UNIVERSITY
OF RHODE ISLAND
Kingston, Rhode Island
FACULTY SENATE
MINUTES
Faculty Senate Executive
Committee Meeting #19 – February 11, 2008
1. The meeting was called to
order at 9:05 a.m. on Monday, February 11, 2008 in the President’s
Conference Room in Green Hall, Vice Chairperson Martin presiding. All
members were present except Chairperson Miller.
2. The Minutes of Executive
Committee Meetings #17, January 28, 2008 and #18, February 4, 2008 were
approved with minor corrections.
3. Vice Chairperson Martin
reported that she had attended a recent meeting of the Branding
Initiative Steering Committee as Chairperson Miller’s
representative. She reported on the discussions at the meeting on
the proposed new URI logo and colors.
After discussion, the Executive
Committee asked Senator Beauvais to ask Professor Dholakia, Co-Chair of
the committee, about the process they had followed for developing URI’s
“new brand.”
4. The Executive Committee
reviewed the draft Agenda for Faculty Senate Meeting #6, February 21,
2008 and approved it in final form.
5. Update on ongoing issues
a.
Administrator Evaluation:
Ms. Grubman reported on a recent meeting with Provost Swan, Vice
Provost McCray, Dean Richmond and Senator Rosen on the Administrator
Evaluation Process. She said that the purpose of the meeting was to
initiate the two administrator evaluations scheduled for the spring
semester. At the meeting Provost Swan had explained to Dean
Richmond and Vice Provost McCray her perspective on the administrator
evaluation process and Senator Rosen outlined the full procedure that
would be followed. Ms. Grubman noted that the members of the
constituent groups for each of the administrators were established as
well.
b. URI Commission on Research and Innovation:
Members of the Executive Committee who had attended the February 7
meeting with Christine Heenan from the Clarendon Group brought Senator
Costello and Ms. Grubman up to date on their discussion about factors
that contribute to excellence in research Ms. Grubman was asked to
provide members of the FSEC with copies of materials from the Clarendon
Group, which had been the basis for the discussion on February 7.
c. JSPC: Ms Grubman announced that the
April meeting of the JSPC had been rescheduled for April 10. The
Executive Committee agreed that it would be appropriate to discuss the
research mission of the University at that meeting.
d. Activities of Committees: In
response to a question from the FSEC, Ms. Grubman said that she would
ask Senator Honhart about the status of report of the UCGE Subcommittee on URI 101.
Ms. Grubman said that the CAC Subcommittee on Lab Fees
had agreed to eliminate the term lab fees and was working on a policy
with regard to course fees.
Senator Kovarsky said that
issues related to the definition of “access” for URI had been the major
topic at he initial meeting of the JSPC Subcommittee on Access to
Excellence. He said that members of the committee had been asked
to reflect on what was meant by access at a research university and
planned to meet again to discuss the issue further.
Senator Kovarsky reported that
there had been some discussion about barriers to student access to STEM
discipline (e.g. performance in gateway, entry-level courses such as
mathematics) and some discussion of successful programs in Engineering
that could serve as models.
The Executive Committee
suggested that perhaps a review of the Talent Development Program as a
model for providing access to the University might be undertaken in an
effort to learn what aspects of the program were successful and which
might be improved.
6. The Executive Committee
agreed to the following topics for their February 18 meeting with
President Carothers:
a.
The URI Commission on Research and Innovation chaired by Judge Flanders
and staffed by the Clarendon Group.
b. The Final Report of the NEASC
Accreditation Team.
The meeting was adjourned at
10:45 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Sheila Black Grubman