UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND
Kingston, Rhode Island
FACULTY SENATE
MINUTES
Faculty Senate Executive Committee Meeting #16 – December 14, 2004
1. The meeting was called to order at 1:25 p.m. on Tuesday,
December 14, 2004 in the third floor conference room in Green Hall, Vice
Chairperson Rosen presiding. All members were present except Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels
and Senator Kowalski.
2. The minutes of Executive Committee Meetings #13,
November 23, 2004 and #14, November 30, 2004 were approved. Draft minutes
from Meeting #15, December 7, 2004 were distributed.
3. Announcements/Correspondence:
a. Ms. Grubman reported that Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels
has asked her to contact the Dean of the College of Engineering about the
appropriate procedure for establishing a new department. Ms. Grubman
said that she had referred Dean Nassersharif to section 4.75 of the Faculty
Senate By-Laws (http://www.uri.edu/facsen/APPENDIX_C04.html)
for the charge to the Curricular Affairs Committee and to Appendix E of the
University Manual (http://www.uri.edu/facsen/APPENDIX_E.html),
noting that the chart for permanent course proposals applies to all changes
that go through the CAC and explained that in the case of a new department
(new degree program, new center, etc.) the final step is the Board of Governors.
b. Vice Chairperson Rosen announced that the Board
of Governors Academic and Student Affairs Committee would be meeting on Friday,
December 17 at 8:30 a.m. He said that neither he nor Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels
would be able to attend.
Senator Rice agreed to represent the Executive Committee at that meeting
and he was provided with the agenda and background materials.
c. Ms. Grubman reported that Professor Yngve Ramstad
would like to report to the Senate as the designated Faculty Athletics Representative
to the NCAA. She said that he asked to be included on the Agenda for
the April meeting when the faculty members on the Athletics Advisory Board
traditionally report. The Executive Committee asked Ms. Grubman to find
out whether Professor Ramstad, and possibly Mr. McElroy, might be willing
to speak at an earlier meeting about a variety of issues of informal and probably
peripheral interest to a formal report of the Athletics Advisory Board.
4. The Executive Committee discussed the previous meeting of the Faculty
Senate, which was held on December 9, 2004. It was noted that the recommendation
of the Academic Standards and Calendar Committee for a procedure in situations
when a student challenges a grade had engendered a great deal of discussion
and had been appropriately returned to the committee for further consideration.
5. The Executive Committee considered the following
matters of continuing interest:
a. JSPC: Vice Chairperson Rosen noted that
it was time to consider budget priorities for FY ’06. He noted that
a copy of the 2003-04 Executive Committee’s list of priorities for FY’05
had been enclosed with the Agenda and asked that members of the Executive
Committee begin thinking about priorities for the coming year.
b. The Murphy Program Review Model:
Senators Martin and Rice reported that they had met with Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels
the previous week and were scheduled to meet again the next day. They
had begun to review carefully the questions and the potential answers in the
two surveys used in Murphy’s model in order to make the language more precise
and less open to interpretation.
Ms. Grubman reported that questions had been raised about security and
confidentiality if a student adapted the model for the web at URI. She
said that Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels had informed her that Mr. Murphy was
working with a subcontractor to make the model web-based and that the University
was considering hiring this subcontractor. Ms. Grubman said that Chairperson
Boudreaux-Bartels had discussed this idea with Ms. Morrissey and had offered
alternative suggestions.
6. President Carothers met with the Executive Committee
from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.
President Carothers announced that Tom Dougan, Vice President for Student
Affairs had suffered a heart attack over the weekend and had subsequently
received a triple by-pass operation. He said that Vice President Dougan
appeared to be recovering from the heart attack and the surgery.
The following matters were then considered:
a. Administrative “Ombud”: President Carothers
and the Executive Committee discussed the Executive Committee’s proposal
that the University administration undertake an effort to update, clarify,
and codify administrative rules, regulations and forms; create flowcharts
depicting necessary steps in routine paperwork and approval processes; and
establish in each administrative unit a relatively high level, administrative
person who can respond to process and procedural questions, especially those
of an unusual nature, and review systems to recommend appropriate modifications
to aid in ease of use.
President Carothers said that there was a great deal of support for
the proposal from members of the administration, including the staff in various
departments that were the source of the concerns. He shared with the
Executive Committee a draft plan for initiating the process that had been
developed by Mr. Bakr and Ms. Morrissey.
b. The Murphy Program Review Model:
In response to questions from the Executive Committee, President Carothers
indicated that he had begun to be more convinced about the usefulness of
the model. He said that Mr. Murphy had presented his model to RIC and CCRI
and he had become more comfortable with using the model both for making financial
decisions and for program review. He said that he could see how the model
could help programs improve their planning and decision-making.
President Carothers expressed concern about the ability of members of
a given department to view their programs with sufficient data to ensure relative
objectivity. The Executive Committee said that they were in the process
of clarifying the language of the questions and responses to provide for
more objectivity and consistency in responding to the questions. Senator
Rice also indicated that the subcommittee working on the questions had agreed
that each department be provided with appropriate data upon which they could
base some of their responses. It was also noted that a more objective
“internal accrediting group” would also answer the questions based on the
same factual information.
President Carothers said that there needed to be a way to obtain and
update financial data used in the model on a regular basis and noted that
the PCA data were already three years out of date.
President Carothers said that the key to the success of the model was
that faculty as well as administrators are comfortable with using it.
c. Funding for the University: The Executive
Committee asked President Carothers about plans to improve the financial
health of the University in light of a declining State appropriation.
President Carothers said that he was working with the Governor to develop
some long-term initiatives but that nothing was beyond the discussion stage
at present. He said that the establishment of a Research Corporation,
and possibly a real estate corporation might provide additional resources
for the University. He also said that Vice President Weygand continued
to explore the possibility of obtaining more autonomy for the University.
The President reminded the Executive Committee that every effort to move in
this direction must be balanced with the need to maintain state support.
The Executive Committee asked the President about applying the principles
of Responsibility-Centered Management (RCM) at the University. President Carothers
indicated that if departments had the ability to plan by saving funds for
future expenditures it would go a long way toward improving their ability
to manage their resources. Discussion ensued as to the likelihood of
whether the University might be granted the authority to budget for more than
one year at a time.
When President Carothers left the meeting, the Executive Committee resumed
their regular order of business:
5. c. Master Plan Review Team
(MRT): The Executive Committee agreed to recommend that Senator
Rice serve as the Faculty Senate’s representative to the MRT. Senator
Martin urged that Senator Rice try to keep persons with disabilities in mind
during the Master Plan Review Team’s discussions.
The meeting was adjourned at 2:40 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Sheila Black Grubman