Academic Staff Executive Committee Minutes 11-20-2025
Approved 12-04-25
ASEC Agenda
1:00 – 3:30 p.m. Thursday, November 20, 2025
https://uwmadison.zoom.us/j/97722653207?pwd=QfVbSx9nmGFEsxW6rvqFffNw3Josn5.1
Members present: Aaron Crandall, Hanna Blazel, Alissa Ewer (chair), Albert Muniz, Terry Paape, Nicole Senter, Diane Stojanovich, Nola Walker
Members absent: Richard Barajas
Guests: Rob Cramer, Jenny Dahlberg, Lucien Gerondeau, Karen Massetti-Moran, Jen Oasen, Patrick Sheehan, John Zumbrunnen
The meeting was called to order at 1:00 p.m.
The minutes of November 6 were approved.
General Reports
ASEC Chair Alissa Ewer reported that the Budget Approach Coordinating Committee continues to meet and recently heard from the Wisconsin Idea Task Force. The shared governance committee chairs met and discussed what each group is working on. The provost search listening session had a great academic staff presence and shared governance was an emphasis.
Deputy Secretary of the Academic Staff Lesley Fisher reported that the recent Academic Staff Chat on layoffs and nonrenewals went well and the office hopes to host another session on this topic in the spring.
Liaison Reports
Nola Walker reported that the Campus Planning Committee reviewed proposed projects and sources of funding. Walker also reported that the Mentoring Committee completed this year’s matches for the Mentor Match Program.
ASEC Chair Ewer reported that the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research (OVCR) Committee on Academic Staff Issues (CASI) is working on revising their bylaws and generating a 5-year report. They are also brainstorming ways to improve OVCR leadership presence at their meetings. The ASEC subcommittee focused on reskilling opportunities has been in touch with the Communications Committee regarding information that could be included in the Cornerstone newsletter.
Nicole Senter reported that new School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH) Dean Nita Ahuja attended the SMPH CASI meeting for the first time. She was supportive of shared governance and encouraged staff to vote in the CASI election.
Hanna Blazel reported that the Librarians’ Assembly Executive Committee met to prepare for an upcoming meeting with new Libraries Associate Dean for Advancement and Communications Marianne Spoon.
Diane Stojanovich reported that the Professional Development and Recognition Committee awarded the Executive Education Grants. At their recent meeting, they discussed committee timelines and leadership positions.
Guest: John Zumbrunnen, Interim Provost
The Board of Regents voted to approve the regent policy documents related to general education requirements and instructional workload. Work is now being done on system-level policies. There is a UW–Madison ad hoc faculty committee working on high-level mapping of our current general education requirements to the new buckets required in the policy. Interim Provost Zumbrunnen is on a system -level workgroup regarding instructional workload. The UW–Madison instructional workload workgroup will reconvene in December.
Regarding RISE, 124 campus-funded faculty hires have been allocated to schools/colleges/divisions. Campus is closely monitoring start-up and space costs. It is not anticipated that there will be additional campus-funded allocations in the near future.
Guest: Rob Cramer, Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration
A Workday pain point tracker is being developed and will be published soon. It will be a searchable database of known issues with detailed descriptions. The Universities of Wisconsin launched a governance framework to maximize how enterprise systems (e.g., Workday, ShopUW+) are managed and improved.
Research and Sponsored Programs (RSP) continued federal drawdowns during the government shutdown. As federal agencies reactivate, we will continue to monitor funding levels set by agencies and their ability to process awards. There have been about 112 stop-work orders since January. To date, campus has provided 1.6M in bridge funding to schools/colleges/divisions to support research and people working on grants that had a stop-work order.
UW–Madison will provide a campus budget update at the upcoming Board of Regents meeting, with a focus on tuition revenue and undergraduate enrollment.
LinkUW continues to progress. Feedback has been positive, and gaps are being identified.
Guests: Patrick Sheehan, Chief Human Resources Officer and Karen Massetti-Moran, Deputy Chief Human Resources Officer, Office of Human Resources (OHR)
LinkUW soft launched on November 3rd. The human resources and finance operations teams are in place and are engaged in onboarding and team development activities. The anticipated full go live date is December 3rd, at which point they will begin tracking on their service level agreements. Work is beginning on the second phase, which will transition additional units into LinkUW.
The Finance@UW Conference is scheduled for March 2, 2026. Session proposals are due December 12.
The Compensation Center of Excellence (CCOE) reviews job market data annually. There was not a salary structure update this year, primarily due to the implementation of Workday but also the market data did not show the need for an overall update. It is a complex process to update or make additions to the titling system. Work on titling issues, including the creation of a title appeals policy, was paused due to Workday but the CCOE team hopes to resume this work soon. Updates to the standard job description library are mainly communicated through the human resources community.
Business
- December Assembly Agenda – for vote
ASEC discussed the Assembly business items. Motion to approve the December Assembly Agenda (Senter). Seconded. Approved.
- Topics for guests:
VPFSA: employee issues; new staff initiatives
ASPRO President: membership numbers; scope of lobbyist’s role; advocacy
Meeting adjourned at 3:29 p.m.
Minutes submitted by Lesley Fisher, deputy secretary of the academic staff