Minutes

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Meeting #20 – November 24, 2010

1. Call to order at 10:00 a.m. in the second floor conference room in the Alumni Center. Stephen Swallow presided and all members were present.

2. Minutes from FSEC Meeting #19 were approved.

3. Announcements/Correspondence

a. Senator Ciccomascolo received a phone call today from Professor John Boulmetis (EDC). He is a member of the URI Alumni Association Executive Board. He reported that the Alumni Association would like to have an alumnus/a representing the Faculty Senate on the Executive Board. Senator Ciccomascolo will provide the Alumni Relations office with a list of Faculty Senators which can be cross-referenced with alumni lists.

4. Planning the Agenda for Faculty Senate Meeting #4 – December 16, 2010

a. We have two nominees for the sixth member of the FSEC: William Ohley, Professor of Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering, and William Krieger, Assistant Professor of Philosophy.

b. We will prepare a Power Point Presentation for discussion of Terms of Office for Executive Committee members. Details of this discussion are in section 6 of these minutes.

5. Meetings with Provost DeHayes and President Dooley

a. Senators Swallow and Eaton have a meeting with President Dooley today at 1PM.

b. The FSEC will be meeting with President Dooley on December 15.

c. No meetings of the FSEC are scheduled with Provost DeHayes in December.

6. Discussion on Terms of Officers of the FSEC

There was a general discussion of ways in which the FSEC might be restructured. A number of models were discussed, but it was agreed to hold off on public discussion of models until more opinion has been gathered from the Faculty Senate. Agreement was reached on several points:

a. The Faculty Senate Chair and Vice-Chair should be elected in January or February rather than in May to allow time to plan for the shift in their workloads for the coming year.

b. All members of the Faculty Senate should be eligible for election as Chair or Vice-Chair, even if this would extend their service as senators beyond what would have been the end of their terms.

c. The main goal in restructuring the FSEC is to guarantee that the faculty who play leadership roles in shared governance will be able to perform effectively. This requires preparation for leadership roles and greater acknowledgement of the time commitment involved.

d. Compensation for service on the FSEC but especially as Chair or Vice-Chair is an important issue but one to be resolved at a later date

Among the issues to be resolved are the following:

e. How long should the term of the Chair be?

f. How long should the term of the Vice-Chair be?

g. Should the position of Chair-elect be created?

h. Should the Chair-elect participate in the work of the SBPC?

i. Should the position of Past Chair be created?

j. Should the position of Vice-Chair elect be created?

k. Should the Vice-Chair have a special role in the work of JCAP?

l. Should the Chair and Vice-Chair be regarded as representatives of their colleges? If not, should they be replaced as voting members of the Senate by other faculty from their colleges?

m. Should the roles of other members of the FSEC be redefined as well?

n. How can faculty be certain that their service at URI will be given appropriate weight in future promotion and tenure decisions?

Specific two and three-year models for service as Faculty Senate officers were discussed.

Respectfully submitted,

Nancy Eaton and Michael Honhart