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Scenes from Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Meeting

Minute

Meeting #13

November 18, 2003

1. The meeting was called to order at 1:05 p.m. on Tuesday, November 18, 2003 in the third floor conference room in Green Hall, Chairperson Beckman presiding. All members were present.

2. The minutes from Executive Committee Meeting #12, November 12, 2003 were approved as corrected.

3. Announcements/Correspondence:

a. Chairperson Beckman's copy of a memorandum from Dean Nassarsharif to the College of Engineering Faculty regarding the proposal from the Department of Ocean Engineering to transfer to the Graduate School of Oceanography was circulated for information. Ms. Grubman agreed to provide interested members of the Executive Committee with individual copies upon request.

It was agreed that it was the Executive Committee's responsibility to ensure that the process was a fair and open one. The Executive Committee agreed to consult Senator Wenisch about the appropriate procedure in the event that one college approves the proposed transfer and the other votes against it.

b. The Agenda for the November 19 meeting of the Council of Deans was circulated for information.

4. The Executive Committee met with President Carothers from 1:30-2:30. The following matters were discussed:

a. The Executive Committee proposed to the President that it might be worthwhile to establish a joint task force to look at improving both the quantitative and qualitative measures used to evaluate programs. It was suggested that if the PCA and the PQR were reviewed simultaneously in order to improve both processes, the result might provide a more comprehensive set of information for evaluating performance.

Vice Chairperson Hollinshead agreed to provide the Executive Committee before their next meeting with a draft outlining a simultaneous cost review-quality review process.

b. In response to questions from members of the Executive Committee about the apparent change in priority with regard to a Chemistry and Physics Building, President Carothers said that the need for a better facility for chemistry, and possibly physics, had been under discussion for a while. He said that the concept had to be brought forward as soon as possible in order to get such a facility in the queue for the bond question in either 2006 or 2008.

c. President Carothers reported to the Executive Committee on the possible development, with support by the URI School of Education, of a charter school proposal related to the State Training School. He explained that in response to the recidivism rate for adolescents going from the Training School directly into their communities and back again into the prison system, many members of the diverse Rhode Island community, including those historically involved in corrections reform, supported the concept. There seems also to be support from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Department of Children, Youth and Families and members of the General Assembly.

The President explained that the possibility of establishing a Charter High School specifically designed for students coming out of the Training School appeared to be the most appropriate alternative. He noted that faculty members from URI's School of Education and others had been conducting research in this area for a while and were expected to submit a proposal on the curriculum and pedagogy for such a school.

d. The Executive Committee and President Carothers discussed the need to find a way to develop a more trusting relationship among members of the JSPC in order that the group work as productively as everyone hopes.

e. President Carothers informed the Executive Committee that four finalists for the position of Vice President for Administration would be on campus for interviews in December. Chairperson Beckman noted that Ms. Orabone had already informed her and Ms. Grubman that each of the candidates would be scheduled to meet with the Executive Committee.

4. The Executive Committee reviewed the Agenda for the November 20 Faculty Senate Meeting.

Chairperson Beckman shared with the Executive Committee the slides she was preparing to use in her introduction to the New Business discussion of faculty governance and reorganization planning.

The meeting was adjourned at 2:40 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Sheila Black Grubman