Agenda for CEBC Meeting on Friday, September 16, 2011

Time: 1:00-2:30 PM

Location: Kristjanson Room, Room 113, Henry Taylor Hall

Attending: Dennis Ray, Alec Widerski, Eliza Waters, Ana Araujo, Karen Tusack, Michele Mickelson

Business Items

Confirmation of Election of Chair

Eliza nominated Dennis Ray, Ana seconded.  Dennis was elected unanimously.

Approval of Minutes of April 28

Karen moved, Alec seconded, that we approve the minutes from last meeting.  Approved unanimously.

Reports on CEBC Member Activities

·         Distinguished Prefix Title Committee (Alec)
UW was granted flexibility by Kevin Reilly.  Discussion centered around drafts form 2007 and 2009 to make the prefix more attainable for more employees.  It used to require national renown, which is not possible for many positions.  It will be set up not as a step after Senior, but as something you can apply for to the Distinguished Prefix Review Committee.

They discussed definitions work unit, eligibility, guidelines, etc.  They are currently grappling with the nomination and review process, as well as a new process for appeals.  The current version will be the final committee draft, though further changes will be made at ASEC’s request.

Summary of Orientation for new Assembly members

Committee presentations were very short and succinct. Our work environment was drastically changed this spring. We all need to coordinate and effectively work for the changes that we need to the employment situation. There is a lot of hope and not so much despair. A lot of people have left UW employment and replacing these people will be a huge challenge since so much brainpower and knowledge left with them. Change is both a challenge and an opportunity.

·         Badger Working Group (Dennis and Alec)

The objective of the Badger Working Group is to develop the guiding principles and objectives for the design of the new personnel system for the UW-Madison authorized by state legislation. The BWG is comprised of stakeholder groups across campus (e.g., faculty, academic staff, classified staff, unions, and students). The guiding principles have been approved by the BWG by consensus after each stakeholder group shared the principles with their constituency or governance body. The guiding objectives are a work in progress. The personnel system needs to be designed and the HR system supporting it specified by the end of academic year. The organization of the design effort will be comprised of a number of working committees with an overall leader – all in coordination with the stakeholder groups and shared governance processes.

The working group hopes to have a conceptual redesign by January 2012, and will then move on to implementation.  The Chancellor, Provost and Darrell Bazzell are the head of the working group.   Bob Lavigna is the project leader, and Steve Lund and Mark Widders are the project managers.  There will be approximately six work teams on specific topics.  Huron Group will be serving as the project support group. The full process should be complete in about two years.

·         Budget Repair Impact Committee (Lea – submitted in writing)

The charge of the Committee on the Impact of the Budget Repair Bill is to explore and design instruments to collect qualitative and quantitative data on the impact of the budget bill on the academic staff.  In particular, the data should focus on the economic impact of increased health insurance premiums and the increase in required retirement contributions and any other policies that have an economic impact on academic staff. We have decided that a way to fill this charge is to conduct an anonymous survey of Academic Staff. The committee has had two meetings, and we have discussed the potential psychological and financial impacts of the budget repair bill.  We plan to use this information to write interview questions.  In addition, we are discussing the options for piloting and distributing the survey.

·         ASEC Retreat (Dennis)

The ASEC retreat took place on August 25. The three priority areas for ASEC this year will be (1) supporting the personnel system design; (2) representing and advocating for the positions of academic staff involving various studies from System and the state legislature, among other initiatives; and (3) improved public relations communications about academic staff. ASEC is going to be developing specific action items in the next month.

There are activities going on at many levels.  Dennis wants to keep us informed, and get involved where advocacy is needed.  There will also be some working on branding academic staff and explaining what we do. Objectives will be described in greater detail at future meetings.

On-going Activities

·         Website maintenance 
There is a new system which uses red dot to post minutes and other committee documents.  A good quick start guide was provided by DoIT, making completing the simple updates required by CEBC fairly easy.

·         FAQ updates
Ana and Karen will skim the FAQs and see if there is anything that needs to be updated in light of recent changes.

·         Participation in benefits fair (Tuesday, October 11, 8:30-3:30, Memorial Union)
Beth Ann and Karen will volunteer to represent CEBC at the fair.

·         Administrative matters
Dennis will contact Donna Silver re: CEBC guidelines and quorum numbers.

CEBC Priorities

These will be developed as ASEC’s activities for FY12 are clarified.  Members will continue to participate in other ongoing campus processes as appropriate.

Next Meeting

CEBC will plan to meet the 3^rd Wednesday of each month for the remainder of the semester.  Next meeting is scheduled for October 19^th at 9am in Taylor Hall.