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Scenes from Faculty Senate

Minutes for Faculty Senate Meetings

May 10, 2001

Number 10

1. The regular meeting of the Faculty Senate was called to order at 3:06 p.m. with the ringing of the Novgorod Bell in room 113 White Hall, Chairperson Peters presiding.

All members were present except Senators Armstrong, Bajcz, Blanpied, Finizio, Hedderich, Hickox, Ibrahim, Karow, Kulenovic, Lee, Lehrer, Ma, Malik, Martin, McIntyre, Paton, Specker, Sterne, Veyera, Wichelns and Wood; Vice Presidents Beagle, Dougan and Stark; Deans Luzzi, Mazze, Richmond, Taggart, Wright and Yoder; (Deans Brownell, Joseph, Kim, the Dean of the Feinstein College of Continuing Education and Registrar Strobel were represented by their designees); Mr. Jordan and Mr. DeMaria.

2. A motion was made to approve the Minutes of Faculty Senate Meeting #9, April 26, 2001.

Chairperson Peters asked if there were any additions or corrections to or questions about the Minutes. There were none.

The motion to approve the Minutes of Meeting #9 carried.

3. REPORTS OF OFFICERS AND EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

A. Announcements:

  1. Chairperson Peters announced that it was the organizational meeting of the 2001-02 Faculty Senate. He said that the following senators were taking their seats at that time:

    ARTS AND SCIENCES
    Gale Eaton
    Mary Hollinshead
    James Loy
    Celest Martin
    Thomas Morin
    Evelyn Sterne
    Fritz Wenisch
    Sheri Wills

    BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
    Stuart Westin

    ENGINEERING
    Osama Ibrahim

    HUMAN SCIENCE AND SERVICES
    Martin Bide
    Deborah Riebe

    PHARMACY
    John Babson
    Robert Rodgers (re-elected)

    ENVIRONMENT AND LIFE SCIENCES
    Marshall Feldman (re-elected)
    Murn Nippo (re-elected)

    UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
    Deborah Mongeau

  2. Chairperson Peters said that committee preference forms were mailed to all Senators earlier in the week. He reminded Senators to fill them out and return them to Ms. Grubman or the Faculty Senate Office. He noted that Senators get first choice.

  3. Chairperson Peters introduced Josh Roth, Chair of the Academic Affairs Committee of the Student Senate, who thanked the Senate for approving the changes in section 8.22.40 of the UNIVERSITY MANUAL at the previous meeting.

B. Vice Chairperson Goldsmith said that the minutes of Executive Committee Meetings #24and #25 appeared on pages 4-10 of the Agenda and asked if there were any questions. There were none.

C. Professor Young presented the report of the Nominating Committee for Officers of the 2000 &endash;01 Faculty Senate.

She placed in nomination the name of Senator C. B. Peters, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, for Chairperson of the Faculty Senate.

She asked if there were any nominations from the floor. There were none.

Professor Young announced that Chairperson Peters was re-elected by acclamation

Vice Chairperson Goldsmith moved approval of the following resolution:

The Faculty Senate of the University of Rhode Island expresses its appreciation to Chairperson C. B. Peters for his leadership during the 2000-01 academic year.

Breck has been articulate and forthright in putting forth t he agenda of the URI faculty and in representing the faculty's concerns.

With a firm hand and an ever-present sense of humor, he guided the Faculty Senate's consideration and approval of general education reform and has demonstrated his commitment to ensuring that the review and revision process is launched on a sound basis.

We are grateful that he has agreed to serve as chair for another term and look forward to his continued effectiveness in 2001-02.

Following discussion, the resolution was adopted.

Professor Young placed the name of Senator Marian Goldsmith in nomination for Vice Chairperson of the Faculty Senate.

She asked if there were any nominations from the floor. There were none.

Professor Young announced that Vice Chairperson Goldsmith was re-elected by acclamation.

Professor Young placed in nomination the names of the following two Senators for the two-year term on the 2001-02 Executive Committee:

  • Senator Mary Hollinshead
  • Senator Deborah Mongeau

She asked if there were any nominations from the floor. There were none.

Nominations were closed. The Senate proceeded to vote.

Professors Holmes, Rosen and Young served as tellers.

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

4. REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT

A. President Carothers announced that he had approved all of the legislation that appeared on the Agenda cover or was forwarded to him after the April 26 meeting.

B. President Carothers thanked the Faculty Senate and the AAUP for their efforts to obtain funding to repair Chafee Social Science Center. The President also reminded the Senate about Commencement and the upcoming Common Agenda meetings.

The President reported on two surveys of students that had been conducted that spring. He also outlined campus construction plans for the summer and subsequent semesters. President Carothers noted that plans for a parking garage were no longer under consideration.

The President congratulated the Senate on approving general education reform and thanked the chairs of the committees that had worked to bring the proposal forward. He also reminded the Senate about Commencement on May 19-20 and the Common Agenda meetings in early July.

President Carothers then responded to questions about traffic on route 138, campus parking, and plans for Homecoming weekend.

Senator Bide said that a great deal of credit for the general education legislation should go the Faculty Senate Chairperson Peters.

3. C. Chairperson Peters announced that Senator Mary Hollinshead had been elected to the two-year term on the Executive Committee.

Professor Young placed in nomination the names of the following four Senators for the two one-year terms on the 2001-02 Executive Committee:

  • Senator Marshall Feldman
  • Senator Chet Hickox
  • Senator Peter Paton
  • Senator Robert Rodgers

She asked if there were any nominations from the floor.

Senator Mongeau was nominated for a one-year term.

Nominations were closed. The Senate proceeded to vote.

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

5. REPORTS OF STANDING AND SPECIAL COMMITTEES

A. Senator Kaufman presented the Three Hundred and Ninety-Eighth Report of the Curricular Affairs Committee, which appeared on pages 12-15 of the Agenda. He said that Section I was informational and asked if there were any questions. There were none.

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

Senator Kaufman announced that Section III was a joint report of the Curricular Affairs Committee and Graduate Council on 400-level courses. He said that part A was informational and asked if there were any questions. There were none.

Senator Kaufman moved approval of part B of Section III. The motion carried.

B. Vice Provost Trubatch presented Curricular Report No. 2000-01-9 from the Graduate Council to the Faculty Senate, which appeared on pages 16-17 of the Agenda.

She said that the entire report required confirmation by the Faculty Senate and moved approval. The motion carried.

C. Professor Ordoñez presented the Council for Research Report #2000-2001: Annual Report for the 2000-01 Academic Year, which appeared on pages 18-20 of the Agenda.

She then introduced Professor Euler, who had chaired the Council for Research subcommittee on the Partnerships. Professor Euler distributed copies of a summary of the subcommittee's recommendations and reported on them briefly. He said that the full report on the partnerships was available on the web.

Chairperson Peters suggested that Senators address comments about the partnership report to the Executive Committee, c/o the Faculty Senate Office.

3. C. Chairperson Peters announced that Senator Deborah Mongeau had been elected to the first of the one-year terms on the Executive Committee.

He announced that a run-off election would be held between Senators Feldman and Hickox for the remaining one-year term on the Executive Committee. The Senate proceeded to vote.

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

5. D. Professor Johnson presented the Annual Report of the Honors Program and Visiting Scholars Committee, which appeared on pages 21-28 of the Agenda. He asked if there were any questions. There were none.

Senator Leo expressed appreciation to Professor Johnson for his work over the past several years.

3. C. Chairperson Peters announced that Senator Chet Hickox had been elected to the second one-year term on the Executive Committee.

The members of the 2001-02 Executive Committee are:

  • C. B. Peters, Chairperson
  • Marian Goldsmith, Vice Chairperson
  • Stephan Grilli
  • Chet Hickox
  • Mary Hollinshead
  • Deborah Mongeau

The Senate moved to the next item of business.

5. E. Senator Nippo presented the Annual Report of the Library Committee, which appeared on pages 29-32 of the Agenda.

Following discussion, Senator Nippo moved approval of the following recommendation of the Library Committee:

That the Faculty Senate include the Director of the University Libraries as an ex officio member of the Library Committee.

Chairperson Peters explained that this motion was a change to the By-Laws and could not be voted upon at that meeting.

Senator Nippo moved that the following Library Committee recommendations be approved as a resolution of the Faculty Senate:

That the Faculty Senate endorse the Library Committee's proposal that the Provost's Office earmark at least $3,000 from its discretionary faculty development funds for Library faculty and staff to attend conferences and training institutes relating to the evolving "21st Century Library" during the next three years. This should be over and above the current level of budget amount allocated for this purpose.

That the Faculty Senate urge the President to identify sufficient funding to fulfill Goal III, Objective and Outcome #7 of his Three Year Strategic Plan which requires the President to "Support enhancements of library capital and academic information systems" and to "Achieve funding goals for library and information technology". Funding goals were identified and recommended in Resolution #99-00--6 last year.

The resolution carried.

6. UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Chairperson Peters noted that there was no unfinished business.

7. NEW BUSINESS

Chairperson Peters asked if there was any new business.

Senator Arakelian asked that the Executive Committee consider limiting FacSen-L to Senate-related business

Chairperson Peters said that he wanted to end the meeting by asking the Senate to join him in thanking Ms. Grubman and Ms. DeFosse.

Chairperson Peters declared the meeting adjourned

The meeting was adjourned at 4:10 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Sheila Black Grubman
for Robert Strobel,
Secretary