Skip to main content
Scenes from Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Meeting

Minute

Meeting #12

November 16, 2004

1. The meeting was called to order at 1:05 p.m. on Tuesday, November 16, 2004 in the third floor conference room in Green Hall, Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels presiding. All members were present.

2. Announcements/Correspondence:

a. Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels announced that the RI Office of Higher Education plans to sponsor an all-day workshop on Student Learning Outcomes Assessment for faculty members at URI, RIC and CCRI on January 10, 2005. Dr. Peggy Maki, who is a national expert on Assessment, will serve as facilitator. She noted that a location had not yet been announced.

It was agreed that Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels should include this as one of her announcements at the Faculty Senate meeting on November 18.

b. Ms. Grubman distributed an article from the November 15, 2004 issue of BusinessWeek that had been forwarded to members of the JSPC by Vice President Beagle. The article was a commentary titled "Should Public Universities Behave Like Private Colleges? They're hiking tuition and becoming more elitist - ducking key social role."

3. The Executive Committee reviewed the Agenda for Faculty Senate Meeting #3, November 18, 2004 in preparation for the upcoming meeting.

4. The Executive Committee met with Vice President Weygand from 1:30 to 2:50 p.m.

The following matters were considered:

a. Update on efforts to repair university buildings: In response to a question about the mold problems in Independence Hall, Vice President Weygand said that the building had been cleaned and tested by RI Analytical, and with the exception of one office, which was scheduled for work shortly, was safe. He said that he would look into scheduling a final update meeting as soon as possible.

With regard to falling granite on the Library Building, Vice President Weygand announced that the University had hired the firm of Robinson, Green and Beretta to reinforce the exterior. He said that the entire process should be completed in three months.

Vice President Weygand reported that Assistant Vice President Wyman now had all of the information on both studies of the cancer cluster in Chafee Building and had scheduled a meeting for residents of the building and other concerned members of the community on December 14.

b. Capital Improvements: Vice President Weygand briefly reported on his November 18 presentation on the Capital Improvement Plan and provided some details about plans for renovations scheduled for Independence Hall, Lippitt, and Davis. He explained that most of the faculty and staff in Independence Hall and the classroom space would go into the Surge Building after Commencement. The Executive Committee suggested that more shuttle busses would be needed to bring faculty and students back and forth in light of the large number of students who now take classes in Independence Hall. Vice President Weygand agreed that something would have to be done in this regard.

Also discussed were the following: residence hall renovations that had been included in the recent bond issue, questions as to when the state would be willing to release the bonds for the Biotechnology Center, plans to build more parking spaces, especially for commuter students, construction of a new Dining Hall for Hope, the transformation of Roger Williams Dining Hall into a Student Center, and the remodeling of the Pell Library. Vice President Weygand said that the University would continue to follow the Master Plan, which proposed moving parking areas to the periphery of campus so as to reclaim existing lots in the center for "green" areas. He said that in addition to providing more handicapped parking spaces, the University would improve access to buildings within the center of campus, by widening pathways and changing the grading in some areas.

Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels asked Vice President Weygand to provide the Senate Office with his Power Point presentation on the capital improvement plan, in advance of the Faculty Senate meeting to be posted on the web as far in advance of the meeting as possible. Vice President Weygand agreed to do so.

c. "Ombuds" for administrative units: The Executive Committee discussed with Vice President Weygand their proposal that each administrative unit (1) create a manual or flowchart describing how paperwork and procedures are handled and (2) appoint a person who could answer questions and clarify processes for faculty, students and staff who are attempting to navigate one of a number of processes through the system. It was noted that some areas of concern reported by several respondents in a recent Faculty Senate survey fell within the purview of the Vice President for Administration. Vice President Weygand indicated that he was aware of some of them and was working toward improvements. He explained that after the books for the previous fiscal year were closed and audited recently, he had designated key people to examine systemic problem areas. He also proposed having regular training sessions for department business managers.

d. Travel Procedures: Vice President Weygand mentioned that he is looking into the time and financial costs involved in URI having to make all travel arrangements through the designated State-authorized agent for travel. He asked the Executive Committee to forward to him examples of problems that faculty or staff have had with travel procedures or paperwork processing.

When Vice President Weygand left the meeting, the Executive Committee continued with their agenda.

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

a. Survey of faculty issues: Senators Ramsay and Kowalski summarized for the Executive Committee the information they had collected through the surveys. It was agreed that they would provide the Senate with a very preliminary report on the results. The Executive Committee re-iterated that the survey was created to be a quick, informal tool to solicit concerns and feedback; the survey was never intended to be a rigorous or scientific instrument. It was noted that there were some issues that faculty, students and staff had identified in common. Several respondents thanked the Executive Committee for soliciting their comments.

Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels thanked Senator Ramsay for all of the time and energy she had devoted to compiling the survey results.

b. JSPC Agenda for December 2: Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels reported that the December 2 JSPC Agenda would include the Executive Committee's proposal that each administrative unit appoint an "Ombud" person, ideally a fairly high level administrator, to help people navigate the bureaucratic maze at URI and to help identify systemic problem areas. It was noted that President Carothers had included another item on the Agenda, which was the proposal for a new high school designed to assist young people make the transition from a corrections facility to a productive life.

c. Athletics: Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels reminded the Executive Committee that they would be meeting with Professor Ramstad and Athletics Director McElroy at 1:00 p.m. on November 23. She said that Ms. Grubman had not received any specific topics from Professor Ramstad, but had inquired as to whether he and Mr. McElroy had read the article titled "The Faculty's Role in Reforming College Sports" from the September-October 2004 issue of Academe.

The meeting was adjourned at 3:15 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Sheila Black Grubman