Academic Staff Executive Committee Minutes 05-05-19

Approved 5-19-16
ASEC Minutes
2:00 – 4:30 p.m. Thursday, May 5, 2016
67 Bascom Hall

Members Present:  Bruno Browning; Aaron Crandall; Trish Iaccarino; Sarah Kuba; Michael Moscicke; Heather McFadden, Chair; Robert Newsom; Kevin Niemi; Deb Shapiro

Guests: Steve Cramer, John Lucas, Bruce Maas, Sarah Mangelsdorf

The meeting was called to order at 2:06 p.m.

The minutes of April 28, 2016, were approved.

General Reports
•    Chair Heather McFadden reported that the Faculty Senate voted in support of the resolution on cultural competency.  In regards to the no confidence vote, there were definitely two different sides expressed.  There were those opposed due to possible negative implications of an affirmative vote and others in favor of the resolution because of their lack of confidence in both President Cross and the members of the Board of Regents.  The no confidence resolution did pass with amendments.

The Faculty Senate will meet again on May 17 to vote on the new Budget Committee, University Research Council and the Shared Governance Values Statement.

•    Secretary of the Academic Staff Heather Daniels reported she attended an informal gathering of scientists, who met with some human resources representatives from the School of Medicine and Public Health.  Several people in attendance mentioned that academic staff applying for grants was either not allowed or highly discouraged in their departments.  Heather D. suggested that this might be worth discussing with Marsha Mailick during her next visit to ASEC.  There was interest expressed in having a website to bring everything academic staff in research.  She suggested that the new Working@UW website might be a good place for this information.

Heather D. received a copy of a letter from the Friends of University of Wisconsin Libraries addressed to the Chancellor.  ASEC has been provided a copy of the letter.

Heather D. told ASEC that she and Heather M. had consulted with the UW Survey Center about when to the send out the Academic Staff Work Life Survey.  The survey center said they would suggest waiting until the fall, but that a spring launch was also possible if that was the better option.  ASEC directed Heather D. to send the survey out next week.

Liaison Report
VCRGE and Nursing CASI-Robert Newsom reported that the VCRGE and Nursing CASIs were meeting together next week.

Academic Staff Representatives-Kevin Niemi reported that the last meeting of the academic staff representatives for the current academic year was tomorrow.

Guest: Sarah Mangelsdorf, Provost

ASEC asked Provost Mangelsdorf about the savings in fringe and utility costs that UW System would be returning to campuses.  She replied that an amount is not yet known, and it will be a mix of one-time and ongoing funding.  ASEC also reiterated the need to have the climate survey from Patrick Sims’ office go to all staff.  Provost Mangelsdorf reported that Patrick will be giving an update on the survey to the Deans’ Council, and she will ask if there is something he can give to ASEC. 

Guests: Steve Cramer, Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning, and Bruce Maas, Chief Information Officer

Steve and Bruce provided an update on Canvas.  Right now, UW-Madison has three learning management systems (Canvas, Desire2Learn, Moodle).  They are seeking approval to move to Canvas as the only centrally supported learning management system.  UW-Madison joined Unizin, and Canvas was part of the products offered.  Canvas was the only learning management system to agree to UW-Madison’s terms, which includes UW-Madison having option to some source code and perpetual rights to it.  The Desire2Learn contract ends this June and has been extended for one-year.  Switching to Canvas will save about $1 million per year.  
UW-Madison has been conducting a trial of Canvas during the last year.  They have found that Canvas is more intuitive and more transparent in course flow and calendaring.  It is much easier for grading and rubrics and more interoperable (can plug in different tools) than other systems.  There are some gaps especially around math and quizzing. 

Two campus information technology committees have passed resolutions in support of Canvas.  Steve and Bruce are targeting the next 24 months for transition to Canvas. 

Motion to take a resolution in support of the decision to go with Canvas as the sole centrally-supported Learning Management System to the Assembly in the fall with ASEC’s endorsement (Browning). Seconded. Approved.

Motion to convene in Closed Session Pursuant to Wis. Stats. 19.85(1)(c), and (f) to discuss appointments to Student Non-Academic Misconduct Committee, Ad Hoc Committee on Academic Staff Degree Requirements, and Ad Hoc Committee on Equitable and Inclusive Health Care (Browning). Seconded. Approved.

Motion to Convene in Open Session (Newsom). Seconded. Approved.

Guest: John Lucas, University Communications

This past year, there has been an Administrative Process Redesign (APR) project on communication for employees.  There have been gaps in communication with some employee groups.  The APR project concentrated on the following projects: Statement of Values on Employee Communications, Printed Digest, Recorded Announcements in 5 Languages, Improved mass email access for work-related information; and an easy way for employees to find information. 

John Lucas showed the new Working@UW website for employees at http://working.wisc.edu.  There are five different categories of information.  ASEC provided feedback on the website including the addition of a local site search, professional development grant programs, and a link to Academic Staff Policies and Procedures.

Business

•    Appointments
Motion to appoint Kaelin Grant and Dan Ross to the Ad Hoc Committee on Equitable and Inclusive Health Care (Crandall). Seconded. Approved.
Motion to appoint Maggie Higgins to the Student Non-Academic Misconduct Committee (Moscicke). Seconded. Approved.
•    Procedures for 2016-17 Chair/Vice Chair Selection
Heather D. provided a list of duties for the chair/vice chair/member roles on ASEC.  She will solicit nominations from ASEC for these two spots via email.  There was discussion about whether it would make sense to include the Assembly in this process.

Meeting adjourned at 4:42 p.m.

Minutes submitted by Heather Daniels, Secretary of the Academic Staff


KeywordsASEC Minutes   Doc ID63580
OwnerLesley F.GroupThe Office of the Secretary/ Academic Staff
Created2016-05-23 09:59:14Updated2020-07-13 15:26:00
SitesThe Office of the Secretary/ Academic Staff
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