Approved 06-15-23

ASEC Minutes

2:00 – 4:30 p.m. Thursday, June 1, 2023

53 Bascom Hall

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

Members Present: Donna Cole; Tim Dalby; Stephanie Elkins; Alissa Ewer; Julie Hunt Johnson; Stephanie Jones; Albert Muniz; Mallory Musolf, chair; Lindsey Stoddard Cameron

Guests: Lesley Fisher, Eric Wilcots, Scott Wildman

The meeting was called to order at 2:02 p.m.

The minutes of May 18 were approved with one correction.

General Reports

Mallory Musolf, ASEC Chair, encouraged ASEC members to help recruit board members for the Madison Academic Staff Network for 2023-24.

Jake Smith, Secretary of the Academic Staff, provided an update on the Assembly redistricting effort. The SOAS Office has been working with the Districting and Representation Committee and DoIT to implement the districting logic to take post-TTC titles into account. This should be completed in a few weeks, with communications going out to existing reps and to all academic staff about any changes. Public presentations for the two finalists for Vice Chancellor for Strategic Communications will be held on June 6 and 7 at Memorial Union.

Liaison Reports

Julie Hunt Johnson reported on the Athletics CASI, which recently held an election and is working on getting restarted. The group discussed the priority of reestablishing ongoing engagement with leadership.

Stephanie Elkins reported on the Wisconsin Public Media CASI. They will also be holding their annual election in June. The CASI also took part in interviews with finalists for the Director of Radio position. They have also discussed a potential subcommittee to look at staff retention.

Guest: Eric Wilcots, Interim Provost

Interim Provost Wilcots provided a preliminary sense of enrollment for the coming academic year. Enrollment Management is looking at a target of 8100 students and are working diligently to hit that number. The admissions team is confident in hitting that number and continuing to meet our commitment to the state. With the recent approval of the program differential tuitions proposals for Engineering, Business, and Nursing, enrollments are all looking good in those schools/colleges as well.

Interim Provost Wilcots is in conversation with Vice Chancellor Ackerman and Vice Provost Meyerand about ASEC’s proposal for an ad hoc committee to look at concerns for researcher/scientist titles. ASEC will discuss the initial draft of the charge and then provide it to all of them for feedback.

ASEC also asked about the structure and workload of the Provost Office. Interim Provost Wilcots will be providing ideas for incoming Provost Isbell about these areas, including where various responsibilities fall within the provost’s organization. One of the issues is around meeting cadence, which is tied directly to the provost’s experience in the role.

On the Staff Climate Survey, CHRO Patrick Sheehan is looking at the results from the OHR perspective, but we still need to see the full data from schools/colleges/divisions. There is discussion about when communication should come from central campus and when it should come from the schools/colleges/divisions. ASEC discussed the potential of reporting out on progress at Deans Council meetings. There was also a suggestion to look at these in a comparable way to the annual DEI reports from schools/colleges/divisions. We also need to be thinking about strategies for how survey results will intersect with other initiatives (e.g., compensation exercises to address salary concerns in a particular school/college/division).

The Joint Committee on Finance is set to consider the capital budget today, with the operating budget expected to be taken up in a couple of weeks.

In administrative search news, finalists for the Vice Chancellor for Strategic Communication will visit campus next week. Allison La Tarte has also been hired into the permanent role as Vice Provost for Data, Academic Planning, and Institutional Research.

Motion to Convene in Closed Session Pursuant to Wis. Stats. 19.85(1)(c), and (f) to Discuss Appointments to the Campus Diversity and Climate Committee, Campus Transportation Committee, Committee for Women in the University, Committee on Disability Access and Inclusion, Dean of Students Advisory Committee, Immigration and International Issues Committee, Information Technology Committee, LGBTQ+ Committee, Retirement Issues Committee, Student Panels, University Curriculum Committee, University Libraries Committee, and the University Research Council; and Nominations to the Area Review Committee-Administration/Student Services/Library, Area Review Committee-Biological/Medical Sciences, Area Review Committee-Humanities/Social Sciences, Area Review Committee-Physical Sciences/Engineering, Academic Staff Appeals Committee, Distinguished Status Review Committee, and the Labor Codes and Licensing Advisory Committee (Cole). Seconded. Approved.

Motion to Reconvene in Open Session (Stoddard Cameron). Seconded. Approved.

Business

• Appointments and Nominations – for vote

Motion to appoint Elise Ahn and Virginia Lee to the Campus Diversity and Climate Committee; Alex Frank to the Campus Transportation Committee; Sara Tate-Pederson and Kao Yong Thao to the Committee for Women in the University; Nicole Wiessinger to the Advisory Committee to the Office of the Dean of Students; Sara Scott to the Committee on Disability Access and Inclusion; Felix Savino to the Immigration and International Issues Committee; Sara Nagreen to the Information Technology Committee; Cass Gutierrez to the LGBTQ+ Committee; Carol Hulland to the Retirement Issues Committee; Becky Duffy, Andrew Hinz, Brittany Magrady, and Thomas Tegart to the Student Panels; Edward Boswell to the University Curriculum Committee; Colleen Baldwin to the University Libraries Committee and Rama Maganti to the University Research Council (Stoddard Cameron). Seconded. Approved.

Motion to nominate Dianna Murphy to the Area Review Committee-Administration/Student Services/Library; Melgardt De Villiers and Christopher Snyder to the Area Review Committee-Biological/Medical Sciences; Ron Kuka and Debra Pierce to the Area Review Committee-Humanities/Social Sciences; Ilia Guzei and Seth McGee to the Area Review Committee-Physical Sciences/Engineering; Kimbrin Cornelius and Alexis Steinbach to the Academic Staff Appeals Committee; Emily Hall to the Distinguished Status Review Committee; and Craig Meyer to the Labor Codes and Licensing Advisory Committee (Stoddard Cameron). Seconded. Approved.

• Discussion of Committee on Concerns from Staff with Researcher/Scientist Titles

ASEC reviewed a draft charge for the committee and made additional changes. Jake will share the charge with the Interim Provost, Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education, and the Vice Provost for Faculty and Staff in advance of the next meeting.

• Discussion of Provost Briefing Document

ASEC finalized and approved the briefing document for incoming Provost Isbell

• Topics for Guests

Interim Provost: discussion of committee charge and feedback, question on L&S readiness for RAMP/ATP, perspective campus-wide diversity training

Lynn and Karen: career development material from ASI presentation; prospective tools for employees to develop their careers; use of business titles

Meeting adjourned at 3:55 p.m.

Minutes submitted by Jake Smith, Secretary of the Academic Staff