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Scenes from Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Meeting

Minute

Meeting #7

October 5, 2004

1. The meeting was called to order at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 5, 2004 in the third floor conference room in Green Hall, Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels presiding. All members were present.

2. The Executive Committee met with Provost Swan from 1:00 to 1:35 p.m. Dr. Dorothy Escribano, President Carothers' American Council for Education (ACE) Fellow, accompanied Provost Swan.

Provost Swan informed the Executive Committee that President Carothers had been unable to join her for the meeting with the Executive Committee because he was attending a funeral service for Mr. David Wallace from the College of the Environment and Life Sciences.

Provost Swan and Ms. Grubman explained that there had been an unfortunate miscommunication about the Election Day Holiday. Ms. Grubman reported that she had found the source of the discrepancy in her review of Faculty Senate legislation from 1999-00. She said that she would inform the community immediately after the meeting that offices will be closed and there will be no classes on Election Day, Tuesday, November 2, 2004.

Provost Swan informed the Executive Committee that she was reviewing the administration of the Library and Information Services in light of the upcoming vacancy in the position of Vice Provost for Information Services and Dean of University Libraries. She said that one option she and the President were considering was separating the Library Dean's position from that of the University's Chief Information Officer. The Executive Committee agreed that whatever options are considered, the Office of Information Services should remain in Academic Affairs.

Provost Swan reported that she intended to meet with the faculty in the Library and the directors in the division, as well as staff from both the Library and from OIS to seek their guidance and advice as part of her reconsideration of the position(s). She was in the process of learning more about how other Universities organized these areas, as well as the qualifications for chief information officer positions before proceeding.

Discussion ensued, during which members of the Executive Committee raised questions and offered advice to the Provost about potential administrative changes.

In addition, Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels suggested that it might also be the appropriate time to address the membership and functions of the Information Resources Council (IRC), along with the Instructional Space Advisory Group (ISAG) and the Classroom Management Team.

After Provost Swan and Dr. Escribano left, the Executive Committee resumed its regular order of business.

3. The Minutes of Executive Committee Meeting #6, September 28, 2004 were approved.

4. Announcements/Correspondence:

a. Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels informed the Executive Committee that Vice President Weygand had a commitment on October 28 and was no longer able to give the State of the Budget Address at the October Senate Meeting. She announced that Ms. Barrett, Director of Finance and Budget, would give the report in his stead.

b. Ms. Grubman reminded the Executive Committee that Rhode Island's Higher Education community had scheduled a rally at the State House for Wednesday, October 6 at 11 a.m. in support of the four higher education bond referenda questions on the November ballot.

Members of the FSEC indicated that they would not be able to attend. They noted Wednesday morning was a difficult time for faculty and students to attend a rally in Providence because of class schedules. They agreed that a larger group from URI would have been able to attend a rally if it were scheduled for late in the afternoon.

5. The Executive Committee discussed the following matters of continuing concern:

a. Questions that the FSEC will be raising with administrators: The Executive Committee reviewed the spreadsheet prepared by Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels. Following discussion, they agreed on the following topics for their October 12 meeting with President Carothers:

The membership of the Campus Master Plan Review Team;

Mr. Murphy's Factor Analysis Model - Next steps;

Facilitating interdisciplinary efforts by bridging and crossing college lines at URI.

b. Following up on Mr. Tom Murphy's presentation to Faculty Senate: The Executive Committee agreed that it had been unfortunate that time limitations prevented Mr. Murphy from presenting more information to the Faculty Senate about his Academic Assessment model. Chairperson Boudreaux- Bartels suggested that some of the questions might have been answered in the presentation if Mr. Murphy had the opportunity to present his later slides.

The Executive Committee discussed the possibility of holding an information session on the Academic Assessment model for members of the Faculty Senate and possibly another session later for any interested faculty.

Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels reported that Mr. Murphy, Ms. Morrissey and Assistant Provost Katz had drafted a proposal to present a paper at an upcoming Society for College and University Planning (SCUP) Conference. She said that she had also been included in the proposal to present a faculty perspective.

c. JSPC: The Executive Committee reviewed the draft Minutes from the September 9, 2004 meeting of the JSPC and agreed that with the correction of one typo they were in a form ready for approval.

The Executive Committee reviewed the Agenda for the October 7, 2004 JSPC meeting which had as its primary item of business Mr. Murphy's Academic Assessment Model.

After discussion, Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels said that she would try to obtain for the Executive Committee printed material on Mr. Murphy's presentation before the JSPC meeting. She said that she would also ask for Mr. Murphy's PowerPoint presentation to be posted on the Faculty Senate website.

d. Committees: The Executive Committee discussed the membership of the Master Plan Review Team and agreed that in its current configuration there was no faculty representation through the Faculty Senate. It was noted that the sole faculty member on the committee, Professor Will Green, had been appointed by the President because of his expertise in Landscape Architecture.

Ms. Grubman reported that the University Judicial Board needed two more appointees, especially for the fall semester because other members of the committee had commitments that made it difficult for them to attend hearings. She said that the six faculty or staff members to be appointed by the Faculty Senate must be at the rank of assistant professor/assistant director or above and that it was also possible to appoint faculty emeriti. After discussion, Ms. Grubman agreed to ask faculty members who had previously served on the Board for advice and suggestions.

e. Broadening the survey of faculty issues: The Executive Committee agreed that it was important that they give, at least a preliminary report on survey results at the next Senate meeting. Senator Kowalski proposed that department chairs be asked, through Senators if possible, to distribute the brief survey to faculty, staff and students in their departments. He said that he would also send surveys to deans for their staff and to Directors of departments, as well. It was agreed that Senator Kowalski would draft the cover letter and survey and would ask the Executive Committee to review both before making copies for distribution.

It was agreed to postpone the remaining items of business until the next meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 2:55 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Sheila Black Grubman