Approved minutes for January 28, 2019          Approved February 4, 2019 

UC members present: Amasino (chair), Bowers, Campagnola, Ventura, Warfield, Wolf

Others present (in addition to those referred to below): S. Smith, J. Richard, D. Shapiro, B. Welsh, A. Goyal, J. Smith, H. Daniels

Chair Rick Amasino called the meeting to order at 1:16 p.m. The minutes of the meeting of January 14, 2019, were approved. Jack O’Meara reported on meetings with representatives and other PROFS activities. The UC reviewed the February 2019 Faculty Senate agenda. In response to a faculty senator’s request to form an ad hoc committee to study the topic of productivity in higher education, the UC considered information from a variety of sources. In light of the wealth of information on the topic, including studies, professional bodies, and extant data, the UC does not believe that a study or working group on this topic is needed at this time. Should the topic come up again, as it did when UWS began consideration of a new policy on program productivity, the UC believes there are people on campus who are well versed in the topic and able to respond appropriately. In addition to faculty experts, there are offices on campus that deal with this topic regularly and are well regarded by our peers and within UWS.

Steve Ventura summarized where things stand with regard to the academic structure of Cooperative Extension once it is re-merged into this campus. The faculty working group on the topic has received comments from leadership and others and will be submitting a proposal for discussion to the UAPC in February. The general outline of this proposal is that the proposed Division of Extension will be a school/college-like body with a single department to serve as a tenure home. Much like many other divisions on campus (Business, SOHE, etc.), the Division of Extension will have smaller academic units, but the FPP department structure will be at the divisional level. Much discussion ensued.

Amasino moved to elect Terry Warfield as UC chair for 2019-2020. Ventura seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

The UC discussed a draft document on shared governance with student and academic staff representatives. Strong support for the “example” structure; both positive and negative outcomes of specific instances are helpful as touchstones/illustrations. Could be shared with external audiences as resource (e.g., through PROFS to legislature, with finalists candidates, etc.). Strong agreement that this needs to be a living document that is revisited regularly and added to as appropriate, not archived and forgotten. Also agreement that document could benefit from preamble/definitions/principles and links to the wealth of information on shared governance that already exist. Student examples to be requested and included. General consensus that this document is an opportunity to create more open communication among the SG groups and could serve as a nexus. Following above edits, will be shared with chancellor and provost and placed on a website belonging to the SG chairs as a group.