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Scenes from Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Meeting

Minute

Meeting #20

January 25, 2006

1. The meeting was called to order at 12:40 p.m. on Wednesday, January 26, 2006 in the third floor conference room in Green Hall, Chairperson Rice presiding. All members were present.

2. Following discussion, the Minutes of Executive Committee Meeting #19, January 18, 2006 were approved.

3. Announcements/Correspondence:

a. Chairperson Rice reported on the January 23, 2006 meeting of the Board of Governors for Higher Education. Actions taken by the Board included approval of financial policies, Revisions to Regulations Governing both Proprietary Schools and other Institutions of Higher Education Operating in Rhode Island, which incorporated the most recent NEASC guidelines, URI’s Mission Statement, and the College of Pharmacy’s proposal to merge eight graduate programs into two.

Also approved were Finance/Facilities Committee recommendations, including the purchase of the former Theta Delta Chi Fraternity building, expansion of space at Independence Square II for URI’s Kinesiology program, final audit financial statements for URI, RIC and CCRI, and a recommendation to expand delegation of small purchasing authority at URI

b. The Executive Committee reviewed correspondence on the proposed position description for the Vice Provost for Graduate Studies, Research and Outreach. Chairperson Rice noted that he had forwarded the Executive Committee’s suggestions to Dean Seemann, who is chair, as well as to the members of the Search Committee.

President Carothers and Dr. Callahan arrived at 1:00 p.m. and the Executive Committee changed the order of business and moved to item 5.

5. The Executive Committee and President Carothers discussed the following topics from 1:00 p.m. to 2:10 p.m.

a. Strategic Planning: In response to the Executive Committee’s questions about the role of the JSPC in Strategic Planning, President Carothers outlined the process already begun in the summer: The JSPC developed four strategic initiatives, which have been forwarded to the four divisions of the University for specific goals. Each of the divisions, facilitated by Ms. Morrissey and Mr. Bakr is in the process of developing specific goals. In academic affairs, the Council of Deans has formed four subcommittees to work on each of the initiatives. When the divisions have identified their goals and strategies for meeting them, the JSPC will again review the objectives and strategies and decide which should go forward. President Carothers said that he planned to draft a document based on the JSPC’s discussions, which will be similar in format to the last strategic plan and to bring it back to the JSPC for advice and counsel.

With regard to the Blue Ribbon Commission on Futuring, discussion ensued as to how far in the future the Commission should project. Following discussion, the consensus of the group was that twenty years was about as far into the future such a committee might project without getting into the realm of science fiction. Suggestions were made with regard to the composition of the committee and President Carothers was encouraged to include junior faculty who are most likely to be at URI in twenty years, along with faculty who have been or are currently, active at the University. President Carothers said that he would seek suggestions of names of junior faculty members. It was further suggested that the Blue Ribbon Commission begin its work by using the most recent report as a starting point.

b. Assessment of administrative support services as part of URI’s Self-Study: The Executive Committee suggested to President Carothers that the timing was appropriate for undertaking a systematic review of administrative services. They emphasized to the President that they were not looking to assign blame for bottlenecks, but rather ask for units to identify problems that occur frequently during administrative processes and work to remedy some of them.

Senator Kowalski reported that the academic department chairs had initiated an e-mail list to allow them to ask questions and clarify problems as they occur. He said the chairs were also interested in working out a calendar of deadlines with administrative offices as another way to reduce bottlenecks.

c. The AIIM Survey: The Executive Committee asked President Carothers for his impressions of the results of the AIIM Survey. President Carothers said that the survey appeared to be a groundbreaking tool that would provide a greater range of information and advice to departments and the administration than had the PCA. He said that much of the non-monetary information should be useful to departments in their planning and he suggested that departments might want to have a facilitator to help them look at areas where they might improve.

d. President Carothers briefly brought the Executive Committee up-to-date on what he expected from the Governor’s State of the State address. He also addressed concerns that state agencies might be asked to reduce their FY’06 operating budgets before the end of the fiscal year.

When President Carothers and Dr. Callahan left the meeting, the Executive Committee resumed its regular order of business at item 3, c.

3. c. The Executive Committee discussed e-mail correspondence from Senator Wenisch, Chair of the Constitution, By-Laws and University Manual Committee in response to the Executive Committee’s proposed revisions to the University Manual. The Executive Committee agreed to include Senator Wenisch’s proposed modification in the revised draft. They also agreed that his concerns about the evaluation process should be forwarded to the group charged to refine the model. In addition, the Executive Committee decided that Senator Wenisch’s position with regard to the official status of the fall 2005 AIIM undertaking should be considered further.

Ms, Grubman said that she would draft a report for the Executive Committee on program review and that she hoped to complete it by the next meeting.

d. Copies of a letter from Commissioner Warner to President Carothers, Chairperson Rice and Vice Chairperson Martin expressing appreciation for the Providence Campus Undergraduate Initiative were distributed. It was noted that the Commissioner had also enclosed with the letter an opinion piece from The Providence Journal regarding Rhode Island’s disturbing trends for an educated workforce in the future. Ms. Grubman agreed to provide the Executive Committee with copies of the enclosures.

4. The Executive Committee reviewed the Agenda for Faculty Senate Meeting #5, January 26, 2006 in preparation for the following afternoon’s meeting.

6. The Executive Committee agreed to discuss the Faculty Survey Questionnaire and agreed to postpone discussion of the remaining items of continuing concern until their next meeting.

The Executive Committee reviewed a preliminary draft of the Faculty Survey Questionnaire, which had been forwarded to them by Professor Costello. Following discussion, the Executive Committee agreed to set aside time early in their February 1 meeting to review the items in a similar manner to the previous FSEC’s initial review of the AIIM Questionnaire.

The meeting was adjourned at 2:45 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Sheila Black Grubman