Topics Map > Academic Staff Executive Committee (ASEC) > 2021-2022 > 03. September
Academic Staff Executive Committee Minutes 09-09-21
Approved 09-23-21
ASEC
Minutes
1:55 –
4:30 p.m. Thursday, September 9, 2021
https://uwmadison.zoom.us/j/93936751067
Members Present: Donna Cole; Jenny Dahlberg; Tim
Dalby, chair; Stephanie Elkins; Stephanie Jones; Mallory Musolf;
Leslie Petty; Lindsey Stoddard Cameron; Bill Tishler
Guests: Lotus Buckner, Lesley Fisher, Alyson
Kim, Darren Martin, Karl Martin, Karen Massetti-Moran, Karl Scholz, Mark
Walters
The meeting was called to order at 1:59
p.m.
The minutes of September 2 were
approved.
Guest: Karl Martin, Dean, Division
of Extension
Dean Martin served as the interim
Dean of Extension from 2016 through May 2020, when he was hired into the
permanent position. There are approximately 440 academic staff within the
division, with about 2/3 located outside of Dane County. There are
opportunities and challenges that arise as a result of
being spread throughout the state in this way. Dean Martin reported on his
engagement with the Extension CASI as well as the HR Director’s engagement with
academic staff in creating standard job descriptions for the TTC Project. The
transition back to UW-Madison has gone very well. Due to the variety of
locations Extension employees are stationed, COVID has provided a number of additional challenges. There are also major
opportunities in having a statewide presence as part of a land grant
institution to epitomize the Wisconsin Idea. The Division of Extension is
continuing to work on matters related to youth protection in its programs.
Another issue is distributed finances through different associations and
wanting to continue moving in a positive direction with the division’s
partners. Counties provide 40% direct funding for county-based positions.
Volunteer management is another issue that Extension continues to look at. Three
years ago, Extension initiated a year-long new colleague orientation for new
employees to help them feel more connected to the institution, which has been
helpful also in connecting Extension to UW-Madison.
Dean Martin shared the top three focus
areas for his office. The first is diversifying funding. Currently, Extension
relies on county, state, and federal funding. An advancement specialist was
recently hired, and the division is investigating questions of how to generate
more program revenue and how to increase grants and contracts with partners.
The impacts that grant agencies are looking for are built into the work of
Extension. The second area is how to increase collaboration across campus,
specifically how Extension engages with different schools/colleges/divisions to
better communities in the state. The third area is increasing the reach of
Extension programming by asking how to diversify the audience to whom
programming is presented, how to increase reach into urban areas as well as
rural areas, and how to leverage technology to increase reach as well. Dean
Martin highlighted Extension’s section on antiracism on their website, along
with the activities of various call-to-action groups. He also discussed
Extension’s ongoing partnerships with Native Nations groups.
Guest: Karl Scholz, Provost
Provost Scholz reported on the
status of enrollments. We will know more after the tenth day of classes, but we
know that we have a substantially higher-than-expected cohort of first-year
students. More detailed numbers will be available at a later
date.
Provost Scholz expressed his
gratitude for the recommendations of the Ad Hoc Committee on Caregiving. There
are many challenges, with additional concerns driven by the delta variant. Of
all the System institutions, UW-Madison has the lowest case average and is much
more heavily vaccinated. Communication will go out soon asking managers to
individually evaluate every employee’s case for continued flexibilities. OHR
has extended the coverage of sick time to address caregiving responsibilities.
Course modality is being preserved as much as possible, and accommodations
continue to be reviewed. Questions were asked about what flexibilities exist
for those who are not in instructional capacities. Provost Scholz reported that
thousands of remote work agreements have been completed, and there have been
differences between schools/colleges/divisions in terms of implementation. The
notion of requests to work on campus has not been brought up, but this too
would be good for employees and supervisors to discuss.
General Reports
Tim Dalby, ASEC Chair, reported on
the recent meeting of the chiefs of staff, chairs, and secretaries. Testing
capacity on campus is 9,000 tests per week. The public dashboard is up and
running. The Chemistry Building is likely to be out of action for the fall
semester. The amount of $1 million+ intended to bring employees up to minima is
based on preliminary TTC mapping. Communications will be going out to
deans/directors/supervisors with guidance on this process. Tim attended the
PPPC meeting on September 8, in which was discussed communication and
clarification around workplace flexibilities vs. remote work vs.
accommodations. The committee also discussed promotion and progression in the
new TTC environment. Tim reported on issues related to the graduate program
coordinator series that have arisen, and there will be further conversation
with OHR on this front. ASEC agreed that OHR should provide more details at the
next meeting on triggers for pay tools/promotion/progression as well as a more
detailed look at the process for TTC appeals.
Jake Smith, Secretary of the
Academic Staff, reported that the Resource Fair, also previously known as the
Benefits Fair, will be held at Union South on October 5 from 12:00pm-4:00pm.
Jake discussed the upcoming Assembly meeting agenda. Lindsey Stoddard Cameron
will move the TTC resolution, and language on electronic meetings will be held
until the Assembly can have its next in-person meeting. Jake and Lesley met
with the Nominating Committee to discuss recruitment for the year ahead, with
plans around additional reminders for the committee interest survey and other
measures to facilitate the Nominating Committee’s work. The announcement for
this semester’s Academic Staff Professional Development Grant program will be going
out next week.
Liaison Reports
Stephanie
Elkins reported on the first meeting of the Communications Committee for this
academic year. New members were welcomed, and the committee is turning its
attention to newsletters. The committee would like to discuss ideas and get
input from ASEC as well.
Guests: Mark Walters, Chief Human
Resources Officer; and Karen Massetti-Moran, Director of Total Rewards, Office
of Human Resources
The recent issues with vacation
balances have been fixed and have been corrected in the online portal.
On the subject of
compensation,
funds have been allotted to provide base adjustments. A $2 million block grant
has been allocated for faculty, and $4 million has been allocated for staff.
There will also be $5 million available in lump sum bonus funding. Details on
the program are still to be determined, as campus is working on determining
what makes the most sense in terms of timing to distribute these funds. An
additional $1 millon+ has been identified on a preliminary
basis to move individuals to the pay grade minima established after TTC is
implemented. This increase is only for GPR funding; some of these jobs are
grant-funded, and OHR is working on how increases for those individuals will
work as well. ASEC encouraged OHR to look at analysis of funds distribution
with respect to equity.
As of September 2, there were
almost 5800 remote work agreements submitted, with 77% of those executed. There
continues to be confusion between workplace flexibilities, remote work
agreements, and accommodations. OHR will be providing extra resources to
differentiate these. They are working through ADA accommodations. While there
have been some delays, divisional disability representatives are working hard
to triage responses. Accommodations for instruction are not being flatly denied, but are rather being made on a case-by-base basis.
Over 12,000 positions have been
mapped for the TTC Project. There are 116 that haven’t yet been mapped, which
are either zero-dollar appointments or new positions. There was a meeting with
the HR Representatives today to talk through next steps and communications
strategies on what happens if conversations are not completed. OHR has also
been looking at data related to a number of requests
and issues with SJDs and mapping. Some of these issues will have to be
addressed either closer to or after implementation. Letters to employees with
their new TTC titles should be released by November 1. ASEC would like to have
a longer conversation about triggers for promotion/progression and other pay
tools, as well as job title appeals, at the next meeting.
Business
· October
Assembly Agenda
ASEC reviewed an initial draft of
the October Assembly agenda. The Chancellor is scheduled to deliver remarks and
take questions from the Assembly at the beginning of the meeting.
· Topics
for Guests
IVCFA: Chemistry Building updates;
general budget update with enrollment numbers factored in; employee recognition
efforts; ATP
OHR: TTC appeals; triggers for promotion/progression
and other pay tools post-TTC
Meeting adjourned at 4:25 p.m.
Minutes submitted by Jake Smith,
Secretary of the Academic Staff