Approved 08-05-21

ASEC Minutes

1:55 – 4:15 p.m. Thursday, July 29, 2021

https://uwmadison.zoom.us/j/93936751067

Members Present: Donna Cole, interim chair; Jenny Dahlberg; Stephanie Elkins; Stephanie Jones; Leslie Petty; Lindsey Stoddard Cameron; Bill Tishler

Guests: Suzanne Broadberry, Kendra Maier, Karen Massetti-Moran, Lori Reesor, Mark Walters

The meeting was called to order at 1:59 p.m.

The minutes of July 15 were approved.

Guest: Lori Reesor, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs

Vice Chancellor Reesor discussed how difficult this next year is going to be for several reasons. There are concerns that the pent-up demand for a return to normal may tie itself to high-risk behaviors among students. Parents and students both have high expectations that we need to provide a way for students to make up for everything they may have missed in the last year and a half. There is also an expectation from a majority of students that lectures will be recorded, signaling that they want flexibility. There are also concerns about heightened levels of anxiety and depression among students.

Student Affairs is focusing on three major areas: high-risk behaviors, mental health, and belonging. To curb high-risk behaviors such as alcohol, other drugs, and sexual assault, they’re planning to do more outreach and increase programming to provide better options for students. To address mental health needs, they’re hoping to increase staffing to UHS, with a focus on staff diversity, and to continue providing telehealth options. To promote a sense of belonging among students, particularly among underrepresented students, they’re creating focused programming to help students find connections. They’re also hiring two new staff members: a native student program coordinator and a veteran services staff member to focus on student veterans.

Vice Chancellor Reesor is looking forward to working with ASM on a number of issues this year. Dean of Students Christina Olstad has been meeting with Chair Adrian Lampron, Vice Chair Lennox Owino, and Shared Governance Chair Reez Bailey throughout the summer, and continuing these face-to-face interactions will be important.

General Reports

Jake Smith, Secretary of the Academic Staff, reported on the proposal by State Senator Nass that would require UW System schools to submit any safety policies relating to COVID-19 to the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules for approval. The call for nominations for the Working Group on Policy and Process Regarding Access to Electronic Files will go out next week. Regarding liaison assignments, at the meeting on August 5 ASEC will discuss which assignments they want to let go of, and final assignments for the upcoming year will be decided at the meeting on August 19. Jake, Tim, and Mallory met with OHR and discussed retention tracking around remote work and raised the possibility of a more centralized exit interview process. There will be three COVID-19 testing sites on campus this fall, available by appointment. Jake and Karen Massetti-Moran are meeting with the Distinguished Prefix Review Committee next week to discuss what the process around the distinguished prefix will look like in the future state. Jake shared that he tested the technology in Bascom 53 with Lesley and three ASEC members. While it works better than the past conference call method, it’s somewhat limited in its capabilities for hybrid meetings.

ASEC recessed at 3:00 p.m.

ASEC reconvened at 3:20 p.m.

Liaison Reports

Jenny Dahlberg reported that the Vet Med CASI sent out a survey to determine which CASI member will co-chair the committee this year.

Guests: Mark Walters, Chief Human Resources Officer; and Karen Massetti-Moran, Director of Total Rewards, Office of Human Resources

In response to a question from ASEC, Karen detailed the communications related to the upcoming in-person TTC forums. OHR has created traditional posters that will be distributed to HR reps across campus to share within units. They will communicate to the multilingual community via WhatsApp, and information will be shared in Working at UW and on the TTC website. Based on feedback received after the last forum, OHR is encouraging supervisors to permit employees to attend the upcoming sessions. Regarding employee/supervisor conversations about new titles, some concerns were raised about completion of conversations by the September 10 deadline. OHR is going to reach out to each division to assess where they are and then figure out how they can help facilitate the process.

The remote work agreement workflow is live, and over 900 requests have been initiated. The process seems to be working well and OHR is expecting many more requests in the coming weeks.

Regarding Single Pay, OHR has received more than 800 loan requests. Most requests have been approved and the first batch of loan payments, totaling over $1 million, is going out to employees tomorrow. OHR is going to start working on communication to 9-month C-basis employees to ensure they are informed about the changes due to single payroll. The project is now in a stabilization period and OHR is determining what key metrics to track in the next year that will allow us to evaluate the impact of this project on a campus level.

Business

·       Topics for Guests

VPFS: updates on the remote work policy; update on the Campus Committee for Diversity Education and Training; update on implementation of research professor and teaching professor titles

VCRGE: how is the transition to single pay going for researchers, how much extra work is it creating, and how are those employees being supported; how is implementation of research professor title going

Meeting adjourned at 4:15 p.m.

Minutes submitted by Lesley Fisher, Deputy Secretary of the Academic Staff