NUMBER 4
University of Rhode Island
Faculty Senate
MINUTES
Faculty Senate Meeting –
December 9, 2004
1. Immediately following a meeting of the General
Faculty-Graduate Faculty, the regular meeting of the Faculty Senate was
called to order at 3:06 p.m. in the Cherry Auditorium, Chester Kirk
Building, Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels presiding.
All members were present except Senators Barbour, Cain, Cohen, Conley,
Dicioccio, Hicks, Hutt, Jouaneh, Kogut, W. Lee, Manfredi, Martin,
Oviatt, and Thiem; Vice Presidents Beagle and Dougan; Vice Provost
McCray; Deans Farmer, Letendre, Mazze, McKinney and Taggart (Vice
Provost Trubatch and Dean Seemann were represented by their designees);
Mr. Sutherland and Mr. Lopes.
2. Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels asked if there were
any additions or corrections to or questions about the Minutes of Faculty
Senate Meeting #3, November 18, 2004. There were none.
Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels ruled that in the absence of
additions or corrections, the Minutes were approved as distributed.
3. REPORTS OF
OFFICERS AND EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
A. Announcements:
1) Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels said that she was pleased to
welcome back to the Faculty Senate Commissioner Jack Warner who has
agreed to participate in a Special Forum on Student Outcomes
Assessment. She also noted that Chris Wessells, Acting Dean of the
University Libraries, was taking his seat that afternoon as an ex
officio member of the Senate. She said that she would like to
welcome him as well.
2) Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels said that there were a
number of upcoming events that she wanted to remind everyone about:
a) First, there is only one day left to register by fax for the
Office of Higher Education’s all-day workshop on Student Learning
Outcomes, which will be held on January 10 at the Radisson Airport
Hotel. If you need a registration form some are available in the front
of the room. Remember - the registration deadline is tomorrow, December
10, 2004.
b) An all day workshop is scheduled for Tuesday, January 11 on the
integrated skills for people who plan to teach General Education
Courses this spring. If you are interested in attending or want to
encourage new faculty, graduate teaching assistants or new instructors
to attend, please contact Ms. Lemoine in the Office of the Provost by
December 24.
c) Also, there will be an informational meeting on the Chafee
Epidemiological Study and follow-up to the PCB crisis, cleanup,
renovation and testing on December 14 at 2:00 p.m. in 271 Chafee.
A meeting on the Independence Hall mold problem for residents of the
building has not yet been scheduled.
3) Chairperson
Boudreaux-Bartels announced that the reception at the University Club
was sponsored by the Office of the Provost with support from the Davis
Educational Foundation in support of the Student Learning Outcomes
Initiative. She said that this would provide an opportunity for
everyone to get to know each other, as well as to continue the
discussion of student outcomes assessment informally at that time.
Please join us at the University Club after the meeting.”
B. Vice Chairperson Rosen said that the minutes of Executive
Committee Meetings #10, #11, and #12
appeared on pages 3-14 of the Agenda. He asked if there were any
questions.
Provost Swan, Vice Chairperson Rosen and Chairperson
Boudreaux-Bartels responded to questions about the minutes.
C. Vice Chairperson Rosen announced that the minutes from the Joint
Strategic Planning Committee's October 21,
2004 meeting had been approved after the Agenda was printed.
He said that they had been posted on the web, e-mailed to subscribers
to FacSen-Bus, and were available in the front of the
room He asked if there were any questions. There were
none.
4. REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT
A. President Carothers noted that he had approved all of the
legislation from the previous two Faculty Senate meetings and they were
listed on the cover of the Agenda.
B. President Carothers gave a PowerPoint
presentation on issues that affect the state’s economy and their
relevance to the University. The presentation, which is from a
report of the Rhode Island Economic Policy Council, is available on the
web at http://www.uri.edu/facsen/EconOpMeasuresDec04.pdf
5. REPORTS OF STANDING AND
SPECIAL COMMITTEES
A. Senator Luebke moved approval of the
Four Hundred Twenty-Sixth
Report of the Curricular Affairs Committee, which appeared on pages 32-34 of the Agenda.
She said that Section I was informational and asked if there were any
questions. There were none.
Senator Luebke said that Section II required confirmation by the
Faculty Senate and moved approval. The motion
carried.
Senator Luebke announced that Section III was a report on 400-level
courses. She said that part A was informational and asked if
there
were any questions. There were none.
Senator Luebke said that part B required confirmation by the Faculty
Senate and moved approval. The motion carried.
B. Professor Loy introduced the Academic Standards and
Calendar
Committee Report #2004-05-1, which appeared on page 18 of the
Agenda.
He explained that the committee wanted the Senate to consider only one
of their recommendations.
Professor Loy then moved approval of the addition of new section
8.26.13 of the UNIVERSITY MANUAL and renumbering of existing section
8.26.13 as 8.26.14:
8.26.13 Students
who feel they have received an unfair grade in a course should discuss
the matter initially with the instructor. If the issue remains
unresolved, students should approach first the instructor’s department
chairperson and secondly, if necessary, the instructor’s dean for
mediation on the case. If the issue still remains unresolved and
the dean believes the complaint has merit, the dean may refer the
appeal to the college’s academic appeals committee.
Discussion ensued.
Following discussion, Senator Leo moved to refer the recommendation
back to the committee and ask them to reconsider the proposal in light
of the Senate’s discussion. The motion to refer to committee
carried.
6. SPECIAL REPORT
Commissioner Warner gave a presentation titled “The Context for
Outcomes Assessment – Industrial Age or Information Age Education?”
using a series of PowerPoint slides. (These slides are available on the
web at http://www.uri.edu/facsen/FS_AssessPresentationDec04.pdf.)
Commissioner Warner’s presentation was immediately followed by brief
comments on student learning outcomes assessment by four members of the
URI faculty:
*Professor John Stevenson, Psychology Department
*Professor Cathy English, Nutrition and Food Sciences Department
*Professor Nedra Reynolds, College Writing Program
*Dean Bahram Nassersharif, College of Engineering
When all of the guests had completed their remarks, Chairperson
Boudreaux-Bartels announced that there was no time remaining for
questions. She thanked Commissioner Warner and the additional
speakers and encouraged Senators to ask questions at the reception at
the University Club sponsored by the Office of the Provost and the
Davis Educational Foundation.
7. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels asked if there was any unfinished
business. There was none.
8. NEW BUSINESS
Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels asked if there was any new business.
There was none.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:58 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Sheila Black Grubman