UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND
Kingston, Rhode Island
FACULTY SENATE
MINUTES
Faculty Senate Executive Committee Meeting #13 – November 23, 2004
1. The meeting was called to order at 1:05 p.m. on Tuesday,
November 23, 2004 in the third floor conference room in Green Hall, Chairperson
Boudreaux-Bartels presiding. All members were present.
2. The Executive Committee met from 1:05 to 1:50 p.m.
with Professor Ramstad, Chair of the Athletics Advisory Board and Mr. Tom
McElroy, the Director of Athletics.
Mr. McElroy and members of the Executive Committee introduced themselves.
Mr. McElroy explained that he had not followed a traditional route for Athletics
Directors by serving as a coach. He said that his undergraduate degree
was in journalism and he had entered athletics through sports communication,
working 20 years at the Big East Conference before becoming Deputy Director
of Athletics at the University of Connecticut.
Mr. McElroy urged that the faculty give him some time and opportunity
to put his own vision into effect. He said that he was very conscious
of the need to foster the athletes as students and he wanted to bring athletics
into the mainstream of the University. He indicated that he would appreciate
suggestions for ways of meeting faculty members on a casual basis. The
Executive Committee said that one possibility might be for Mr. McElroy to
attend Senate meetings and interact with faculty at the post-meeting receptions.
Professor Ramstad and Mr. McElroy suggested that the issue of priority
registration for special categories of students including athletes might be
revisited. They proposed that it might be more appropriate for athletes
in certain sports to have Tuesday-Thursday class schedules when possible to
reduce the number of absences from courses, for example, missed classes on
Fridays due to weekend games.
3. The draft minutes from Meetings #11, November 9,
2004 and #12, November 16, 2004 were reviewed. It was agreed to approve
the Minutes tentatively pending comments or suggestions from the guests in
attendance at the two meetings.
4. Announcements/Correspondence:
a. Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels announced that the
following events had been scheduled:
i) The workshop sponsored by the Office of Higher
Education and facilitated by Dr. Peggy Maki will be held from 9:00 a.m. to
3:00 p.m. on January 10, 2005;
ii) Commissioner Warner has been confirmed to speak
at the December 9 Faculty Senate meeting. Four faculty members from
URI have also agreed to speak briefly on their experiences with Outcomes Assessment;
iii) The Davis Foundations grant to the University
for outcomes assessment activities will support the reception following the
December 9 Faculty Senate meeting
b. Senator Kowalski reported that Professor Foster
had informed him that she planned to leave her position as Associate Director
of the Honors Program and return to full-time teaching at the end of the Academic
year. It was noted that the University’s Scholarships and Fellowships
program had been developed and had grown as successful as it has due primarily
to the efforts of Professor Foster.
The Executive Committee agreed to include the upcoming vacancy in the
Honors Program and the future of the fellowships-scholarships program with
Provost Swan when they meet with her on November 30.
5. The Executive Committee discussed the previous meeting
of the Faculty Senate, which had been held on November 18, 2004. Chairperson
Boudreaux-Bartels thanked Senator Ramsay for her presentation to the Senate
on the results of the Executive Committee’s Survey at that point.
Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels reported that Vice President Weygand had requested
a list of questions that had been raised at the previous Senate meeting during
his State of the Budget Address and Capital Improvement Plan presentation.
After discussion, the Executive Committee asked Ms. Grubman to forward
a list of questions to Vice President Weygand.
6. The Executive Committee reviewed a draft Agenda for
Faculty Senate Meeting #4, December 9, 2004. Ms Grubman explained that
the list of committee reports remained tentative because the deadline for
submitting reports was the next day. She said that she should have an
agenda ready for approval and distribution at their next meeting.
7. Matters of Continuing Concern:
a. The Murphy Program Review Model: Chairperson
Boudreaux-Bartels announced that Mr. Murphy had forwarded to her the rubric
he had used when he conducted individual interviews and that she
would forward it to the Executive Committee for discussion at their next meeting.
She also reported that she had been informed that Mr. Murphy would be working
with a graduate student from computer engineering who he would teach how
to modify the survey to fit URI’s specific needs.
The Executive Committee agreed to discuss the possibility of forming
a subcommittee to review the questions and responses in the current instrument
with an effort to clarify them for the subsequent beta testing.
b. The Executive Committee reviewed correspondence
between Dean Fran Cohen, the University Ombud and the Student Rights and
Responsibilities Committee about academic integrity.
Ms. Grubman noted that the Student Rights and Responsibilities Committee,
which included four faculty members appointed by the Senate, must approve
the proposals. She explained that once the committee approved recommendations,
they would come to the Faculty Senate for approval.
Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels asked that members of the Executive Committee
forward any comments or suggestions to the Student Rights and Responsibilities
Committee.
c. JSPC: The Executive Committee reviewed the
Agenda for the December 2 meeting of the JSPC. They agreed to devote some
time at their next meeting to outlining the major points they wanted to make
with regard to their proposal for “Ombuds for administrative units.”
Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels reminded the Executive Committee that the President’s
proposal for a Charter High School for students transitioning from the corrections
system was on the Agenda as well and encouraged everyone to review the large
proposal that President Carothers had forwarded to them
Draft Minutes from the October 21 JSPC Meeting were reviewed and members
of the Executive Committee suggested revisions.
The meeting was adjourned at 3:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Sheila Black Grubman