FSEC_07m07-08.html

a. Vice Chairperson Martin distributed copies of FIPSE Grant information that had been forwarded to her by Ms. Grossman-Garber.

b. Chairperson Miller reminded the FSEC that the meeting with Vice President Alfonso had been postponed to October 16. He also shared with the committee materials he had received from Mr. Bakr on a PDLOT study of the Office of Research in 2002. He asked Ms. Grubman to send Vice President Alfonso a copy of the report if he hadn’t already seen it.

c. Ms. Grubman announced that the State of the Budget Address was scheduled for the November 15 Faculty Senate meeting.

a. Lab Fees: The Executive Committee reviewed the definitions of methods of instruction posted on the web at http://www.uri.edu/facsen/Method_of_Instruction.html and the fees schedule for 2007-08 at http://www.uri.edu/es/acadinfo/acadyear/tuition.html.

Following discussion, it was agreed that the CAC should be charged to develop criteria for determining what are acceptable uses for laboratory fees and whether the instructional method for any proposed course warrants the assessment of a laboratory fee.

b. Searches: The Executive Committee discussed the questions they might ask each of the candidates for Provost and issues that they should raise. They also agreed that some responses might lead to more detailed questions. Ms. Grubman reminded the Executive Committee that they were scheduled to interview Dr. Ian Gatley, Dean of the College of Science at Rochester Institute of Technology, on Thursday, October 11 at 9:00 a.m.

With regard to the Search Committee for the Dean of Pharmacy, it was agreed to recommend Professor Marilyn Barbour from the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Professor Nasser Zawia from the Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences as the Senate’s faculty appointees.

Chairperson Miller reported that the application period for the Dean of Engineering Search would close in approximately two weeks. He said that there seemed to be a very strong pool of candidates for the position.

c. Administrator Evaluation Committees: The Executive Committee reviewed the names of the volunteers for the Administrator Evaluation Committees for Dean McKinney and Dean Seemann. They agreed to the following members for the Dean Seemann AEC: Professor Marian Goldsmith, Biological Sciences, Professor Peter Paton, Natural Resources Science and Professor Cathy Roheim, Environmental and Resource Economics. The committee agreed to postpone their appointment of the Dean McKinney AEC pending further discussion.

d. Follow-up on President Carothers’ suggestions: The Executive Committee discussed President Carothers’ view that moving from three to four credit courses would have a number of benefits for the University. These might include enabling students to take full course loads with 12 rather than 15 credits each semester, providing an opportunity to go into greater depth in each course and offering more experiential learning and undergraduate research opportunities. It was noted that when the issue came up previously, many faculty members had been reluctant to move to 4-credit courses, although laboratory science courses have traditionally included a one-credit laboratory, either within the same course or with a required accompanying course.