MINUTES

 

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Meeting 30 – February 25, 2011 & March 2, 2011

 

1.     The meeting was called to order at 11:05 a.m. on Friday, February 25, 2011 in the President’s Conference Room in Green Hall, Chairperson Eaton presiding.  All members were present.

 

2.     The Minutes from Faculty Senate Executive Committee Meeting #27, February 4, 2011 were approved as revised.

 

3.   The Executive Committee discussed Faculty Senate Meeting #5, which had been held the previous afternoon.

 

a.   It was agreed that the drop period legislation might have been approved if it had been amended.  It was noted that some Senators were under the impression that the proposal could not be amended.  However, the prohibition on amendments only applies to the calendar proposal. The Executive Committee discussed the possibility of a new motion, based on the comments during the discussion of the defeated motion, which could make the legislation acceptable to more Senators. Senator Krieger agreed to draft a possible revision to the legislation to be shared with the Academic Standards and Calendar Committee.

 

      b.   Members of the FSEC raised concern that with the exception of the two Academic Standards and Calendar Committee Reports, there had been little discussion of the many items on the Agenda.

 

      .     Chairperson Eaton suggested that if a brief summary of each report was presented on the screen at the beginning of the report, it might engender more questions and comments than the current practice of simply scrolling down through the Reports as motions are made.  The Executive Committee agreed to ask committee chairs to provide the Senate Office with abstracts of their reports.

 

4.   The Executive Committee met with Provost DeHayes and Ms. Morrissey from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.   The following matters were considered:

a.     The Confucius Institute:  Provost DeHayes reported on positive discussions with Hanban and the receipt of a letter from Hanban confirming their continuing support for the Confucius Institute at URI.  He said that the report from the University to Hanban, which listed the Institute’s accomplishments and future goals, had been well received. He also informed the FSEC that a Confucius Center Advisory Committee is being formed as recommended by the ad hoc committee review.  He explained that oversight for strategic planning and budget for the Institute had been assigned to Vice Provost Katz and the day-to-day operations, especially with regard to Chinese language and education, will be through the College of Arts and Sciences.

Ms. Grubman said that the legislation on the Confucius Institute proposal had not yet been forwarded to the Board of Governors because a full proposal in the Board of Governors format had not been received.

b.     Syllabi:  Provost De Hayes and the Executive Committee agreed to work together on efforts to encourage faculty members to provide students with more complete and detailed syllabi.  Materials on good syllabi were distributed and it was agreed to ask the CAC to identify the major components of a “good” syllabus and identify possible samples.  It was also suggested that the Student Senate be asked to review the guidelines as well.

Ms. Morrissey suggested that a template for preparing syllabi, similar to the planning   template on the Provost’s Planning website, might also be useful.

It was agreed that a CAC website on syllabi might be referred to by the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs when reminding faculty about syllabi and other academic matters at the beginning of the year.  Provost DeHayes agreed to inform the academic deans about the website and to emphasize that deans should remind department chairs of their responsibility for reviewing and maintaining individual course syllabi in their department offices. 

c.    Advising initiative:  Provost DeHayes and members of the FSEC discussed the apparent lack of consistency in student advising that the Student Senate had identified as an issue of concern. They discussed a proposed charge to and membership of a steering committee on advising.

d.     JCAP:  The Executive Committee asked Provost DeHayes to consider whether JCAP should assume some responsibilities regarding matters which had been previously assigned to JSPC, such as Program Review and liasion with the Campus Master Plan Review Team and the Space Enhancement, Design and Allocation Committee (SEDA).

Following discussion, Ms Grubman and Ms. Morrissey agreed to review the issues regarding these committees and make recommendations to the Provost and FSEC.

The meeting recessed and was reconvened in the Provost’s Conference Room at 4:00 p.m. on March 2. All members were present except Senators Larsen and Krieger who had previous commitments at that time.

5.   The following matters of continuing interest were considered:

 

a.   New program approval process: Senator Barbour reported on discussions by LOOC about their role, along with SLOAA, in the program approval process especially as it relates to the specific Board of Governors academic regulations about learning objectives.

     

      Senator Barbour and Ms. Grubman informed the FSEC about the review of the approval process for new programs and centers that they had been working on with Vice Provost Beauvais.

 

b.    Terms for FSEC officers:  Following discussion, it was agreed that the first step towards improving continuity with regard to Faculty Senate Officers and members of the Executive Committee would be to recommend that the Faculty Senate elect its chair and vice chair at the February meeting each year and inviting the new officers-to-be to attend meetings of the FSEC, the Strategic Budget and Planning Committee and/or the Joint Committee on Academic Planning during the remainder of the spring semester.

 

Ms. Grubman agreed to ask the CBUM Committee which sections of the Faculty Senate By-Laws and/or Constitution should be amended to reflect this change.

 

c.   Joint online/distance learning committee:  Senator Ciccomascolo reported that the revised draft of the charge and membership of the committee was being circulated and said she hoped a proposal for a new standing committee would be ready to present to the Faculty Senate in March.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 5:05 p.m.

                          

                                          Respectfully submitted,

                                          Sheila Black Grubman