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Scenes from Faculty Senate

Minutes for Faculty Senate Meetings

January 29, 2004

Number 5

1. The regular meeting of the Faculty Senate was called to order at 3:11 p.m. in the Cherry Auditorium, Chester Kirk Building, Chairperson Beckman presiding.

All members were present except Senators Ginis, Glasow, Kogut, Loy, Morin, Thiem, Wang and Westin; Vice Presidents Barrett, Beagle and Dougan; Vice Provost Swift; Deans Farmer, Gandel, Letendre, Mazze and Taggart (Vice Provost McCray; Deans Richmond and Seemann were represented by their designees); Mr. Lopes and Mr. Sutherland.

2. Chairperson Beckman asked if there were any additions or corrections to or questions about the Minutes of Faculty Senate Meeting #4, December 11, 2003. There were none.

Chairperson Beckman 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 Beckman announced that Senator Leland Jackson from the College of Engineering was taking his seat at today's meeting and welcomed him to the Senate.

    Chairperson Beckman said that she also wanted to welcome Commissioner Jack Warner and express the Senate's appreciation to him for joining the Senate for that afternoon's Special Forum. She said that she hoped that Commissioner Warner's remarks would be followed by a good discussion.

  2. Chairperson Beckman said that she had been asked by the URI Foundation to remind everyone that Nominations are being accepted for the Excellence Awards. She said that if anyone would like to nominate a colleague for this honor, they should send a letter or e-mail to the URI Foundation by Friday, February 27, 2004 at 4:00 p.m. She said that if people wanted additional information, they should call Joy Lewis at 4-5273.

  3. Chairperson Beckman reminded the Senate that as has become our practice, the Faculty Senate meeting would be immediately followed by a reception at the University Club. She thanked Dean Joseph of the College of Nursing and Dean Letendre of the College of Pharmacy, for sponsoring the reception and encouraged everyone to join them that afternoon.

  4. Chairperson Beckman announced that Vice Chairperson Hollinshead had received a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship, which would enable her to work on her book during 2004. She explained that Vice Chairperson Hollinshead had resigned from the Senate and her position as Vice Chair effective February 1 in order to pursue her research.

    On behalf of the Executive Committee, Chairperson Beckman then placed the following resolution on the floor:

    Whereas Mary Hollinshead has served on the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate for 2 and 1/2 years; and,

    Whereas Mary Hollinshead has served as Vice Chair of that Executive Committee for 1 and 1/2 years; and,

    Whereas her creative efforts in that service have consistently provided the Executive Committee and the Faculty Senate with insightful analysis of issues coming before them; and

    Whereas her tireless efforts in these endeavors are a source of pride to the Faculty Senate and Executive Committee and evidence of the dedication our faculty show in fulfilling our duties; and

    Whereas she has undertaken these service activities while maintaining a high level of scholarship as evidenced by having been granted the National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for College Teachers for her proposal entitled "Transforming Tradition: Hellenistic Monumental Steps in Greece, Asia Minor and Italy";

    Be it resolved that,

    While we celebrate these outstanding scholarly and service accomplishments, we acknowledge that we will sorely miss her as she must resign her Faculty Senate position in order to fulfill her obligations under the Fellowship.

Senator Roworth moved approval of the resolution. The motion carried.

B. Vice Chairperson Hollinshead announced that the minutes of Executive Committee Meetings #13, #14, and #15 appeared on pages 4-11 of the Agenda. She asked if there were any questions.

Vice Chairperson Hollinshead and Chairperson Beckman responded to questions about the minutes

C. Vice Chairperson Hollinshead said that the minutes of the November 6, 2003 meeting of the JSPC appeared on pages 12 and 13 of the Agenda and asked if there were any questions.

Chairperson Beckman and President Carothers responded to questions about the activities of the JSPC.

D. Vice Chairperson Hollinshead announced that she would make several recommendations on behalf of the Executive Committee that afternoon.

  1. Vice Chairperson Hollinshead placed the names of the two Senators in nomination for the upcoming vacancy on the Faculty Senate Executive Committee:

    Senator Celest Martin, College of Arts and Sciences

    Senator Robert Rodgers, College of Pharmacy

Vice Chairperson Hollinshead asked if there were any nominations from the floor. There were none.

She then moved that nominations be closed. The motion carried.

Chairperson Beckman appointed Associate Deans Dvorak and Rhodes to serve as tellers.

During balloting, the Senate moved to the next item of business.

  1. Vice Chairperson Hollinshead moved approval of the following additional appointments for the spring 2004 semester:

    Council for Research

    Wayne Lee, CVE to replace Richard Brown, CHE

    Student Rights and Responsibilities

    Leo Carroll, SOC

    Chet Hickox, CBA

    Barbara Luebke, JOR

    John Merrill, OCG

    Ad Hoc Committee &endash; Admissions to Providence Campus

    Will Dvorak, Associate Dean, Arts & Sciences

    *Marshall Feldman, CPL, Chair

    Edmund Ferszt, Associate Dean, ASFCCE

    Cliff Katz, Assistant Provost

    Barbara Newman, HDF

    Kat Quina, PSY AFSCCE

    Jayne Richmond, Dean, University College

    Deborah Rosen, CBA

    David Taggart, Dean, Admissions

    The motion carried.

  2. Vice Chairperson Hollinshead announced that the Executive Committee's report on waivers during the final examination period appeared on pages 14-15 of the Agenda. She then moved approval of the following resolution recommended by the Executive Committee:

    RESOLVED: In the event that the Athletics Advisory Board agrees to issue a request to the President to waive the provisions of sections 8.51.30-31, then the Board shall also provide the Faculty Senate Executive Committee with appropriate documentation and explanation as to its reasons for making the request. The explanation to the Faculty Senate Executive Committee should be forwarded simultaneously with the request to the President.

Discussion ensued.

During discussion, President Carothers stated that he would be willing to accept an amendment to section 8.51.31 that included the text of the resolution before the last sentence of the section.

Following discussion, Senator Kirschenbaum moved to amend the motion on the floor by adding the text of the resolution before the last sentence in section 8.51.31.

The motion carried.

The approved amendment to section 8.51.31 reads as follows (change is in boldface):

8.51.31 No waiver shall be required for participation in conference-scheduled competitions, conference championships, and NCAA championships; however, the Athletics Advisory Board must be notified in advance on a timely basis when such participation, or associated off-campus travel, is scheduled to occur during the final exam period, on designated reading days, or on Sunday of the intra-exam period weekend. Issues regarding special tournaments and other major athletic competitions not controlled through University scheduling that occur, or require associated off-campus travel, during the final exam period, on designated reading days, or on Sunday of the intra-exam period weekend shall be forwarded to the Athletics Advisory Board for their recommendation to waive the above policy and permit participation. In the event that the Athletics Advisory Board agrees to issue a request to the President to waive the provisions of sections 8.51.30-31, then the Board shall also provide the Faculty Senate Executive Committee with appropriate documentation and explanation as to its reasons for making the request. The explanation to the Faculty Senate Executive Committee should be forwarded simultaneously with the request to the President. The board's recommendation shall be forwarded to the University President for final action.

Chairperson Beckman announced that Senator Martin had been elected to fill the vacancy on the Executive Committee.

4. REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT

President Carothers congratulated Senator Martin and noted that Senator Martin and Senator Rodgers were excellent nominees and he would have been pleased to have the opportunity to work with either of them.

A. President Carothers announced that, as indicated on the Agenda, he had approved Senate Bills #03-04--6 through #03-04--14 and had supported Resolution #03-04--1. The President noted that Bills #03-04&emdash;11 and #03-04&emdash;13 would also require confirmation by the Board of Governors.

B. President Carothers expressed his appreciation to Vice Chairperson Hollinshead for her 2 1/2 years of service to the Senate. He also thanked Commissioner Warner for joining the Faculty Senate that afternoon and said that he looked forward to the Commissioner's remarks, which he was certain that the Senate would find both informative and thought provoking. The President asked if there were any questions. There were none.

5. REPORTS OF STANDING AND SPECIAL COMMITTEES

A. Professor Kaufman presented the Four Hundred Nineteenth Report of the Curricular Affairs Committee, which appeared on pages 16 and 17 of the Agenda. He said that Section I was informational and asked if there were any questions. There were none.

Professor Kaufman said that Section II required confirmation by the Faculty Senate and moved approval. The motion carried.

B. Senator Jackson introduced the University College and General Education Committee Report, which appeared on pages 18 and 19 of the Agenda.

Senator Jackson moved approval of the Committee's recommendations.

Discussion ensued.

During discussion, Senator Wenisch corrected the title of PHL 103 to "Introduction to Philosophy."

After discussion, The Report of the UCGE Committee was approved as follows:

I. Fine Arts and Literature Core Area (A)

  1. ENG 160 (or CLS 160) Literatures of the World (examining human differences, reading complex texts, writing effectively) Diversity

  2. ENG 243 The Short Story (examining human differences, reading complex texts, writing effectively) Diversity

II. Foreign Language/Cross-cultural Competence Core Area (FC)

  1. FRN 309 French Culture and Literature to 1789 (examining human differences, reading complex texts, speaking effectively, using information technology) Diversity

  2. FRN 310 Modern French Culture and Literature (examining human differences, reading complex texts, speaking effectively, using information technology) Diversity

  3. GRK 301 Intermediate Greek I (examining human differences, reading complex texts, writing effectively) Diversity

  4. GRK 302 Intermediate Greek II (examining human differences, reading complex texts, writing effectively) Diversity

  5. HIS 374 History of Modern China (examining human differences, reading complex texts, writing effectively, using information technology) Diversity

  6. HIS 375 History of Modern Japan (examining human differences, reading complex texts, writing effectively, using information technology) Diversity

  7. LAT 301 Intermediate Latin (examining human differences, reading complex texts, writing effectively) Diversity

  8. LAT 302 Intermediate &endash;Advanced Latin (examining human differences, reading complex texts, writing effectively) Diversity

III. Letters Core Area (L)

  1. ENG 243 The Short Story (examining human differences, reading complex texts, writing effectively) Diversity

  2. HIS 172 Southeast Asian Culture and History (examining human differences, reading complex texts, writing effectively, using information technology) Diversity

  3. PHL 103 Introduction to Philosophy (reading complex texts, writing effectively, speaking effectively)

  4. PHL 235 (or CLS 235) Modern Thought &endash; Philosophy and Literature (reading complex texts, writing effectively, using qualitative data)

  5. PHL 204 Theories of Human Nature (reading complex texts, writing effectively, using qualitative data)

  6. PHL 331 East Asian Thought (examining human differences, reading complex texts, using qualitative data) Diversity

  7. RLS 126 The Development of Christian Thought (reading complex texts, using qualitative data, using information technology)

IV. Social Sciences Core Area (S)

  • SOC 240 Race and Ethnic Relations (examining human differences, reading complex texts, writing effectively) Diversity

6. SPECIAL FORUM

Chairperson Beckman introduced Dr. Jack Warner, Rhode Island Commissioner for Higher Education.

Commissioner Warner addressed the Senate about national and statewide trends with regard to standards and outcomes assessment in higher education, as well as for K-12. The Commissioner used a series of slides to supplement his presentation.

When he finished his remarks, Commissioner Warner asked if there were any questions or comments about some of the information he had just provided.

Discussion ensued.

When the time for the meeting expired, Chairperson Beckman thanked Commissioner Warner and invited the Commissioner and the rest of those in attendance to continue the discussion informally at the reception at the University Club sponsored by Deans Joseph and Letendre.

A motion was made to adjourn.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Sheila Black Grubman