UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND
Kingston, Rhode Island
FACULTY SENATE
MINUTES

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Meeting #21 – February 25, 2008

1. The meeting was called to order at 9:08 a.m. on Monday, February 25, 2008 in the third floor conference room in Green Hall, Chairperson Miller presiding. All members were present except Senator Kovarsky.

2. Announcements/Correspondence

a. Ms. Grubman reported that Vice Provost Pasquerella would be away on March 3 and apologized for having to reschedule her meeting with the FSEC.     

b. Chairperson Miller noted that Ms. Grubman had forwarded the results of classroom technology survey that Mr. Porter had provided at their request.  He encouraged members of the FSEC to review the materials.  

c. Chairperson Miller reminded the Executive Committee that as a result of their meeting with him the previous week, President Carothers had forwarded to them information on Identifying and Responding to Student Red Flag Behaviors.

d. A copy of President Carothers’ opinion piece “Making business sense of URI” from the Sunday, February 24, 2008 edition of The Providence Journal was circulated for information.

3. The Executive Committee discussed Faculty Senate Meeting #6, which had been held on February 21, 2008.  The Executive Committee agreed that Dr. Lambert’s presentation had been informative and moving and asked Ms. Grubman to share it with the Student Senate and Graduate Student Association leadership as well as with the subscribers to the Faculty Senate Listserv. (The presentation is available on the web at http://www.uri.edu/facsen/Understanding_the_Student_Veteran.pdf).

Ms. Grubman said that she had received an apology from Assistant Vice President Wyman, who had been unable to attend the Faculty Senate meeting to report on the Emergency Alert System as planned.

The Executive Committee agreed to invite Mr. Wyman, Assistant Vice President for Business Services, to their March 3 meeting to discuss the Emergency Alert system and also to report on physical plant changes resulting from the work of the committee on the Visitors’ Experience, which was chaired by Paul Witham, Associate Vice President for Development.

4. The Executive Committee met with Provost Swan from 9:45-10:30.  The following matters were considered:
        
a. The Executive Committee asked about the status of the College of Pharmacy Dean Search. Provost Swan replied that because Interim Dean Jordan has been so effective, and because Associate Dean Lausier has assumed increased responsibilities, the appointment of the Search Committee will been delayed until Dr. DeHayes assumes the Provost position full-time.  
    
b. Provost Swan distributed copies of the NEASC Accreditation Report, along with the University’s response to it.  She said that President Carothers had invited her to accompany him to the NEASC meeting on February 28.
        
The Provost said that there were no surprises in the Report. She noted that among the concerns raised were the University’s budget situation, the planning process and assessment.  She reported that some of the members of the Accreditation Team had been from private institutions and were not as familiar with public education in New England as the Chair, Dr. Sherry Penney.  She said that President Carothers, whose recent opinion piece about funding of URI had just appeared in The Providence Journal on Sunday, would begin to address the financial concerns.  

With regard to assessment, Provost Swan said that she had elaborated on URI’s progress in her response to the Report and pointed out that the University was farther ahead than many of its New England counterparts.
            
(The Final Report of the NEASC Accreditation Team and URI’s response to it are available on the web at http://www.uri.edu/accreditation/.)

c. The Executive Committee and Provost Swan discussed the Executive Committee’s position that access to graduation, not just access to admission, should be a goal for URI. The Executive Committee suggested that one important way to increase access to the University would be by continuous improvement in our interaction with CCRI. Provost Swan said that a significant effort to coordinate with CCRI was underway and suggested that the Executive Committee invite Dean Richmond to discuss it with them.
    
They also discussed the Special Program for Talent Development and its record of achievement. Provost Swan noted that while Talent Development was effective, the program was very expensive and couldn’t be the only route for student success.
        
d. Provost Swan and the Executive Committee discussed the transition in Academic Affairs.  Provost Swan said that she had been meeting regularly with Dr. De Hayes when he was on campus and had offered to assist him if and when he asked.

Provost Swan said that she would take the Executive Committee’s suggestion that she write a book about her experiences under advisement.        

When Provost Swan left the meeting, the Executive Committee resumed its regular order of business.

5. The Executive committee discussed the following matters of continuing interest:

a. Administrator Evaluation:  Ms. Grubman said that she hadn’t heard from the Administrator Evaluation Committee for Dean McKinney about their notice to the faculty that the evaluation had been completed.  She reported that Vice Provost McCray’s administrator evaluation process had been initiated and that she would notify Dean Richmond’s constituency group about the Dean’s Administrator Evaluation before the end of the day.

b. Activities of Committees:  Ms. Grubman announced that the faculty comments on URI 101 collected by the UCGE Subcommittee on URI 101 were available in the Faculty Senate Office.  She explained that all identifying information had been removed before the materials were delivered.  

Ms. Grubman reported that the CAC Subcommittee on Course Fees had drafted a proposed policy and procedure on assessing fees for courses.  She said that the Executive Committee would receive copies of the draft for comment along with the Provost, Dr. De Hayes and Enrollment Services before the recommendations were forwarded to the CAC for its consideration.

Ms. Grubman reported that she had written to the chairs of Senate committees and Joint Senate-Administration Committees requesting that they provide the Senate Office with reports for the spring meetings.  She said that she had asked Senator Nassersharif for an electronic version of the Admissions Advisory Committee’s report for the March 27 Agenda.  

The meeting was adjourned at 10:50 a.m.
                                        
                                        Respectfully submitted,
                                        
                                        Sheila Black Grubman