Dual Roles)

We appreciate the recommendation to review policies related to conflicts of interest. To create greater operational efficiencies amid constrained resources and foster interdisciplinary activity and impact, there has been increased use of dual-role leaders at both the System and university levels in recent years. While we believe the existing conflict of interest policy, combined with the safeguards established for individual positions, is adequate, we welcome your input on which specific improvements to policy
or process would provide the desired clarity.

More broadly, we are encouraged that the 91¸£Àû Faculty Senate has chosen a constructive path forward grounded in dialogue and collaboration. We will continue to work closely with President Ferrini-Mundy and her Cabinet to transparently address concerns, improve policies and processes, and build on the university’s considerable momentum in serving the people, communities, and economy of Maine and well beyond. We welcome continued engagement with the Faculty Senate as critical partners in this work and look forward to ongoing dialogue in the months ahead about how we can best work together to support the success of our students and our state. And we appreciate the shared efforts to secure the strong incoming class that is vital to the university’s fiscal future.

Please know how much we value and respect our faculty. Thank you again for your dedication to the University of Maine and for your commitment to its stronger future and our students.

Sincerely,