Approved 09-30-21

ASEC Minutes

1:55 – 4:30 p.m. Thursday, September 23, 2021

https://uwmadison.zoom.us/j/93936751067

Members Present: Jenny Dahlberg; Tim Dalby, chair; Stephanie Elkins; Mallory Musolf; Leslie Petty; Lindsey Stoddard Cameron; Bill Tishler

Guests: Rob Cramer, Lesley Fisher, John Horn, Adrian Lampron, Karen Massetti-Moran, Jeff Roessler, Mark Walters

The meeting was called to order at 1:58 p.m.

The minutes of September 9 were approved.

Guest: Adrian Lampron, Chair, Associated Students of Madison

Adrian Lampron is serving as the ASM Chair for this academic year after having worked on the Equity and Inclusion Committee previously. Last year, ASM approached the Dean of Students to recommend amending policies on discrimination, harassment, and retaliation to include “caste” with the other existing protected categories. Caste exists for individuals in the South Asian diaspora and affects students in the UW-Madison community. ASM engaged with UW System as well, and the resolution called on the Regents to amend Regent Policy 14-6 to include caste as a protected category. ASEC and Adrian discussed whether there are other universities that include caste as a category in their non-discrimination policies.

ASM is also paying attention to the City of Madison redistricting process and its potential impacts on the student alder seat. Other issues include ethnic studies expansion (i.e. increased credit requirements and incorporation of these courses); fossil fuel divestment and clothing sustainability; and bills in the legislature regarding shared governance (Assembly Bill 362 and 382). UW-Madison will also be hosting a conference in January for the Association of Big 10 Students.

Motion to Convene in Closed Session Pursuant to Wis. Stats. 19.85(1)(c), and (f) to Discuss Appointments to the Information Technology Committee and the Personnel Policies and Procedures Committee, and Nomination to the Academic Staff Appeals Committee (Musolf). Seconded. Approved.

Motion to Reconvene in Open Session (Dahlberg). Seconded. Approved.

Business

·       Appointments and Nominations – for vote

Motion to nominate Andrea Poehling to the Academic Staff Appeals Committee (Dahlberg). Seconded. Approved. (Stoddard Cameron abstained).

Motion to appoint Sara Nagreen to the Information Technology Committee and Andrew Hahn to the Personnel Policies and Procedures Committee (Dahlberg). Seconded. Approved.

General Reports

Tim Dalby, ASEC Chair, reported on the September 10 meeting of the Mentoring Committee. Registration for the mentor match program is proceeding well. At the September 14 meeting of the chiefs of staff, chairs, and secretaries, testing capacity was discussed. Capacity is meeting demand, and the number of non-compliant students and employees is quite low. Tim, Mallory, Lesley, and Jake met with Mark Walters and Karen Massetti-Moran to discuss a number of issues related to HR, including issues related to TTC, compensation, and removal of COVID leave balances from HRS to prevent confusion on what leave is available to employees. Topics from a recent ASEC listening session included concerns on using vacation balances before sick leave could be available for caregiving purposes, as well as communication around progression and promotion in TTC. Tuesday’s meeting of the chiefs of staff, chairs, and secretaries concerned updates on the low rates of COVID-19 on campus, as well as the status of the Chemistry Building. The mask mandate has been extended through November 26 for campus. At Wednesday’s meeting of the L&S CASI, concerns about transportation were raised, both due to construction and availability of bus routes. Tim discussed the possibility of a hybrid meeting with ASEC. ASEC decided to hold a hybrid meeting on September 30. The September 30 meeting will also include time for ASEC to have planning discussions for the coming year.

Jake Smith, Secretary of the Academic Staff, reported that the University Committee reviewed ASEC’s suggestions for the shared governance letter, and that the letter would hopefully be sent in the next few weeks. There will be an Assembly Skills Workshop held from 3:00 – 4:30 on Monday, September 27, regarding resolution writing and parliamentary procedure. Jake, Tim, and Lesley will be staffing the Resource Fair on October 5. Tim, Mallory, Lesley, and Jake will be meeting with the standing committee chairs early next week to discuss the committees’ initiatives for the year ahead. Jake sent a reminder to academic staff regarding the UW-Madison listening sessions for the UW System President search, which are scheduled for September 30 and October 1. Registration for the first Academic Staff Chat of 2021-22 will open on Friday.

Liaison Reports

Leslie Petty reported on the first meeting of the University Academic Planning Council, with 4-6 proposals on the agenda for the next meeting. The International Division CASI also has new co-chairs, and Leslie will be meeting with them in early October.

Jenny Dahlberg attended the recent Compensation and Economic Benefits Committee meeting. Discussions focused around TTC appeals, the distinguished prefix, and CEBC’s representation on one of the TTC advisory groups.

Stephanie Elkins reported on her meeting with the Librarians Assembly and its steering committee. The Librarians Assembly serves as the CASI for the General Library System, and Stephanie provided information on ASEC activities over the summer.

Lindsey Stoddard Cameron reported on the recent meeting of the Campus Planning Committee. A number of sites were explored for the relocation of Chamberlin Rock. The rock was able to be moved without disturbing the burial mounds in that area. The rock has been placed on Kegonsa Research Campus for research purposes.

Guest: Rob Cramer, Interim Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration

Interim Vice Chancellor Cramer discussed the upcoming compensation plan, which includes a $2 million block grant for faculty, $4 million for staff, plus additional funds to bring staff up to post-TTC minima, and $5 million in lump sum bonus funds. More details on the administration of these funds will be coming soon.

Interim Vice Chancellor Cramer updated ASEC on the status of the Administrative Transformation Project. As the campus moves forward with Workday as its vendor for HR and financial systems, we are working with them on onboarding. In 2019, Interim Vice Chancellor Cramer and then Vice Chancellor Heller sent a team to research implementations at other campuses. It is critical for training to go well to ensure a successful future state. A contract for Huron Research Software is going to the Board of Regents for approval in October. This system would replace WISPER. There will be a separate tool from Huron for UW-Milwaukee and other System campuses. UW System Administration continues to work on bringing in an implementation partner, with the hope to have that contract up for approval by the Regents in the near future. The ATP team is looking at the next set of internal staffing for the project, with 32 additional positions in data, IT, HR, and finance.

The Chemistry Building has had a number of issues with both the new tower and Mathews/Daniels. Elevator shafts in the new tower failed a pressurization test, and campus is working with a number of groups to find an appropriate solution. There has been a remarkable response from the Chemistry Department and others on campus to find homes for the classes in the building. The hope is to be back in the building in spring. There were also failures in the ductwork from the exhaust hoods in Mathews/Daniels. There are no conclusions yet on how these events happened. The focus at present is on the path forward, and UW is working with the Department of Administration to understand the causal sequence that led to these events.

Enrollment for UW-Madison exceeded expectations, which has some budgetary implications. At one point, there was forecasting about the deficit related to the pandemic being approximately $319 million. The final loss estimate was $226 million. Gift support stayed strong throughout this time, as did research and contracts. It also helped that the state budget lapse was returned. Tuition loss and impacts to auxiliary units were also less than forecasted, partially due to federal funds. This leads us to being able to look at compensation over the coming year and starting to look at gaps discovered through TTC.

Guests: Mark Walters, Chief Human Resources Officer; and Karen Massetti-Moran, Director of Total Rewards, Office of Human Resources

OHR is close to rolling out the compensation initiatives for staff. They are working on getting instructions out to the campus. There will likely be a staggered implementation for these and an elongated timeframe for implementation. The intent is to get the bonuses distributed by the December holidays, with spring as the timeframe for base increases.

OHR is also aiming to getting the structure in place in terms of equity post-TTC, so that people are where they should be within the new salary ranges. We also want to make sure people are able to progress through the range over time. A plan needs to be formulated centrally, and OHR is looking at more intentional adjustments. The idea would be to provide reports to the HR reps and develop a timeline where HR should be looking at staff regularly for increases, potentially coinciding with budget planning, and looking at performance and parity. OHR is aware that there is great concern in the community that these adjustments be done equitably. ASEC expressed concerns about progression in ways other than pay. The intent of progression is to progress through the salary range for that job. If an employee is hired into a title, the employee would remain in that title until they took a different job. There could potentially be movement through some titles with respect to level.

Mark and Karen will send ASEC more information on the TTC appeals process.

Business

·       October Assembly Agenda

ASEC reviewed the draft of the October Assembly agenda. The agenda will be voted on at the next meeting.

·       Topics for Guests

Provost: CTLM and org chart; updates on mentoring aspect of CTLM; finalized enrollment numbers now that we’re past 10th day of classes, including professional and graduate school enrollment; update on progress of deans’ DEI working groups; next phase of Campus Diversity Education and Training; plans for enrollment in relationship to other news about System campuses; data on sophomores and juniors for UW-Madison; teaching quality and enhancement and impact on faculty/instructional academic staff progression

Meeting adjourned at 4:18 p.m.

Minutes submitted by Jake Smith, Secretary of the Academic Staff