NUMBER 1
MINUTES
Faculty Senate
Meeting
September 20,
2001
1. The regular meeting of the Faculty Senate
was called to order at 3:07 p.m. without the ringing of the Novgorod
Bell in room 113 White Hall, Chairperson Peters presiding.
All members were present except Senators
Babson, Frohlich, Hickox, Ibrahim, Kislalioglu, Kulenovic, Lee, Ma,
Nippo, Riebe, Rodgers and Specker; Vice Presidents Beagle, Dougan and
Stark; Deans Letendre, Mazze, Richmond and Taggart (Deans Kim and
Seemann were represented by their designees).
2. A motion was made to approve the Minutes of
Faculty Senate Meeting #10, May 10, 2001.
Chairperson Peters asked if there were any
additions or corrections to or questions about the Minutes. There
were none.
3. REPORTS OF OFFICERS AND EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
A. Announcements:
1) Chairperson Peters introduced
three new Senators who had been elected since the May 10 Faculty
Senate Meeting and were taking their seats at that time:
Senator Judy Beckman and Senator
Joseph Matoney from the College of Business Administration and
Senator Dana Kester from the Graduate School of Oceanography.
2) Chairperson Peters briefly outlined the
major issues that are before the 2001-02 Faculty Senate:
a) Continuation of General Education Reform: Chairperson Peters said that the effort to revise the
General Education program would continue during the current academic
year. He informed the Senate that a series of workshops on
integrating skills had been conducted during the summer for faculty
members who teach courses in the Social Sciences core area. He also
noted that the Foreign Language/Cross-cultural Competence working
group was somewhat behind the Social Sciences area and that a group
on the Letters core area is being formed.
In response to a question from the floor,
Chairperson Peters indicated that guidelines for proposing Social
Sciences courses and sample proposals would be part of a faculty
mailing sometime during the fall semester.
b) Partnerships
Proposal: Chairperson Peters reminded
the Senate that at the last meeting of 2000-01 the Council for
Research had made a number of recommendations regarding the
Partnerships and their connection to the University and its
administrative structure. He said that the Executive Committee had
asked the Council for Research to review the Partnership structure
and to propose formal legislation for consideration by the Faculty
Senate.
c) Changes at the
Feinstein College of Continuing Education: Chairperson Peters stated that the changes introduced
in the College of Continuing Education over the past few months
require a thorough review by the Faculty Senate. He reported that the
Executive Committee has asked President Carothers to begin the
process by convening the Joint Educational Policy Committee.
Chairperson Peters noted that the review and, quite likely, the
necessity of Senate approval of some of the changes would be
extremely important in charting the course of the College.
Chairperson Peters indicated that other
important matters would come forward during the year as well. He said
that the Senate's work is important and useful to the University and
thanked Senators for agreeing to participate in faculty
governance.
3) Chairperson Peters reminded everyone to
identify himself or herself before speaking.
B. Vice Chairperson Goldsmith said that the
minutes of the last meeting of the 2000-01 Executive Committee and
the first meeting of this year's Executive Committee appeared on
pages 4-8 of the Agenda and asked if there were any questions.
Following discussion, Chairperson Peters
agreed that the Executive Committee would discuss both the concerns
about non-Senate business on FacSen-L raised by Senator Arakelian and
the questions about the effect of the summer "Common Agenda" meetings
on faculty governance raised by Senator Feldman.
C. 1) Vice Chairperson Goldsmith corrected
page 10 of the Agenda by removing Senator Nippo's name from the
membership of the Library Committee. She then moved approval of the
corrected committee appointments for the 2001-02, which appeared on
pages 9-13 of the Agenda. The motion carried.
2) Vice Chairperson Goldsmith then moved
approval of the following resolution on behalf of the Executive
Committee:
The
events of September 11, 2001 have created circumstances that require
all of us to respond with both careful thought and deep compassion.
In recognition of the University's unique role in fostering an
informed engagement with the world, the Faculty Senate of the
University of Rhode Island urges our colleagues to devote some time
during the University's Diversity Week (October 1-5) to a sustained
conversation with students about the meaning and potential
consequences of the events of September 11, 2001.
Following discussion, the motion
carried
D. Vice Chairperson Goldsmith introduced Ms.
McMahon and Ms. Palm, who gave a brief update on the status of the
general use classrooms on behalf of the Classroom Management Team.
They also responded to questions from the floor.
E. Chairperson Peters announced that the
Report of the Ombud for 2000-01 appeared on pages 14-16 of the Agenda and asked if there were any questions for
Senator Rose. There were none.
Chairperson Peters accepted the Ombud's Report
on behalf of the Senate and thanked Senator Rose for serving in that
important role.
4. REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT
A. President Carothers announced
that he had approved all of the legislation and had supported all of the resolutions from the 2000-01 Senate as indicated on the Agenda
cover. He noted that Bill #00-01--27 still awaited action by the Board of Governors.
B. President Carothers said that the school
year had gotten off to a wonderful start and thanked everyone for
their role in it. He then expressed his appreciation to all of the
faculty members who have taken the time to help students through the
difficult period following the terrorist attack on September 11. He
also said that he wanted to commend the staffs of the Counseling
Center and Health Services and the University Chaplains for all of
their efforts.
The President gave possible budget scenario in
light of the economic downturn before and since the events of
September 11. He said that he expected that the current economy could
also affect student enrollment, noting that there was a greater
possibility that people will decide to go to school closer to home.
President Carothers explained that this could change the mix of
in-state and out-of-state students and affect the University's
tuition income.
President Carothers announced that Vice
President Stark would be presenting the State of the Budget Address
to the Senate on October 25. He said that the University's budget
appeared to be in reasonably good shape for the current year as long
as there was no mid-year rescission. He indicated, however, that he
expected that the University would face challenges in the fiscal '03
budget.
The President then reported on the
administrative appointments that had been made during the summer and
introduced Dean Farmer from the Graduate School of Oceanography and
Interim Assistant Vice President Rhodes. He also reviewed the status
of the two outstanding dean searches: the College of Engineering and
the College of Human Science and Services.
President Carothers then responded to a
question from Senator Arakelian about minority enrollment and agreed
to get the requested information to him.
5. REPORTS OF STANDING AND SPECIAL COMMITTEES
Chairperson Peters said that there
were no committee reports on the agenda.
6. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Chairperson Peters reminded the
Senate that at the May 10, 2001 meeting of the Faculty Senate, the
Library Committee recommended that the Director, University Libraries
be added as a permanent non-voting ex
officio member of the Library
Committee. He explained that because the change required an amendment
to the By-Laws of the Faculty Senate it could not be voted upon at
the meeting at which it was introduced. He said that the following
motion was now returned to the Faculty Senate for approval:
Amend section 4.50 of the Faculty Senate
By-Laws by adding, "The Director of the University Libraries shall
serve as an ex officio non-voting member of the Library Committee."
Following discussion. The motion
carried.
7.
NEW BUSINESS
Chairperson Peters asked if there
was any new business. There was none.
Chairperson Peters reminded the Senate that
the State of the Budget Address for 2001-02 was scheduled for
Thursday October 25, 2001. He said that the Executive Committee was
compiling a list of concerns that they would like to see addressed by
Vice President Stark and encouraged members of the Senate to forward
to the Executive Committee any specific requests they have for
information on the Budget.
Chairperson Peters declared the meeting
adjourned
The meeting was adjourned at 3:45 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Sheila Black Grubman
for MARJORIE MCMAHON,
Secretary