At the University of Rhode Island Faculty Senate’s second meeting of the academic year, the Senate reviewed and voted on issues including course changes, concerns for the new year and progress towards inclusion in University documents.
Michael Rice, the vice president of the Senate, presented an informational report about operations of the Information Technology Strategic Governance Committee and a proposal to revise the honorary degree committee at the Oct. 21 meeting.
The proposal was to alter the language in the manual and update titles, include additional members, remove staff who already report to the President and allow faculty staggered terms and renewal. The proposal was approved with 49 yeas and 1 abstention.
University President Marc Parlange delivered the president’s report with a roadmap and updates for the Senate, starting with information about COVID-19 responses and preparedness.
“The unified response has paid off,” Parlange said. “The community has done its job.”
Parlange reported that there is slightly less than one infection a day on campus, which he credits to the URI community being compliant with indoor masking and keeping up with vaccinations.
In his report, Parlange also talked about the restructured administrative policy committee, talked about addressing the climate survey findings to the community, gave a government relations update and praised the Student Success Act that was signed on Oct. 18 by Gov. Daniel McKee, which ensures in-state tuition for Rhode Island students regardless of their immigration status
Parlange also updated the Senate on the status of bills from the last meeting, such as the modified bereavement policy, creating an undergraduate minor in interdisciplinary neuroscience, use of gender-neutral language in the University Constitution, bylaws and manual and a resolution honoring Provost Donald DeHayes, all of which President Parlange approved.
Brenton DeBoef, the dean of the graduate school, delivered a graduate curriculum report and proposed three minor course changes to the Senate. The master’s in adult education program requested to move from the accelerated online program to a normal in-person program and the master’s in music education and doctorate nursing program requested to change some required courses. The change in music education would allow for thesis and non-thesis options to MUS 570 and updating the Teacher Certification Program requirements. In the nursing program, NUR 602 and NUR 603 would be removed as required courses and NUR 601 and NUR 661 would be added as required courses. The bills were passed unanimously.
A bill creating two new 500-level courses, LSC 558: Research Methods in the Field of Information and MUS 576: Graduate Music Education Practicum, and two new 600-level courses for Nursing, NUR 601: Theoretical Foundations of Nursing Science and NUR 661: Integrative Review for Nursing Science was also proposed. The bill was passed unanimously.
Christopher Kincaid, the chair of the curriculum and standards committee, discussed making changes to existing courses, adding three new courses, ITR 306: Workplace Readiness for Arts and Humanities Majors, ITR 307: Workplace Readiness for Communication/Media Majors and SPA 419: Spanish Dialectology. He also suggested program changes including changing the title of the online degree completion in communication studies and adding two new courses to the film media department. All three proposals were approved unanimously.
Damon Rarick, the chair of the general education committee, presented an informational report about goals for the GEC this year, such as finding the best methods for reviewing the effectiveness of the current general education program and ways to improve in the future.
Three motions to add language to the constitution, by-laws and university manual to allow for editorial changes to streamline editing processes and efficiently maintain these texts were proposed by Marilyn Barbour, the chair of the constitution, by-laws and university manual committee. Each of these proposals was passed.
Ryan Trimm, the chair of the service and community life committee, also gave an informational report about the committees next steps, such as talking to groups across campus and their needs and looking at the practices and opportunities offered at other universities
Amanda Izenstark, the chair of the committee on technology and infrastructure, went over the committee’s informational report and shared results from their 2021 Faculty Technology and Infrastructure Survey. The survey revealed concerns about hardware access, software access, communication issues, and support for teaching and student learning.
In the survey results, the committee attached recommendations on how to solve these problems. The committee said they want to “ensure that all full-time and part-time faculty members across the University have computers that will support their work and develop a replacement plan that would support provision of a new computer every 4-5 years, as well as replacements when needed.”
The meeting concluded with an informational report from Chris Roman, the chair of the center review subcommittee, and Nancy Eaton, the chair of the committee for research and creative activities. The report included information about progress the committee made last year, such as successfully updating the University Manual language, and goals for the 2021-2022 academic year, including reviewing applications for new centers and institutes and establishing a review schedule for current centers and institutes.
The Faculty Senate will hold their next meeting on Nov. 18 at 3 p.m.