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Scenes from Faculty Senate

Joint Strategic Planning Committee

Thursday, February 7, 2005

1:00 - 2:45 p.m.

Green Hall President's Conference Room

Attendance: Robert Carothers, Robert Weygand, Faye Boudreaux-Bartels, Celest Martin, Karen Ramsay, Bill Rosen, Michael Rice, Jim Kowalski, Roxanne Gomes, Vince Petronio, Abu Bakr, Ann Morrissey. Guests: Annie Newman, Linda Barrett, Dorothy Escribano, and Tom McElroy,

Announcements: President Carothers congratulated the Faculty Senate for actions taken at the January 27 meeting, approval of the recommendations of the Curricular Affairs Committee on Admission of Freshmen to the Providence Campus and the transfer of the department of Biological Sciences. He specifically complemented the Ad Hoc Committee on Admissions to the Providence Campus, chaired by Professor Marshall Feldman, for their work on the proposal.

Provost Swan reported on the establishment of three Search Committees as follows: Vice Provost for academic Affairs, Vice Provost for Information Services (Chief Information Officer) and Dean of Admissions.

In response to a question about faculty members on the Search Committees, Provost Swan indicated that there were faculty appointees by the AAUP as required by the Collective Bargaining Agreement. She said that the Faculty Senate Executive Committee and the AAUP Executive Committee would meet with all of the candidates.

Minutes:The minutes of the December 2, 2004 meeting were approved.

Classroom Utilization Study: Ms. Newman reported on the results of the classroom utilization study and responded to questions from the group.

Space Policy: Ms. Newman reported on the new Space Policy and responded to questions.

Senate Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels thanked Ms. Newman for her responsiveness to the Executive Committee's questions and suggestions when she met with the FSEC on the policy and subsequent to that meeting. Chairperson Boudreaux-Bartels reported that the Executive Committee had agreed that Senate approval was not necessary for the Policy and had forwarded it to the President, who had approved the policy and forwarded it to the Faculty Senate Office.

Ms. Grubman announced that the Policy had been numbered #05-1 and was on the web in Appendix G of the UNIVERSITY MANUAL. The specific website is http://www.uri.edu/facsen/URISPACE_POLICY.html. Ms. Grubman said that she planned to post the Policy on FacSen-Bus as well.

Fostering and Enhancing Interdisciplinary Activities at URI: Senate Vice Chairperson Rosen brought the JSPC up to date on the reason for the Executive Committee's request that the topic be included on the Agenda. He acknowledged the effectiveness of Partnerships and some aspects of the Honors Program but that despite public statements in support of interdisciplinary research and teaching activities, individual faculty members believe that there are real obstacles to their undertaking interdisciplinary activities.

Provost Swan noted that she had discussed this matter with the Executive Committee earlier in the academic year and had subsequently introduced the issue with the Council of Deans. She agreed that the reliance on the PCA had frequently resulted in department decisions to discourage interdisciplinary work, citing refusal by some departments to permit faculty to teach in the Honors Program.

Provost Swan said that there were a significant number of interdisciplinary activities at URI and noted that 40% of grant proposals were interdisciplinary in nature. She said that there appears to be a "disconnect" between the Deans' perceptions and faculty perceptions about barriers. She reported that the Council of Deans was planning a retreat to consider ways of encouraging participation in interdisciplinary efforts.

Faculty Senate Chair Boudreaux-Bartels suggested that a group of faculty members might also b invited to participate in the retreat to provide faculty perspectives on barriers to interdisciplinary efforts.

Members of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee also suggested that the Provost designate someone to look at ways other institutions promote interdisciplinary activities.

Mid-year review of FY05 budget: Ms. Barrett reported on the University's revisions to the FY '05 Budget to accommodate changes in revenue from what had been projected originally as well as State appropriation adjustments. She reviewed with the JSPC, President Carothers' memorandums to Commissioner Warner on adjustments to the unrestricted and the restricted budgets for FY '05 at mid-year and responded to questions from members of the JSPC.

Update on the Murphy Program review Model: Faculty Senate Boudreaux-Bartels reported on continuing efforts to refine Mr. Murphy's model to better reflect URI. She expressed her appreciation to Faculty Senators Martin and Rice, Ms. Morrissey, and Assistant Provost Katz, who along with herself continued to refine the survey.

In response to a question from the President, Ms. Morrissey said that the University owned the model developed by Mr. Murphy and could make any adjustments that were required.

Senate Chair Boudreaux-Bartels reported that once the representatives of the Executive Committee and the administration had the opportunity to complete their review and refinement of the survey, a group of faculty experts would be invited to review and comment on the model and survey.

Agenda for next meeting: The JSPC agreed that they would begin to look at the FY 07 budget on March 7, noting that it was unlikely that there would be consensus on the FY '06 budget by that meeting.

The meeting adjourned at 2:45 p.m.