UNIVERSITY
OF RHODE ISLAND
Kingston, Rhode Island
FACULTY SENATE
MINUTES
Faculty Senate Executive
Committee Meeting #25 – March 31, 2008
1. The meeting was called to
order at 9:05 a.m. on Monday, March 31, 2008 in the third floor
conference room in Green Hall, Chairperson Miller presiding. All
members were present.
2. The Minutes for Executive
Committee Meetings #23, March 10, 2008 and #24, March 24, 2008 were
approved as corrected pending review by Dr. DeHayes and Professor
Kowalski of those portions that pertained to them.
3. Announcements/Correspondence:
a.
Vice Chairperson Martin reported on the Board of Governors Meeting of
March 24, 2008. She said that the President had announced that
the University had received full accreditation by NEASC. She said
that the University had been asked to provide NEASC with an update on
efforts to integrate planning and budgeting by 2010.
Vice Chairperson Martin said
that Commissioner Warner had talked about proposals to redesign public
higher education and possibly merge RIC and CCRI. She noted that
Commissioner Warner felt that the proposals would not provide any
savings.
She said that the Board had
approved the elimination of some undersubscribed programs at Rhode
Island College and had allowed others to continue. She said that
the Board had also approved actions with regard to system-wide outcomes
assessment.
When President Carothers
arrived, the Executive Committee moved to item 4 on their Agenda.
4. The Executive Committee met
with President Carothers from 9:15 to 9:50 a.m. They discussed the
possibility of reviving the Blue Ribbon Study Commission on Positioning
URI for the Future. The establishment of this commission, which
had been approved in the spring 2006, had been postponed because of all
of the efforts toward completing the NEASC Accreditation
Self-Study. President Carothers suggested that one faculty
member, possibly former Senate Chair, Michael Rice, be asked to
research and provide the background information that would be
needed. He said that when people outside the University are asked
to serve on a commission or board a great deal of advance work was
needed because of constraints on their time.
The Executive Committee asked
President Carothers about various proposals in the legislature to
change public higher education governance. The President said
that there were some legislators who were dissatisfied with the Board
of Governors and that a series of bills were being proposed to modify
or eliminate the Board, the Office of Higher Education, and to merge
Rhode Island College and CCRI. He indicated that there did not
appear to be any savings associated with the proposal to merge RIC and
CCRI and noted that proposals of such magnitude couldn't be achieved
over a short period of time.
When President Carothers left
the meeting, the Executive Committee resumed their regular order of
business.
3.
b. Chairperson Miller and Vice Chairperson Martin reported on the March
26 Town Meeting on Research at URI. They said that it was well
attended, but rather than a town-meeting format, the program was
informational with regard to what the Clarendon Group had learned at
that point in their study for the URI Commission on Research and
Innovation.
They did note that there had
been some opportunity for faculty involved with sponsored research to
raise concerns about the problem of out-of-state tuition for Graduate
Research Assistants.
5. The Executive Committee
discussed Faculty Senate Meeting #7, which had been held on March
27. They agreed that it had been a very productive meeting and a
significant amount of business was accomplished. They also agreed
that, overall, the Branding presentation had gone well.
6. The Executive Committee met
with Professor Rice from 10:15 to 11:00 a.m. The revitalization
of the Blue Ribbon Commission was the main topic of discussion.
The Executive Committee asked Professor Rice to take a lead role in
revising the charge and in preparing the groundwork for the Blue Ribbon
Commission. They also suggested that he and Ms. Morrissey should
work together on the project.
The meeting was adjourned at
11:00 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Sheila Black Grubman