NUMBER 1

University of Rhode Island
Faculty Senate

MINUTES
Faculty Senate Meeting – September 23, 2004

A.    Announcements:

1)    Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels welcomed the Senate back for the 2004-05 academic year and noted that despite the summer vacation, members of the Executive Committee and others had spent a great deal of time working on the Senate’s behalf.  She thanked them for their efforts. She then drew everyone’s attention to her memorandum to the University faculty, which had been posted on FacSen-Bus earlier in the week and subsequently mailed to all members of the faculty and University community.  She also noted that the memorandum was available on the Faculty Senate website at http://www.uri.edu/facsen/. The memorandum reported on summer efforts of the Executive Committee and listed a number of goals that they had identified for the coming year.  She encouraged Senators to read the memorandum before the next meeting at which time would be set aside for discussion.  

Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels announced that the Executive Committee was interested in learning from members of the Senate their perspectives on what issues are the most pressing.  She reported that Senator Kowalski was distributing a very brief survey to be completed and returned by the end of the meeting and said that the Executive Committee hoped to report back on their findings at the next meeting.

 2)    Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels said that if Senators had not been able to hear President Carothers’ speech at the September 15 Convocation, the Executive Committee encourages everyone to read it on the web at http://www.uri.edu/president/convocation/2004.html.  She explained that funding for the University had been a major issue of the speech and would be discussed by the JSPC. She said that the Executive Committee hoped that faculty would contact them if they have any comments about the issues raised in the President’s speech.

 3)    Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels indicated that the University community would soon be hearing more about the Higher Education Bond Issues on the November ballot.  She noted that efforts have been directed toward stressing the importance of URI, RIC and CCRI sticking together to support all four of the higher education issues.  The slogan is “The Right Combination for Higher Education - Vote Yes on 5-9-10-13.” She said that stickers supporting the Bond Issues were being distributed as the roster was circulated and encouraged Senators to show their support by taking some to wear.

4)    Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels announced that Provost Swan had graciously agreed to sponsor a reception following the Faculty Senate meeting.   She said that the reception would provide an opportunity for members of the Senate to get to know one another better in an informal setting and urged that people go to the University Club after the meeting.

5)    Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels indicated that Senator Kowalski would be taking pictures of Senators, which the Executive Committee hoped to display along with Senator’s names at subsequent meetings as part of the continuing effort to help members recognize one another. She then asked that speakers identify themselves before they proceed with their remarks to help members of the Senate learn each other’s names.

B.     Vice Chairperson Rosen said that the minutes of the 2003-04 Executive Committee Meetings #30, #31, and #32 and 2004-05 Executive Committee Meetings #1 and #2 appeared on pages 4-20 of the Agenda.  He asked if there were any questions.

Vice Chairperson Rosen responded to questions about the Executive Committee minutes.

C.    Vice Chairperson Rosen announced that the Joint Strategic Planning Committee’s minutes from their May 5, 2004 meeting appeared on pages 21-22 of the Agenda.  He explained that the minutes from the June 22 meeting had been accidentally reproduced incorrectly in the Agenda. A corrected version was on the web at http://www.uri.edu/facsen/JSPC_Min_6-22-04.html and had been distributed at the beginning of the meeting.  He asked if there were any questions.

Vice Chairperson Rosen, Provost Swan and Senator Rice responded to questions about the minutes.

D.    Recommendations of the Executive Committee.

    
E.    Professor Emeritus Rose announced that the Annual Report of the University Ombud for 2003-04 appeared on pages 32-35 of the Agenda.  He said that the report was informational and asked if there were any questions.

        Professor Emeritus Rose responded to questions about his report.

A.    Provost Swan said, as indicated on the Agenda, that the President had approved all of the Senate Bills that had been forwarded to him at the end of the 2003-04 academic year and that he had supported the resolution expressing appreciation to former Senate Chair Judy Beckman.
 
B.    Provost Swan announced that URI was host of the first meeting of the Global U7 Consortium in Newport and on campus during the past few days and that Vice Provost Trubatch was serving as interim coordinator of joint research for the Global U7 Consortium.  She said that presidents from seven universities around the world had formed the Global U7 Consortium in South Korea the previous spring.

Provost Swan reminded everyone about the importance of the upcoming November bond issue and urged members of the Senate to help support the four referendum items.     

Provost Swan asked if there were any questions she might answer or bring to the President.  There were none.

A.    Dean Bibb presented the Curricular Report No. 2003-04-5a from the Graduate Council to the Faculty Senate, which appeared on page 36 of the Agenda.  He explained that the item had been approved by the Graduate Council in February, but had been inadvertently omitted from a report at that time.  

Dean Bibb then moved approval of Curricular Report No. 2003-04-5a.  The motion carried.

B.    Professor Johnson presented the Report of the Honors Program and Visiting Scholars Committee for 2003-04, which appeared on pages 37-46 of the Agenda.  He noted the highlights of the report and expressed his appreciation to all of the deans, department chairs and faculty members who contributed to the success of the Honors Program.  

Following discussion, Senator Leo thanked Professor Johnson for all of his efforts on behalf of the Honors Program.

C.    Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels gave a brief review of Senate business conducted last year regarding the Providence Campus initiative. She introduced Professor Feldman, who presented the third interim report of the Ad Hoc Committee on Admissions to the Providence Campus.  Professor Feldman used a series of slides and responded to questions throughout his presentation.  

When the time for discussion expired, a motion was made that the time be extended by fifteen minutes.  The motion carried

Discussion continued.

When the extension of time expired, a motion was made to extend discussion for another ten minutes. The motion carried.

Discussion continued.

When the ten-minute time extension expired, Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels reminded the Senate that no vote would be taken at that meeting and that there would be a follow-up report from the committee in the near future.  She encouraged Senators to contact Professor Feldman or other members of the ad hoc committee with their questions and suggestions.  The Senate then moved to the next item of business.
        
(A copy of Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels’ introductory remarks and Professor Feldman’s presentation are available on the web at http://www.uri.edu/facsen/Providence_Campus_Overview.html.