Academic Staff Executive Committee Minutes 04-02-20
Approved 4-9-20
Members Present: Donna Cole; Tim Dalby, chair; Stephanie Elkins; Mallory Musolf; Leslie Petty; Deb Shapiro; Lindsey Stoddard Cameron; Bill Tishler
Guests: Diane Blaskowski, Ron Harris, Alyson Kim, Karyn Matchey, Mark Walters
Liaison Reports
Stephanie Elkins reported that the Communications Committee cancelled its regular meeting for April and is working out its schedule for the rest of the academic year.
Returning to COVID-19 issues, Mark mentioned that more guidance on leave was announced to campus on April 1. Many positive comments were received with regard to the expanded leave being tied to a date—May 1—rather than a prescribed number of hours. Carryover for vacation and new FMLA requirements will also be communicated. What happens after May 1 is to be determined. Employee interests are being kept in mind as things proceed. There was a question on probationary extensions. This has been discussed by OHR, and while it makes sense to provide flexibility to extend those, there will not be a blanket extension.
Minutes submitted by Jake Smith, Interim Secretary of the Academic Staff
ASEC Minutes
2:00 – 3:45 p.m. Thursday, April 2, 2020
https://us.bbcollab.com/guest/31567db212734d718ce2ef5a1e791ec3
Members Present: Donna Cole; Tim Dalby, chair; Stephanie Elkins; Mallory Musolf; Leslie Petty; Deb Shapiro; Lindsey Stoddard Cameron; Bill Tishler
Guests: Diane Blaskowski, Ron Harris, Alyson Kim, Karyn Matchey, Mark Walters
The meeting was called to order at 2:02 p.m.
The minutes of March 26, 2020 were approved.
General Reports
Tim Dalby, ASEC chair, debriefed with ASEC regarding the conversation about finalist presenations at the previous ASEC meeting. Tim talked about recent announcements related to COVID-19, including consolidation of dorms, COVID leave policies, the current hiring freeze, summer term, and the reporting on a possible $100 million budget impact. He also discussed the test meeting the Assembly had on March 31, which ASEC thought went well.
Tim Dalby, ASEC chair, debriefed with ASEC regarding the conversation about finalist presenations at the previous ASEC meeting. Tim talked about recent announcements related to COVID-19, including consolidation of dorms, COVID leave policies, the current hiring freeze, summer term, and the reporting on a possible $100 million budget impact. He also discussed the test meeting the Assembly had on March 31, which ASEC thought went well.
Jake Smith, Interim Secretary of the Academic Staff, introduced Karyn Matchey to ASEC. Karyn has been hired to support the Secretary of the Academic Staff Office while the search for the next Secretary is underway. Jake reported on issues discussed at the recent University Committee meeting, including satisfactory/unsatisfactory grading and budget impacts as a result of COVID-19. The Athletic Board Selection Committee will be conducting interviews with finalists for the open academic staff seat toward the end of the month. The Communications Committee co-chairs will visit ASEC on April 30 to discuss the committee’s recent report.
Liaison Reports
Stephanie Elkins reported that the Communications Committee cancelled its regular meeting for April and is working out its schedule for the rest of the academic year.
Business
Mark reported that OHR is trying its best to provide what campus and employees need to be safe and to keep core operations going. They are starting to see questions again in other areas besides COVID-19. Diane reported on the delay in the implementation of the TTC Project. It will be October 1 at the earliest, but it’s too early to make a final call on the new implementation date. If employees are not back to campus until after July, then the implementation may have to be further delayed. The team is still working on the project. A new timeline is in the draft stage, with various possible workstreams for different implementation dates. The SJD library has been locked down since March 1 and will remain so. Supervisors and employees can have their conversations about titles virtually if they would like. The FLSA consultant that was hired to review all of the standard job descriptions for FLSA impacts completed his work. There were 51 out of 1066 that he had questions on. The TTC team took another pass at those 51 and disagreed with 17 of those 51 assessments. If FLSA status changes for any position, OHR will pull a roster of anyone mapped to that position, and then OHR will work with divisional HR reps to ensure that those employees are being mapped correctly. This process will begin next week. ASEC asked about the salary administration guidelines and were informed that they would be brought to ASEC the next time Diane and Mark were scheduled. Diane also confirmed that teaching faculty would be the replacement title for faculty associate and indicated that work was still in progress to finalize the guidelines for the teaching professor title.
- April Assembly Agenda
Motion to approve the April Assembly agenda (Cole). Seconded. Approved. - Committee Representative Selection Process
ASEC discussed the proposed rubric further. Jake will send the updated document to Donna and Mallory for finalization based on ASEC’s feedback.
Mark reported that OHR is trying its best to provide what campus and employees need to be safe and to keep core operations going. They are starting to see questions again in other areas besides COVID-19. Diane reported on the delay in the implementation of the TTC Project. It will be October 1 at the earliest, but it’s too early to make a final call on the new implementation date. If employees are not back to campus until after July, then the implementation may have to be further delayed. The team is still working on the project. A new timeline is in the draft stage, with various possible workstreams for different implementation dates. The SJD library has been locked down since March 1 and will remain so. Supervisors and employees can have their conversations about titles virtually if they would like. The FLSA consultant that was hired to review all of the standard job descriptions for FLSA impacts completed his work. There were 51 out of 1066 that he had questions on. The TTC team took another pass at those 51 and disagreed with 17 of those 51 assessments. If FLSA status changes for any position, OHR will pull a roster of anyone mapped to that position, and then OHR will work with divisional HR reps to ensure that those employees are being mapped correctly. This process will begin next week. ASEC asked about the salary administration guidelines and were informed that they would be brought to ASEC the next time Diane and Mark were scheduled. Diane also confirmed that teaching faculty would be the replacement title for faculty associate and indicated that work was still in progress to finalize the guidelines for the teaching professor title.
Returning to COVID-19 issues, Mark mentioned that more guidance on leave was announced to campus on April 1. Many positive comments were received with regard to the expanded leave being tied to a date—May 1—rather than a prescribed number of hours. Carryover for vacation and new FMLA requirements will also be communicated. What happens after May 1 is to be determined. Employee interests are being kept in mind as things proceed. There was a question on probationary extensions. This has been discussed by OHR, and while it makes sense to provide flexibility to extend those, there will not be a blanket extension.
Addressing a question regarding the policy on employee reassignment, Mark mentioned that this is taking place primarily in the healthcare area. UW-Madison has partnered with the state to have the Lowell Center become a surge center for services to the community. Around 30 individuals from campus volunteered to be reassigned there. HR wants to provide as much in the way of accommodations for employees as possible while ensuring that those employees are comfortable with what they’re volunteering for.
Mark concluded by saying that, due to working remotely, they are figuring out new ways to accomplish the work of OHR, and that the strength of the community coming together has been amazing.
Business
- Topics for Provost
Initial foci for pivoting to student experience in instruction and what does improvement look like in this space; statistics related to enrollment for summer and fall and impacts to freshmen numbers; question about proposed nurses’ union and effect on morale in SMPH and hospital; legal exposure as a result of COVID-19; question about expanding online training for faculty and instructional staff with the mandate to teach courses in a virtual environment; impact of moving courses online to the Teaching Center of Excellence.
Minutes submitted by Jake Smith, Interim Secretary of the Academic Staff