Skip to main content
Scenes from Faculty Senate

Joint Strategic Planning Committee

September 18, 2003

1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Green Hall Conference Room

Attendance: Robert L. Carothers, M. Beverly Swan, Tom Dougan, Bob Beagle, Ann Morrissey, Abu Bakr, Judy Beckman, Mary Hollinshead, Faye Boudreaux-Bartels, Steve Grubman-Black, Michael Rice, Bill Rosen, Sheila Black Grubman, Kevin Lopes, Linda Barrett, Earle Degraphenried.

Annoucements:

a. President Carothers said that there appeared to be a breakthrough on the FTEs. He explained that the final bill that had been approved by the legislature had stated that "sponsored contract" positions are exempt from the FTE cap. Discussion ensued as to how the language might be interpreted with regard to freeing up positions that had formerly been under the cap.

b. President Carothers noted that the AAUP had ratified their contract and that the Board of Governors was scheduled to act on it at their September 23 meeting.

c. Faculty Senate Chairperson Beckman raised concerns on behalf of the Executive Committee with regard to a recent article in The Providence Journal that quoted Ms. Barrett as reporting that the JSPC approved tuition increases. She noted that no actual votes had been taken by the JSPC and asked for a clarification as to how the misinformation came to be included in the article.

Interim Vice President Barrett reported that Ms. Acciardo had informed The Providence Journal and other newspapers that the article was in error and that the JSPC had not approved anything related to the budget. She speculated that the incorrect information probably originated in a Cigar article that in all likelihood had confused references to the Board of Governors Finance and Security Committee approval of the tuition increase with references to the JSPC.

d. Vice President Beagle reported that he had given a presentation about the upcoming Capital Campaign to the URI Foundation's trustees and at that meeting Dick Beaupre, an alumnus and new trustee, donated the first gift to the campaign. The gift was for Hope and Heritage Endowment for the College of Arts and Sciences.

Minutes: The minutes of the September 4, 2003 meeting, which included corrected minutes from August 20, were approved. Ms. Grubman thanked Interim Vice President Barrett for taking the time to review those sections of both sets of minutes that referred to the University's budget.

Update on Academic Planning: Provost Swan reported on the work of a small subcommittee of the Council of Deans (Deans Brownell, McKinney and Seemann and Interim Vice Provost Swift) that had been charged to consider possible organizational models keeping in mind President Carothers' July 8 memorandum on reorganization. She noted that a number of possible configurations were under discussion. She said that the subcommittee had been asked to report to the Provost by October 7 and to present these models to the Council of Deans on October 8, consistent with President Carothers' request for a report by November 1, 2003. She said that she would share the report with the JSPC in November.

Provost Swan noted that in addition to the work of the subcommittee, several other alternatives were under discussion. These included the possible transfer of summer session, a potential change in the structure of biological sciences and the prospective merger of Ocean Engineering with the Graduate School of Oceanography.

In response to questions raised by the members of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee, Provost Swan stated that proposals for reorganization or structural change would require consideration and action through the official faculty channels, which included departments, colleges, the Curricular Affairs Committee, the Faculty Senate, the President and the Board of Governors.

Provost Swan reviewed with the committee the factors that her office takes into consideration when allocating positions. She reminded the group that once a faculty position becomes vacant, it reverts to her office and is not necessarily re-allocated to the same department. She provided the committee with graphs and charts to illustrate changes in tenure-track and continuing faculty for fiscal years 1999 through 2003.

Next Meeting: It was agreed that time would be devoted at the October 2, 2003 meeting to an update on metrics for monitoring the Strategic Plan, including a report by Chris Wessells on OIS efforts to integrate data systems. It was also agreed that the committee should begin to discuss the fiscal '06 budget in the context of long-range planning.

The meeting was adjourned at 2:45 p.m.