UNIVERSITY
OF RHODE ISLAND
Kingston, Rhode Island
FACULTY SENATE
MINUTES
Faculty Senate Executive
Committee Meeting #13 – November 20, 2007
1. The meeting was called to
order at 8:40 a.m. on Tuesday, November 20, 2007 in the third floor
conference room in Green Hall, Chairperson Miller presiding. All
members were present.
2. The Minutes of Executive
Committee Meetings #10, October 30, 2007, and #12, November 13, 2007 were approved as corrected.
3. Announcements/Correspondence
a.
The Executive Committee discussed the recent controversy with regard to
the President and the Deans and various comments that they had received
from faculty members across campus. It was agreed that they would
discuss this and related matters with President Carothers when he joins
them later in the meeting.
b. The Executive Committee
discussed draft letters about the AIIM from Professor Rice on behalf of
the APRC. The first draft was to Deans and Department Chairs and the
second, to faculty. A number of suggestions were made and Vice
Chairperson Martin agreed to edit the letters and come back with a
revised draft.
4. The Executive Committee was
brought up to date on the following matters of continuing
concern:
a.
Searches: The Executive
Committee agreed to ask President Carothers for a progress report on
the Provost Search
when they meet with him later that morning. Chairperson Miller reported
briefly on the progress of the search for the Dean of Engineering. It was
noted that no information had been forthcoming about the Dean of Pharmacy Search and
Ms. Grubman agreed to contact Professor Barbour to ask for a progress
report.
b. Administrator Evaluation: Ms.
Grubman reported that she and Senator Rosen, the Administrator
Evaluation Coordinator, had met the previous week with the AEC for Dean Seemann and had
delivered the CD’s with scanned letters from the CELS faculty.
She said that Senator Rosen had outlined the process and had emphasized
the importance of confidentiality. She reported that Professor
Paton had agreed to chair the committee, after which she and Professor
Rosen left the meeting.
Ms. Grubman said that the
administrator evaluation letters for Dean McKinney had arrived
in the Senate Office the previous week and would be scanned in the same
manner as those for Dean Seemann. She said that she and Senator
Rosen would meet with Dean McKinney’s AEC on November 30.
In response to a question from
the FSEC, Ms. Grubman said that she believed that the next two
administrators to be evaluated were Vice Provost McCray and Dean
Richmond during the spring 2008 semester.
c. Student/Faculty Ratio: It was
noted that additional information from Mr. Humphrey on freshmen and
sophomore enrollment had been forwarded to the Executive
Committee. It was suggested that although 32 faculty members were
new to the university this fall, the question was how many are
additions to the faculty rather than replacements.
Discussion ensued as to whether
student/faculty ratio was the appropriate measure to gather the
information they wanted. They asked Ms. Grubman to contact the
AAUP about the number of continuing tenure-track faculty members at URI
five, ten and fifteen years ago and then find out how many students
were enrolled at the university during those years.
5. President Carothers met with
the Executive Committee from 9:30 - 10:30 a.m.
President Carothers began the
meeting by distributing copies of his letter to the faculty, which he
had forwarded to Ms. Grubman and Ms. Acciardo that morning for
distribution to their respective e-mail lists. (See attached.)
Discussion ensued with regard to the letter
The Executive Committee strongly
recommended that the President call a special meeting of the General
Faculty-Graduate Faculty in January to give him the opportunity to
speak directly about his plans over the next year and a half.
President Carothers suggested that it would be more appropriate for the
new Provost to outline future plans at such a meeting.
In response to the Executive
Committee’s questions about the status of the Provost Search, President
Carothers said that he hoped to make a recommendation to the Board of
Governors and an announcement shortly thereafter. President
Carothers said that he expected that the Provost-appointee would be
able to visit the University within a few days of the
announcement. He suggested that the Executive Committee might
want to schedule a meeting during that period.
The Executive Committee
discussed their concerns that quality of the University and its
academic programs should take precedence in any discussion of
access. They emphasized the need to have programs that people
would want to have access to. The Executive Committee suggested
that the University work closely with CCRI to ensure that more students
are prepared for work at the University. President Carothers said
that CCRI was an appropriate entry into the University but only for
Rhode Island students.
President Carothers said that
improving student retention would have an impact on the budget.
He said that although URI followed almost all of the “best practices”
with regard to student retention, the graduation rate stayed about the
same. He said that Mr. Boden in the Office of Institutional Research
had done an historic review and found that except for wartime, the
graduation rate was consistent since the University opened. The
Executive Committee and the President speculated about possible reasons
for the consistent graduation rate.
The meeting was adjourned at
10:35 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Sheila Black Grubman
Colleagues:
Much as been made in the last
twenty-four hours about when I will leave the office of president and
why. As most of you know, my current contract runs through June
30, 2009, and I intend to fulfill that contract. It is not my intent to
seek an additional three-year term. Beyond June 2009, I have
looked forward to some good and productive years among the faculty of
the University.
This decision is not driven by
my concerns about the state budget picture, as the media would have
it. We have weathered such circumstances many times in my tenure
(and before), and we are much better positioned this time around to
sustain the quality of the University through our own means. After what
will then be eighteen years as the president of the University of Rhode
Island, the second longest tenure of a president at URI, I believe that
it is simply in the best interests of the University to bring in a
fresh perspective and new energy.
Provost Swan's decision to leave
the office of provost on December 31, 2007 has made it necessary for us
to appoint a new senior leader to that most important post, a position
second only to the president in authority and responsibility. We have
been through an exhaustive search and screening process, under the
leadership of the committee led by Psychology Professor James
Prochaska. I have completed due diligence on the candidates
recommended to me, and I expect to make an announcement of a new
provost at the December 3 meeting of the Board of Governors.
It is very important to me and
to all of us that the new provost be firmly grounded at the University
before a presidential search begins. For that reason, I have held
out of the possibility of serving one more year beyond June 2009 to
ensure a good transition. This decision is entirely in the hands of the
Board of Governors. Should they wish me to serve another year, that
would mean that the search for my successor would begin in the fall of
2009 with a new president in place by July 1, 2010.
It is certainly true that these
are challenging times. State budget woes, changes in the office
of the provost, delays in signing new collective bargaining agreements
with our several unions, our reaccreditations process, and enrollment
growth--these are all reasons for the current level of stress in our
community. But this is also a strong community, resilient and committed
to our mission. We care about our students and their success, and
our research and outreach programs serve Rhode Island, America and the
world. Rhode Island's motto is simply "Hope," and that motto conveys
our sense of optimism about the future of this University. In
this holiday season, we have much to be thankful for. Keep the
faith. RLC