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Scenes from Faculty Senate

Joint Strategic Planning Committee

Thursday, December 4, 2003

1:00 p.m. - 2:50 p.m.

Green Hall Conference Room

Attendance: Robert L. Carothers, Beverly Swan, Bob Beagle, Tom Dougan, Linda Barrett, Judy Beckman, Mary Hollinshead, Faye Boudreaux-Bartels, Steve Grubman-Black,, Michael Rice, Bill Rosen, Ann Morrissey, Earle Degraphenried, Soledade Surrette and Paul DePace.

Annoucements:

The Minutes of the November 6, 2003 meeting were approved.

Provost Swan reported that she would meet with the Faculty Senate Executive Committee to discuss the establishment of a task force on academic reorganization to follow up on the report from the Council of Deans that had been discussed at the previous meeting. She said that she had also indicated to the Executive Committee that she was interested in following up on the Senate's disapproval of recommendations with regard to admissions to the Providence Campus.

Vice President Dougan reported that the SECU campaign was over for this year. He said that there was not an official tally, but the University appeared to have fallen short of its goal of $130,000. He also reported that the task force that he had established after the hate incident has planned a series of activities designed to combat hate and promote tolerance on campus. He announced that these activities would take place in late February.

Senate Chairperson Beckman said that the Executive Committee would like to spend time at the next JSPC meeting discussing the possibility conducting a simultaneous review of processes for evaluating cost and quality of programs. She distributed a draft proposal from the Executive Committee for initiating a new discussion of the University's processes for evaluating programs and departments. (Attachment #1) Senate Chairperson Beckman also asked that the JSPC plan its agendas at least two meetings in advance and distribute materials no later than the Monday before the next scheduled meeting.

Future Priorities for the University: Discussion ensued with regard to whether the University's Vision Statement, which had been adopted in 1992, and the University's Mission Statement, adopted in 1996, were still relevant as the University prepares for the future. Ms. Grubman agreed to forward copies of the 1996 Mission Statement to members of the committee before the next JSPC Meeting. (Attachment #2)

Members of the committee attempted to identify a common understanding of URI's goals and values. They talked about what kind of institution URI is and should be. The committee reviewed the definitions of a comprehensive University as compared to a research University. After discussion, the consensus of the committee was that the University's mission should remain close to its land grant roots and serve as a comprehensive University with a mission that includes graduate education and research, as well as teaching, service and outreach.

President Carothers asked the committee to consider whether the current mix of programs is good and whether the University can afford them. He challenged the committee to think about how to begin to identify priorities for the University that would serve as a basis for making decisions about resources and positions.

Next Meetings: It was agreed that the JSPC would continue its discussion at the December 18, 2003 meeting. Consideration of the Executive Committee's proposal to initiate a new discussion of the University's processes for evaluating programs and departments (Attachment #1) was scheduled for the first meeting in January.

The meeting adjourned at 2:50 p.m.



Attachment #1

The Faculty Senate Executive Committee proposes a new discussion of the University's processes for evaluating programs and departments. Many faculty members are unhappy with the current Program Contribution Analysis (PCA), and the complementary Program Quality Review (PQR) is far behind schedule. Our goal is to establish procedures for collecting quantitative and qualitative data that are simplified, equivalent and fair.

We propose that a Task Force address these concerns by:

  • Streamlining the PCA
  • Replacing the PQR with a new template for collecting qualitative data
  • Establishing an evaluation process that integrates both kids of information
  • Identifying which personnel and pathways will be included in the evaluation
  • Considering how recommendations (and commendations) should be made

A revised evaluation process might be visualized as below:

PDF Chart

Data collection should be simultaneous. Gathering parallel sets of information about cost and quality should provide a more complete and accurate idea of how units of the University work. While there are many difficult issues to be considered, we believe the University will benefit from better-informed decision-making. Faculty may also perceive that their work is receiving a more balanced assessment.

Attachment #2

May 1996 MISSION STATEMENT

The University of Rhode Island is the principal public research and graduate institution in the State of Rhode Island with responsibilities for expanding knowledge, for transmitting it, and for fostering its application. Its status as a land grant, sea grant, and urban grant institution highlights its traditions of natural resource, marine, and urban related research. The University is committed to providing strong undergraduate programs to promote students' ethical development and capabilities as critical and independent thinkers. To meet student and societal needs, it offers undergraduate professional education programs in a wide range of disciplines. Graduate programs provide rigorous advanced study and research opportunities for personal and professional development. With undergraduate and graduate programs in the liberal arts and sciences and focus programs in the areas of marine and environmental studies; health; children, families, and communities; and enterprise and advanced technology, the University strives to meet the rapidly changing needs of the State, the country, and the world.

To help achieve the teaching, research, and service objectives referred to above and to extend intellectual, cultural, and social horizons, the University offers a variety of special programs, including opportunities for learning outside the classroom and for community service. Committed to effective learning, the University encourages close student-faculty interaction. Distinctive programs such as interdisciplinary research partnerships involving faculty, students, and practitioners from within and outside the University are supported. It collaborates with governmental and other agencies, with other educational institutions, and with industry. It maintains extensive outreach and continuing education programs. The University sponsors an extensive array of concerts, performances, and exhibitions in music, theater, and other fine arts, and maintains significant recreational facilities and notable programs in intramural and intercollegiate athletics.

The University seeks talented undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and staff from a wide array of cultural, economic, and ethnic backgrounds who collaborate in an intellectual and social community of mutual respect to learn, to be enriched, and to produce significant research and scholarly and creative works. Its students in all their diversity -- from Rhode Island, across the country, and around the globe -- are expected to be active participants both in and beyond the classroom. Their performance, potential and commitment mark them as capable of advanced study and as future leaders.

To fulfill its special obligations to the State of Rhode Island, the University cooperates in offering programs with other Rhode Island institutions of higher-education, public and private. It is committed, through cooperative governance, to an on-going evaluation of programs, priorities, and processes in order to improve existing programs and to anticipate changing needs and new challenges. Aspiring to have a quality and extent of influence beyond the state, with breadth of vision and boldness of approach, the University of Rhode Island strives for excellence for Rhode Island and for the country.