NUMBER 5

UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND

Kingston, Rhode Island

FACULTY SENATE

MINUTES

Faculty Senate Meeting – January 27, 2005

1.    The regular meeting of the Faculty Senate was called to order at 3:10 p.m. in the Cherry Auditorium, Chester Kirk Building, Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels presiding.

All members were present except Senators Cohen, Dicioccio, Ginis, Grubman-Black, Hicks, Hu, Jouaneh, Kogut, Lauzon-Clabo, R. Lee, Lehrer, Leo, Manfredi, Oviatt, and Thiem; Vice Presidents Beagle and Weygand; Deans Farmer, Letendre, and Mazze, Mr. Sutherland and Mr. Lopes.

2.    Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels asked if there were any additions or corrections to or questions about the Minutes of Faculty Senate Meeting #4, December 9, 2004. There were none.

Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels ruled that in the absence of additions or corrections, the Minutes were approved as distributed.

3.    REPORTS OF OFFICERS AND EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

A.    Announcements:

1)     Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels announced that a series of workshops with Dr. Peggy Maki on assessment of student learning had been scheduled for URI.  She said that the workshops would be held on the following dates:  March 3, March 22, April 7, May 26 and October 7.  Each workshop will have 2-3 sessions per day with varying topics targeted to address needs of specific groups.  She asked that suggestions for these sessions should be made to Ms. Grossman-Garber at 4-5401 or Vice Provost Swift at 4-4408.

Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels encouraged everyone to learn more about student learning outcomes assessment by visiting the URI Student Learning Outcomes and Outcomes Assessment homepage. She said that the current site is http://www.ecentricsites.com/assessment/ and that the permanent site will be http://www.uri.edu/assessment/

2)    Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels thanked Dean Seemann, who was the sponsor of the reception at the University Club that afternoon. She encouraged everyone to gather at the University Club after the meeting.

B.    Vice Chairperson Rosen said that the minutes of Executive Committee Meetings #13, #14, #15 and #16 appeared on pages 3-16 of the Agenda.  He asked if there were any questions.  There were none.

C.    Vice Chairperson Rosen announced that the minutes from the Joint Strategic Planning Committee's October 21, 2004 meeting appeared on page 17 of the Agenda. He asked if there were any questions. There were none.

D. Vice Chairperson Rosen announced that he had recommendations on behalf of the Executive Committee for additional committee appointments for spring 2005.  He then moved that Senator Michael Rice be appointed to the Master Plan Review Team. The motion carried.

Vice Chairperson Rosen moved that Professor Gerry Tyler replace Professor Galen Johnson as Chair of the Honors Program and Visiting Scholars Committee for Spring 2005. The motion carried.

Vice Chairperson Rosen moved that Senator Linda Welters replace Professor Jing Jian Xiao on the Council for Research for Spring 2005. The motion carried.

4.    REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT

A.    President Carothers noted, as indicated on the Agenda, that he had approved Senate Bill #04-05--8.

B.  President Carothers presented highlights from the Governor’s budget and reported on the impact for URI. He said that URI’s request was $84,864,000 and the Governor budgeted $83,963,000 leaving the University about $900,000 short. The Governor moved $2 million to cover Shepard building expenses from the Department of Administration to the Board of Governors giving URI a total increase of 4.1%. (Without the Shepard money the increase is 2.98%.)

In addition, the Governor budgeted a COLA of 2% and URI planned to assume the difference to pay for the 3.5% increase in salaries. The budget also assumed a 5% health premium sharing in ‘05 and 10% in ‘06.

With regard to tuition, the Board of Governors had recommended an 8% increase and the Governor proposed an 8.9% increase to make up the $900K difference. He also noted that there is no money from the Governor for asset protection, but the President said that he hoped that the legislature would include that money. There were 3 FTEs added for the nursing expansion and pharmacy programs, but no money was added to fund the positions. He also noted that a major part of the increase in appropriation to higher education in the Governor’s budget goes to annualization costs of the CCRI Newport campus.

President Carothers also brought the Senate up to date on administrative searches. He said that the Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Search Committee would be chaired by Dean McKinney and noted that the search for the Associate Dean of Admissions position will take place after a Dean is selected.  He also reported that Dean Richmond will chair the Search Committee for the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and that Dean Nassersharif will chair the Search for the Vice Provost for Information Services. The Dean of Libraries search will begin after the Vice Provost position has been filled.

President Carothers announced that there was a 29.4% increase in the endowment last year and congratulated Mr. Coleman and Vice President Beagle for their efforts. He said that URI is almost back to the 2002 level before the market crashed.

President Carothers reported that URI did not fare well when compared to its peer institutions in a study of graduation rates (Educational Trust).  He said that the University remains well below peers in the financial aid and discount rates offered to students. In-state retention rate (freshmen to sophomore) is about 85% while out-of-state rate is 73%. The President suggested that retention rate correlates with family income. He noted that although the Governor has proposed to introduce legislation for an increase in aid to students, it is not yet in the budget.

5.    REPORTS OF STANDING AND SPECIAL COMMITTEES

A.  Senator Luebke introduced the Four Hundred Twenty-Eighth Report of the Curricular Affairs Committee:  Providence Campus Option for Freshmen, which appeared on pages 18-24 of the Agenda. She announced that Professor Feldman and other members of the Ad Hoc Committee on Admissions to the Providence Campus were available to answer questions.

Professor Feldman distributed copies of Appendix A, Budget and Staffing Plan, which had recently been posted on the web.

Senator Luebke then moved approval of Section I.

Discussion ensued.

When the fifteen minutes allocated for discussion expired, Senator Rice moved to extend debate for ten additional minutes.

Discussion resumed.

When the ten-minute extension of time expired, Senator Rice moved to vote immediately.  The motion to vote immediately carried.

The motion to approve Section I carried.

Senator Luebke moved approval of Section II, which recommended the addition of two new sections of the UNIVERSITY MANUAL.

Discussion ensued, during which an editorial correction was made to the proposed new section 8.88.10.

After discussion the motion carried.  Following are the proposed new sections of the UNIVERSITY MANUAL as corrected editorially:

8.11.12 As part of the application process, applicants shall specify a primary campus. Students may take up to six credits per semester without a fee adjustment at University of Rhode Island locations other than their primary campus. Applicants may choose a campus other than Kingston as their primary campus only if that campus offers their preferred major.

8.88.10 Degree Programs on the Providence Campus. Departments planning to offer existing degree programs at the Providence Campus must develop and approve a plan for offering and staffing courses and advising students.  Once approved by the academic department, this plan should be forwarded simultaneously to the appropriate college curriculum committee and to the Vice Provost for Urban Programs for review and approval and then undergraduate programs shall be forwarded to the Curricular Affairs Committee and graduate programs to the Graduate Council for approval.  Actions taken by the Curricular Affairs Committee and Graduate Council shall be reported to the Faculty Senate for information.

B.    Senator Luebke introduced the Four Hundred Twenty-Ninth Report of the Curricular Affairs Committee, which appeared on pages 25-27 of the Agenda and said that Section I was informational.

Senator Luebke said that Section II required confirmation by the Faculty Senate and moved approval.  The motion carried.

Senator Luebke announced that Section III was an informational report on 400-level courses.  

C.    Senator Jackson introduced the University College and General Education Committee Report #2004-005-3, which appeared on page 28 of the Agenda.

 He then moved approval of the UCGE Committee’s Report.  The motion carried.

D.    Vice Provost Trubatch moved approval of the Council for Research Report #2004-05-1: Center for Personal Financial Education, which appeared on pages 29-32 of the Agenda.

Discussion ensued.

Following discussion, the motion carried.

7.    UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels asked if there was any unfinished business.  There was none.

8.    NEW BUSINESS

Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels asked if there was any new business. There was none.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:30 p.m.