UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND

Kingston, Rhode Island

FACULTY SENATE

MINUTES

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Meeting #28

April 13, 2004

1. The meeting was called to order at 10:35 a.m. on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 in the third floor conference room in Green Hall, Chairperson Beckman presiding. All members were present except Senator Grubman-Black.

2. The minutes from Faculty Senate Executive Committee Meetings #26, March 30, 2004 and #27, April 6, 2004 were approved as revised.

3. Announcements/Correspondence

a. Senator Rosen reported that he and Vice Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels had attended the Board of Governors Meeting on April 12, 2004. He said that, consistent with recent practice, there had been little discussion of the agenda items. He did note that URI students spoke in support of an increase in the student activities fee and that Vice President Weygand gave a presentation on revisions to the Master Plan. Senator Rosen also reported that the Board had approved a feasibility study for building a dorm at Rhode Island College.

b. Ms. Grubman announced that because President Carothers would be out of the country, his April 20 meeting with FSEC has been rescheduled for May 4, 2004

c. Ms. Grubman said that the Senate Office had been asked to count the ballots for the Biological Sciences Department vote. She asked Chairperson Beckman and Vice Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels if they would help her count ballots should it become necessary for them to do so and they agreed.*

* Subsequent to the meeting, Mr. Harry Amaral, Director of Enrollment Services, Mr. Gerard Valiquette, Associate Director of Enrollment Services, and Ms. Grubman counted the ballots in order to comply with the department's request that they be counted by 9:00 a.m. on April 14.

d. Ms. Grubman asked if members of the Executive Committee had received materials related to Board of Governors' assessment mandate, which had been forwarded by the Provost. Since everyone had received the documents but had not necessarily had the opportunity to read them, it was agreed to discuss the materials at a subsequent meeting.

4. The Executive Committee was joined from 11:35 a.m. until 12:40 p.m. by the following members of the Ad Hoc Committee on Admissions to the Providence Campus: Senator Feldman, Professors Quina and Newman, Associate Dean Ferszt and Assistant Provost Katz.

The members of the Ad Hoc Committee reviewed with the Executive Committee the most recent draft of their report to the Senate and responded to questions and suggestions. Ms. Grubman asked that she receive an electronic copy of the revised Interim Report as soon as it was completed so she could post it on the web before the Faculty Senate Meeting.

The Executive Committee urged all of the members of the Ad Hoc Committee to attend the Senate meeting to clarify issues and respond to questions. The Ad Hoc Committee was also asked to draft a resolution to determine whether the Senate agrees that they should continue to pursue the issue of admitting traditional freshmen directly into the Providence campus.

5. The Executive Committee reviewed the Agenda for Faculty Senate Meeting #8, April 15, 2004. Chairperson Beckman's report on the JSPC on behalf of the Executive Committee was discussed.

6. The Executive Committee considered the following matters related to committees:

a. A request from Ms. Chen, the University's Webmaster, that they appoint a Faculty Senate representative to the Web Advisory Committee was discussed.

b. Ms. Grubman reported that she had spoken to Professor Onorato, Chair of the Library Committee, who had reported that he and Vice President Beagle planned to meet soon. Shortly after that meeting Vice President Beagle planned to meet with the entire Library Committee.

The Executive Committee asked Ms. Grubman to forward to the Library Committee a letter on fund-raising for the University at Buffalo Library that Senator Grubman-Black had received and subsequently faxed to the FSEC and the President. This letter was a follow-up example of priority fund-raising for a library, as was discussed previously between the FSEC and the President.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:00 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Sheila Black Grubman