November Minutes 2005

							                          MINUTES OF THE MEETING
                            BOARD OF TRUSTEES
                              November 11, 2005

A regular meeting of the Board of Trustees was held on November 11, 2005 at Maine
Maritime Academy, Castine, Maine. Chairman Graffam, and Trustees Clark, Grosh,
Gulliver, Haggett, Hartford, Kelly and Larson were in attendance. President Leonard
Tyler, Vice President Ericson, Provost Barlow, Alumni Association President Charles
Sherman, faculty, staff, visitors and members of the press were also present.

Chairman Haggett called the meeting to order at 9:30 a.m.

MINUTES OF AUGUST 19, 2005 MEETING

On a MOTION by Trustee Grosh and seconded by Trustee Clark, the Board
voted to accept the minutes of the meeting of August 19, 2005 as distributed.

   1. ALUMNI ASSOCIATION REPORT
Mr. Charles Sherman, president of the Alumni Association Board of Directors reported that
the Board met over Homecoming weekend at Maine Maritime Academy. He commented
that the Mariners had a nice victory, 28-21 over Curry College. He went on to clarify a
comment made at the last meeting of the Board of Trustees, that is, that he is not choosing
not to run for re-election, he is unable to run because of term limits.

Mr. Sherman noted that the Alumni Association has taken an active role in the tax issue
regarding domicile filed by the Maine State Revenue Service, by filing an amicus curiae
brief with the Maine Supreme Judicial Court on November 2nd. Also, an amicus curiae
brief was filed by Pierce Atwood on behalf of the Alumni Association. A date for oral
arguments in the cases of Maine State Revenue Service vs Janetti and Falcone has not yet
been scheduled. Mr. Sherman has a copy of the brief filed by Pierce Atwood should
anyone wish to read it.

With regard to Board member committee assignments, Mr. Sherman reported that members
will be involved with the next Industrial Advisory Committee meeting which will be held


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on Friday, November 18th at the Cianbro office in Pittsfield, followed by a tour of the new
Prospect-Verona bridge. All are welcome to attend. Wilbur Brown is still involved with
the Capital Campaign and continues to work with Ellie Courtemanche, as is Cal Lechman.
Mr. Sherman extended an invitation to Ellie to attend the next Board meeting which will be
held at DiMillo’s in Portland on January 16th.

Bill Leavitt, has generously donated documents pertinent to the history of the Academy
which belonged to his father, Ralph Leavitt. Maggie Letarte is leading the effort to sort
through these documents and the Alumni Association has had some of them framed,
including a letter dated 1958 from Ralph Leavitt, and Dwight Eisenhower’s response to
that letter, and donated them to the Academy to be hung in the Holmes Heritage Room.

The Alumni Directory has been delayed somewhat but will be published some time in
2006.

Mr. Sherman went on to thank former chair of the Board of Trustees, Bill Haggett on
behalf of the Alumni Association for his support, leadership and cooperation over the
years. Mr. Sherman also passed on the sincere appreciation of the Alumni Association to
Captain Wade and the Castine crew of the T. S. State of Maine for the prolonged absence
from home caused by their participation in the hurricane Katrina relief effort.

Mr. Sherman asked Spencer Gulliver to pass on to the football team and coaching staff our
appreciation for the outcome of Saturday’s game. He also noted a couple of concerns
voiced by students at the breakfast meeting with Trustees regarding housing and adequate
berthing on the ship.

In conclusion, Mr. Sherman welcomed back Sally Mottola from her medical leave.

Chairman Graffam thanked Mr. Sherman for his report. He then went on to thank Bill
Haggett, Len Tyler and all involved in the addition to the Student Center, including Stacey
for her supervision of the construction and Ellie for her fundraising efforts and noted that
last night’s event was very successful.

He then spoke of the initiative to get more Trustees involved with students. At a breakfast
meeting this morning Trustees met with students in an informal atmosphere. Chairman
Graffam met with several students and gave them his email address so they can
communicate directly any issues of concern. He thanked Spencer Gulliver for arranging
the breakfast meeting. He also suggested that a late afternoon coffee meeting following
committee meetings would be a good opportunity to meet again with students when the
Board next convenes and asked Spencer Gulliver to arrange this.


   2. PRESIDENT'S REPORT
President Tyler began by publicly thanking all those involved with the program last night.
It was a very pleasant evening and the building has turned out very well. We hope that we


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will be able to get some video conferencing capabilities in the Holmes Heritage Room so
that Trustees who may not be able to attend a meeting in person could join it via
teleconferencing.

With regard to enrollment, applications are up 29% compared with last year. Applications
from women are up 42% this year which is a very good sign. Marine Biology and Ocean
Science which have been a cause for concern in some years are 3% ahead in applications
this year. Applications for each major seem to be at least on a par, if not ahead of last year
and this is a very positive trend.

President Tyler went on to report that yesterday, Dick Ericson, Ward Graffam and he
attended a session on governance in Augusta. This stemmed from a proposal brought
before the State legislature last year to establish a Board of Regents. There was no support
for the proposal at that time. The proposed Board of Regents would have replaced the
University of Maine Board of Trustees, the Community College Board of Trustees and our
Board of Trustees which would have been detrimental to us. During the afternoon
President Tyler, Dick Ericson and Ward Graffam had the opportunity to testify. While
there was no support for the concept of more bureaucracy, there is a need for more
coordination between the various college systems. It would be good if the state could
develop a strategic plan for higher education that all institutions could work toward
accomplishing.

Moving on to a ship status report, President Tyler noted that it looks as if our ship will be
released next week and be back here on the 22nd or 23rd of November.

With regard to Federal funding, it looks encouraging that there may be a little extra money
in the appropriation of the Federal government for the State academies and we should
know about this early next week. The amount is not great, probably $100,000 to $200,000,
but it goes up each year and this will help with our operating costs. There is also an
outside chance that we may also get some fuel assistance. It is looking more doubtful
because of the budget deficit they are facing. President Tyler went on to report that he and
Dean Barlow will be attending the Academy President’s meeting in Texas. They will meet
with the Maritime Administration and the Coast Guard to talk about a wide variety of
issues, for example the relationship between the Academies and the regional Coast Guard
offices which can sometimes be problematic, and also funding for some of our needs,
particularly the space issue with regard to cruise. We are hoping to add 26 additional
bunks which will mitigate the problem, though this will not happen before the spring cruise
in 2006. We will, however, be able to accommodate all of our students on cruise this year,
though if that were not the case, we would be able to place students on the California
Maritime Academy cruise or the New York Maritime Academy cruise which both take
place at the same time as ours. This year, we will be lending our ship to Texas Maritime
immediately following our cruise, so we may be in a position to offer this to some of our
students as a cruise option.

President Tyler then announced that Bill Mottola will be receiving the George A. Carens
Award for his contributions to football. It is the highest honor bestowed by the New



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England Football Writers and is co-sponsored by the Boston Globe. President Tyler
thanked Bill for his years of service here and congratulated him on this honor. He then
drew the attention of Board members to the new Web-Cam which allows those who have a
high speed internet connection to view athletic action in real time. Also, President Tyler
commended our new soccer coach and Sports Information Director for the wonderful job
he is doing with the sports web page. This is a real advantage for coaches and for
incoming students. This year, not only the football team had a good year. The women’s
soccer team and women’s volleyball team made it to the play-offs, men’s soccer team had a
winning season and we are hoping for great things this winter as well. The average GPA of
the women’s basketball team is very good which demonstrates that we are able to attract a
good group of student athletes.

Finally, President Tyler noted that we have a couple of exchanges going on this year
through the International Association of Maritime Universities. One of our IBL students
will be attending Dalian Maritime University in China and if they are able to obtain visas,
two of their students will be coming here. We also have an exchange professor from
Dalian who will be coming in March and staying through August to do some research. In
this type of student exchange, the student pays fees to his own college and the host college
provides housing, meals etc. This is a great opportunity for students. In the past, we have
had student exchanges with Southampton and Japan and we hope to see the program
expand in future.

Chairman Graffam thanked President Tyler for his report and remarked that it is great news
that he has been nominated once again to the Chair of the International Association of
Maritime Universities and that this is a real boon to the Academy.

President Tyler then presented an action item for the Board’s approval: that is, the conferral
of degrees as follows:

Upon the recommendation of the Faculty, I present to the Board of Trustees the candidates
for the Bachelor of Science degree and ask for Board authorization to confer said degrees,
upon successful completion of degree requirements. The candidates for conferral of
degrees are set forth in Attachment A.

A MOTION was made by Trustee Haggett to accept the recommendation for the
conferral of degrees. The motion was seconded by Trustee Grosh. A vote was taken
and the motion was carried.

Chairman Graffam then turned the meeting over to Dean Barlow who introduced Dr. Paul
Wlodkowski, Assistant Professor of Engineering and coordinator of our Marine Systems
Engineering program. This program is our only accredited engineering level program and
we recently went through the ABET re-accreditation process.

Dr. Wlodkowski introduced himself as a Maine native and reviewed his education and
credentials before beginning the PowerPoint presentation an outline of which is included
with these minutes as Attachment B.



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Following the presentation, Chairman Graffam thanked Dr. Wlodkowski for his good
report and asked that copies of it be distributed to the Board members.

   3. STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS

a. Student Affairs Committee
   Trustee Gulliver reported that the Student Affairs Committee met yesterday and that
   they had a presentation by Jeff Wright, Director of Admissions who indicated that there
   has been an increase in Maine applicants. The fall Open House had over 210
   participants and was very successful. Ocean Studies had a program specific Open
   House which was also very successful. Roughly 350 high school students have come
   to the campus this fall so far as part of the Discovery Voyage program. The committee
   also talked with Captain Loustaunau about the leadership program which is being
   developed. At present there is a leadership course which is in the pilot stage: if
   approved by the curriculum committee, it will allow all students, not just those in the
   Regiment, to take some leadership courses here. Statistics indicate that 84% of the
   student body participates in a leadership activity. Trustee Gulliver noted that the
   AlcoholEDU program, an on-line alcohol education program has helped to reduce the
   number of alcohol violations on campus among freshmen. Women’s programming was
   also discussed with the hope of bringing women together on campus. Activities such
   as business etiquette courses, yoga, and women author’s book club were suggested as a
   means of accomplishing this.

   Chairman Graffam thanked Trustee Gulliver for his report. He then asked Deidra
   Davis if we have in place a hot line for students to call if there is an issue of alcohol
   abuse to report. Ms. Davis responded that we do not have a hot line but that we do
   have a good neighbor policy which protects from retribution anyone who calls to report
   an incident of alcohol abuse. This encourages students to look after friends who might
   be in jeopardy as they themselves will not be implicated.

b. Education Policy Committee
   Trustee Grosh reported that the Education Policy Committee met yesterday and that
   there is a summary of the proceedings in the trustees’ folders (appended to these
   minutes as Attachment C). Much of the meeting was spent discussing accreditation,
   the amount of time and effort it takes and the benefit to the Academy. Several concerns
   were brought to light in the recent ABET accreditation, including facilities such as
   outdated laboratories and the Outcomes Assessment method of evaluating courses.
   Security of student records is another area that we need to focus on and we have
   already begun to do so. However, there is no doubt that we will be re-accredited.
   Trustee Clark noted that another item discussed at the committee meeting is the success
   of the SVO program. The Dean clarified the situation by saying that we have not
   recruited more heavily for this program, but many students transfer into it and we have
   also begun to experience a demand for double majors. The limited tonnage license
   obtainable through this program is very attractive to Marine Science and International



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   Business & Logistics majors. The double major usually requires at least an additional
   year here.

   Chairman Graffam thanked Trustee Grosh and Dean Barlow for the excellent report.

c. Finance Committee
   Trustee Clark reported that the Finance Committee met yesterday and that the first
   order of business was the charitable gift annuity accepted by the Board at the August
   meeting. Joe Pratt, a representative from Bar Harbor Trust Services spoke to the
   committee about gift annuities in general and how they determine the interest rate they
   will pay on the annuity. In this case, they will pay 6.6%. The gift itself is $150,000
   and Bar Harbor Trust Services will not charge us an investment fee until that amount
   reaches $200,000. At that time, they will charge a 1% management fee. Because this
   is the first time we have accepted an annuity, we do not yet have an investment policy
   in place and can choose how we would like to see the annuity invested. Mr. Pratt
   recommended that we utilize mutual funds as the best way to diversify. This
   suggestion was discussed at length by the committee and resulted in the following
   MOTION:

The Finance Committee would like to make a MOTION that the Board accept Bar
Harbor Trust Investment Services recommendation which utilizes a balanced
portfolio of mutual funds, bonds and fixed income.

Trustee Grosh moved to accept, the motion was seconded by Chairman Graffam and
following a vote, the MOTION was carried.

   Trustee Clark then thanked Geoff Bellows for putting together a comparison chart of
   the three investment management firms that the Academy currently uses, that is: Union
   Trust Company, R.N. Davis, and Head & Associates. Returns were relatively flat for
   the past quarter, but performance did not vary markedly between one firm and another.
   The committee also discussed how often to meet with the investment managers and
   concluded that a bi-annual meeting would be sufficient. Trustee Clark reported that the
   committee then moved on to review the actual and audited operating budget for the
   fiscal year ending June 30th, 2005 and found that there were no significant deviations
   from the estimated final performance numbers we expected. The committee also
   reviewed an updated operating budget for the current fiscal year which took into
   account requests that were made during the August meeting. At this time we are still
   expecting to end the fiscal year with a balanced budget. The unknowns will be energy
   costs and unexpected maintenance costs and these two areas are potentially
   problematic.

   Trustee Clark then reported that there was a general discussion regarding the need for a
   capital budget and expenditure policy. It was agreed that we need to have more of a
   global plan and prioritize the costs involved. Dean Barlow and Trustee Larson gave
   the committee an update on the re-structuring of the IT department. Lastly, the




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   committee discussed the location for future meetings and it was decided to have some
   here at the Academy, some in Portland and possibly some in Camden.

   Chairman Graffam thanked Trustee Clark noting that it was a very good report.

d. Facilities and Property Report
   Trustee Haggett reported that the committee met earlier today and the primary topic
   under discussion was the request made at the last meeting to develop some preliminary
   drawings of a possible student housing complex to accommodate approximately 150
   students. This would be built behind Curtis Hall with parking below. Initial concepts
   submitted by an engineering firm indicate that the costs would be prohibitive, in excess
   of $15 million. It was decided to solicit proposals from companies or individuals who
   may be interested in constructing accommodations for Maine Maritime Academy
   students. The call for proposals will go out very soon. There was also a discussion of
   whether or not the need for additional student housing holds the same priority as
   formerly. Views on this appear to have changed a little as administration seems to have
   been able to solve the housing problem, at least in the short term, with relatively little
   disruption. While still an important objective, it may not be quite such a high priority
   and we need to continue to search for the right solution.

   Chairman Graffam thanked Trustee Haggett for his report.

e. Advancement Committee
   Trustee Haggett reported that we have put together a new Advancement organization
   which has been in place for a few months. There is demonstrated evidence of progress
   which reflects very well on the way we are approaching the fundraising issue. For
   example, this year we have had 369 donors to the annual fund: of these, 247 have
   increased their commitment from last year. At this point in time last year, $32,000 had
   been committed to the annual fund while this year the total is $68,000. Last year we
   raised $150,000 thanks to a commitment by Bob Walker on the last day. This year our
   goal is $225,000 and Ellie feels that there is no question that we will achieve that goal.
   Gifts and pledges of other types have continued to roll in and in the last period we have
   received $1,180,000. We are still a little short of our total goal for the Capital
   Campaign which was $22,225,000. To date, total commitments are $21,435,000 and
   efforts are ongoing to complete the campaign. However, we probably have $1.4
   million in pledges that will not be fulfilled for one reason or another.

   Trustee Haggett then asked Ellie Courtemanche to complete the report of the
   Advancement Committee. Ms. Courtemanche re-affirmed that we are making good
   progress in fundraising for the annual fund and meeting our benchmarks toward our
   goal. Capital Campaign efforts are continuing and we plan to wrap up the campaign at
   the end of December, whether or not we have met our goal. However, some of the
   requests being made in association with that campaign will continue to float: for
   example the fundraising among Pilot’s Associations for the dedication of a Pilot Room
   in the new bridge simulator, as well as seeking sponsorships for Leavitt Hall and




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   looking for people who may have an interest in naming opportunities associated with
   the addition to the Student Center.

   Ms. Courtemanche then made reference to the Katrina Act which has been passed.
   This allows people who itemize their tax deductions to give cash contributions to
   charitable organizations and to take 100% of the value of gift as a deduction instead of
   the 50% formerly allowed. A hand-out is available about this legislation and the
   Advancement office will also post information on our web site. People who have
   outstanding pledges and those that have been approached with proposals will be
   encouraged to take advantage of this.

   Ms. Courtemanche drew Trustees’ attention to the section of their folders which lists
   gifts and grants and asked for Board approval, noting that the list contains such items
   as Harold Alfond’s final payment toward his challenge grant, grants for
   alcohol/substance abuse program, an Ocean Studies grant, a pledge payment from
   Granville Smith, Bob Somerville’s scholarship fund, and also 12 gifts of over $1,000 to
   the annual fund.

On a MOTION by Trustee Haggett and seconded by Trustee Larson, the
Board voted to accept with gratitude all gifts and grants and all donated
property as set forth in Attachment D & E. Following a vote, the motion was
carried

   Two new scholarships were then presented for Board approval. The first is the Donald
   V. Church Regimental Scholarship and the other is the John & Debbie Gillis
   Regimental Scholarship Fund.

On a MOTION by Trustee Clark and seconded by Chairman Graffam, the
Board voted to adopt a RESOLUTION to establish the Donald V. Church
Regimental Scholarship Fund as set forth in Attachment F and the John &
Debbie Gillis Regimental Scholarship Fund as set forth in Attachment G.
Following a vote, the motion was carried

   Chairman Graffam thanked Ms. Courtemanche for her report.

   Trustee Haggett noted that in yesterday’s committee meetings is was stressed that we
   need to take a hard look at some of the facility and equipment requirements associated
   with academic programs. Trustee Haggett stated that nothing has a higher priority than
   supporting the academic program and asked that Dean Barlow define the needs and
   bring them to the Board. The Board will find a way to ensure that these needs are met.

   4. CHAIRMAN’S REMARKS

Chairman Graffam remarked that we have sent out a trustee questionnaire and have not
received responses from everyone. Annette Dixon was requested to send out another copy


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of the questionnaire and trustees are asked to complete and return it so that we have a
baseline from which to work. Also, new stationery has been designed for the use of the
trustees. From a fundraising perspective it may be helpful to have a listing of names of
trustees on the letterhead.

Next, Chairman Graffam discussed the comments sent to John Staples for inclusion in the
Mariner magazine. John asked for comments on what Chairman Graffam sees as the
strengths and challenges facing the Academy. Chairman Graffam gave an outline of the
way he likes to look at planning. There are four quadrants, the first of which is financial.
We need to double our endowment in the next five years and this is probably a
conservative goal. We need to focus on innovative ways in which to get this done and how
to raise funds by other means than donations, for example the boat program. The
perception in Augusta seems to be that we do not need any additional funding so we have a
real job to do in educating legislators about the state of our finances. The other three
points to be addressed in planning are the educational program, people, and operational
effectiveness. Maine Maritime Academy has done a great job in its educational programs
but Chairman Graffam would like to see us become the leading maritime university in the
world. We should try to quantify what this means to us and then take steps to achieve this
goal. Students are number one, but faculty is also very important and Chairman Graffam
would like to see more involvement between trustees and faculty so there is more of a
sense of partnership.

Trustee Kelly suggested that we should have a coffee meeting between trustees and the
faculty of one academic department at a time and Chairman Graffam agreed that this
would be a good plan.

With regard to operational effectiveness, Chairman Graffam noted that IT is a vital
component and suggested that the new IT Director, Bruce Chenell give a presentation at
the next Board meeting to clarify where we are and where we would like to go.

Chairman Graffam adjourned the meeting to executive session at 10:25 a.m. and indicated
that this might be a longer session than usual, for those who usually wait until the meeting
reconvenes. President Tyler noted that the meeting would break at 11:10 for the Veteran’s
Day Ceremony.

Due to the length of the executive session and the fact that some trustees had obligations
which necessitated their leaving, The Board was not reconvened in public session.
Personnel issues which would normally have been voted on during this session have been
deferred to the next session.

Respectfully submitted,


Annette Dixon
Secretary to the Board of Trustees
Maine Maritime Academy



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