Faculty Senate Minutes 2025-11-03
Minutes for November 3, 2025
Interim Provost John Zumbrunnen called the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m. with 169 voting members present (105 needed for quorum). Memorial resolutions were offered for Professor Emeritus Andrew D. Weiner (Faculty Document 3257), Professor Emeritus Christen D. Upper (Faculty Document 3258), Professor Emeritus Thomas L. German (Faculty Document 3259), Professor Emeritus Robert Joseph Rodini (Faculty Document 3260) and Professor Emerita Sara G. Tarver (Faculty Document 3261).
Interim Provost John Zumbrunnen shared information about the new Wisconsin Exchange: Pluralism in Practice, which aims to help students, faculty and staff engage, live, and lead in a polarized world. The exchange will include a speaker series, grant program, and a future postdoctoral fellowship.
Regarding Act 15, last week, the Universities of Wisconsin released a draft regents policy document related to the instructional workload requirements that were in the biennial state budget; the policy document is open for public comment. By December 1, 2025, the Board of Regents will vote on a final policy to submit for consideration by the Joint Committee on Employment Relations, which must approve the new policy by January 31, 2026. After approval, there will be a process to write Universities of Wisconsin, campus, school/college, and departmental-level policies.
The federal government shutdown is in its fourth week. Federal funds provide the single largest share of the university's budget. A shutdown primarily affects university research operations, though broader implications depend on the length of the shutdown and corresponding guidance provided by federal agencies. On the research front, federal agencies cannot issue new grants or contracts or extend existing projects. The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs is posting regular updates on their shutdown website and can assist with research-related questions. Resources are available for UW–Madison students who depend on SNAP or who may need emergency food assistance, both on campus and throughout the Madison community.
Professor Annie Jones, University Committee chair, highlighted Native American Heritage Month this November, including the availability of First Nations cultural landscape tours for any departments, classes or groups throughout the year. The University Committee will host a virtual faculty town hall on Monday, November 10, from 3:30pm-4:30pm, to provide an opportunity to share priorities and issues of concern regarding Act 15. PROFS, the Public Representation Organization of the Faculty Senate, recently sent a survey to its members about the effects of federal orders; the results of the survey will be shared soon. In regard to recent concerns about the future of academic freedom, the University Committee is assembling an Ad Hoc Academic Freedom Committee; more information about the work of the committee will be shared in coming months.
There were no questions during the question period.
Interim Provost John Zumbrunnen shared information on the intention of UW–Madison to seek Board of Regents approval, later this academic year, to allow reorganization of some existing departments into a new college, broadly speaking in the space of computing, artificial intelligence and data science. Technology, in particular the technology of artificial intelligence, is transforming every aspect of society from health care and agriculture to education, business and the arts. Artificial intelligence and data driven methods are no longer confined to computer science and are shaping so much of how we live, work, and learn. UW–Madison has the opportunity and the obligation to lead in this space. A new college would build upon the foundation of the current School of Computer Data and Information Sciences and serve as a hub for scholarship and teaching, advancing core academic strengths while connecting deeply with other schools and colleges. A central mission of the new college will be to serve undergraduates throughout the university, not just those majoring in computer science or data science or information science. The goal will be to create accessible courses, certificates and interdisciplinary programs so that students in various fields can develop digital literacy and AI fluency. The new college will advance the Wisconsin Research, Innovation and Scholarly Excellence (RISE) Initiative in AI and provide better connections with Wisconsin business and industry. Lastly, a new college at the center of networks across campus will help the university advance the Wisconsin Idea for the 21st century.
Faculty senators, faculty, and an academic staff member asked several questions and provided comments regarding the new college, including potential changes to the ethnic studies requirement while knowing that AI has inherent bias, whether the new college will be allowed to have its own admissions process and charge differential tuition, plans to model the environmental impacts of the enhanced volume of AI research, how campus will assure that the new college fulfills its hub role across campus, the new college not offering as many general education requirements as the other departments in Letters and Science and how other units will not be harmed budgetarily by the move, who initiated the new college: departments or central administration, what mechanisms will be in place to guarantee that the research is furthering the Wisconsin Idea, concerns about getting further away from the mission as a research and educational institution, concerns about other departments struggling with funding losses while a new college is being supported, the next steps in the process, and the need to acknowledge cutting edge research in the humanities space.
Interim Provost John Zumbrunnen shared that one of the purposes of a new college as a hub that's connected all around campus is that it will allow the university community to engage in a rich way with the uses and the misuses and the promises and the pitfalls of AI. In the undergraduate space, all admissions flow through the Division of Enrollment Management and university admissions; differential tuition is a question to be taken up through the appropriate governance and administrative processes after the new college is formed. There is not a current research project on campus to model environmental impacts, but the university is building its expertise to consider its implications, not just advance the technology. Both campus leadership and the faculty are responsible for ensuring the new college is a collaborative hub. Campus leadership is working closely with the College of Letters and Science and the Madison Budget Office to understand the potential budgetary impact and to ensure that the new college and the College of Letters and Science have the resources they need. The formation of a new college is being supported both by university leadership and by the departments’ executive committees; however, it's incredibly important to recognize the variety of experiences and opinions and the sense of loss with change. At UW–Madison, there should be research that pushes the boundaries of what AI can do but also research asking the question of what it should and should not do. The cost of a new college is significantly mitigated by the fact that the current School of Computer Data and Information was formed as a separate entity with some of the administrative infrastructure already in place that will be needed for the new college. The hope is that additional investment will be aided by increased fundraising and investment from industry in this space. The interim provost recognized the current fiscal uncertainty intersecting with the idea of creating a new college, intersecting with a new budget model that leans in the activity space. University leadership remains strongly committed to the broad excellence that distinguishes this university. Research in the humanities and related areas is going to help us understand and deal with the impact of technology on the human condition. That research is relevant even if it never comes close to an intersection with AI or data science because it helps us understand what it means to be human. In terms of process, the Board of Regents will vote on approval to create a new administrative division. Campus leadership will decide whether to create a new dean role and call the new division a college. The decisions to move units to the new college will proceed through the shared governance academic planning process at the school/college level and then the university level.
The minutes of the October 6, 2025, meeting were approved by consent.
Professor Taylor Odle (Educational Policy Studies, district 29) presented the Committee on Undergraduate Recruitment, Admissions, and Financial Aid annual report for 2024-2025 (Faculty document 3253). Professor Elmo Rawling (Extension, district 117) presented the Budget Committee annual report for 2024-2025 (Faculty document 3262). Professor Jeffrey Linderoth (Industrial and Systems Engineering, district 38) presented the Lectures Committee annual report for 2024-2025 (Faculty document 3264). Professor Gopal Iyer (Human Oncology, district 85) presented the University Curriculum Committee annual report for 2024-2025 (Faculty Document 3265). The Dean of Students Advisory Committee annual report for 2023-2025 and Immigration and International Issues Committee annual report for 2024-2025 were postponed to a future meeting, due to the speakers’ availability. There were no questions on these reports.
Professor Nancy Kendall, University Committee member, moved approval to amend Faculty Legislation II-314 Misconduct in Scholarly Research (UW-869) to align with changes made at the federal level, with changes in the areas of definitions, adjustment to timelines and records retention (Faculty Document 3256). The motion was approved.
Professor Nancy Kendall, University Committee member, presented a first reading of a Proposal to Amend Faculty Policies & Procedures 3.06 Meetings of the Graduate Faculty and 3.07 Graduate Faculty Executive Committee to indicate whether deadlines are calculated using calendar days or business days, to update and clarify language to match current practice, and to set the number of faculty elected to the Graduate Faculty Executive Committee to a maximum of eight representing any single school or college (Faculty Document 3266). The latter change will allow for a greater balance in school/college membership while maintaining faculty divisional representation amongst the sixteen total faculty seats. A faculty member shared that setting the maximum of eight representing a single school or college means that faculty from across all schools and colleges need to be willing to run for election and serve on the committee.
Professor April Haynes (History, district 60) presented a first reading of the Resolution Concerning any Potential Agreement between the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the Federal Government (Faculty Document 3267). Professor Natalia de Leon, University Committee member, presented a first reading of the Resolution Regarding Regents Policy on General Education Requirements (Faculty Document 3268). Professor April Haynes (History, district 60) presented a first reading of the Resolution Reaffirming UW–Madison’s Commitment to the Ethnic Studies Requirement and Shared Governance (Faculty Document 3269). A vote on these items is anticipated at the December Faculty Senate meeting.
Interim Provost John Zumbrunnen adjourned the meeting at 4:57 p.m.
Heather Daniels, Secretary of the Faculty