Approved 9-29-22

ASEC Minutes

2:00 – 4:30 p.m. Thursday, September 22, 2022

53 Bascom Hall

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

Members Present: Tim Dalby; Stephanie Elkins; Alissa Ewer; Julie Hunt Johnson; Stephanie Jones; Albert Muniz; Mallory Musolf, chair; Lindsey Stoddard Cameron

Guests: Kacie Lucchini Butcher, Karl Scholz, Scott Wildman

The meeting was called to order at 2:00 p.m.

The minutes of September 8 were approved with one correction.

General Reports

Mallory Musolf, ASEC Chair, reported on the opening of the Sifting and Reckoning exhibit at the Chazen Art Museum. The event was well attended, and the exhibit was intellectually and emotionally impactful. Mallory and Jake joined other shared governance representatives in a meeting with Geoffrey Peterson and Eric Giordano, two researchers involved in the student free speech survey that is set to go out this fall. Attendees went over concerns related to the individual questions as well as how the data will be analyzed and used.

Jake Smith, Secretary of the Academic Staff, shared the final version of a letter in support of the LGBTQ+ Committee’s request for a full-time position to serve as a liaison for faculty and staff LGBTQ+ resources. The University Committee co-signed the letter. Jake provided a memo from the Compensation and Economic Benefits Committee to the Office of Human Resources related to salary issues as a result of TTC. OHR will be responding and meeting with CEBC to discuss these concerns. Elise Ahn and Weijia Li have been appointed to the Dean of the International Division Search and Screen Committee. Jake reminded ASEC members about the PD Grant program and the Mentor Match program, both of which were announced this week.

Liaison Reports

Albert Muniz reported on the College of Letters and Science CASI meeting. There was a focus on TTC implementation and conversation around subject matter experts for titling.

Stephanie Elkins reported on the Wisconsin Public Media CASI’s meeting. There was a presentation on accessibility to conform to UW policy guidelines. There is continued work on websites for the division. The WPM HR team is going on the road to visit bureaus across the state. The compensation exercise allocation was the highest that WPM has received to date, and WPM is adding funds as well.

Tim Dalby reported on the Personnel Polices and Procedures Committee meeting. The committee looked at a proposed revision for one of the ASPP Chapter 2 changes that was moved at the September Assembly meeting and continued its review of Chapter 3.

Guest: Karl Scholz, Provost

Provost Scholz provided a brief update related to COVID. New bivalent booster appointments are available through University Health Services. The semester is off to a relatively good start, and there have been no discussions about spring semester yet.

Following up on a question from ASEC about the workload of the office, Provost Scholz’s focus has not been on the org chart for the office but rather the cadence of meetings and freeing up time for other initiatives.

ASEC followed up on the conversation around diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives from the last meeting. ASEC received the final report of the Ad Hoc Committee for Academic and University Staff Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, which it charged in 2020. ASEC will be talking with that group about how to prioritize its recommendations, and there are a number of recommendations that also tie in with the deans’ working group that ASEC has been engaged with. ASEC would like the Provost’s input as well as Chief Diversity Officer LaVar Charleston, with whom ASEC will meet in a couple of weeks. ASEC gave a deep and broad charge to the committee. One of its primary concerns is around the availability of data, as well as wanting to ensure sufficient focus on staff in addition to faculty and students. Provost Scholz discussed the possibility of linking observations from the report to the forthcoming recommendations from the Staff Climate Survey. There are also recommendations both from the ad hoc committee’s report and the deans’ working group that intersect with ongoing initiatives from OHR, such as enabling standard exit and stay interviews. There is a need to be mindful of capacity constraints as well. Considering data, we want to understand what key indicators for staff are, as we have for students and faculty.

On the topic of moving DEI curriculum forward, Provost Scholz discussed the merger of the company that was going to provide our training. DDEEA is currently looking at efforts that could be done internally. Angela Byers-Winston and Markus Brauer are also in the process of setting up a fledgling Institute for Diversity Science, which will initially be housed in the School of Medicine and Public Health.

ASEC brought up the topic of the student survey on free expression. ASEC encouraged a communication plan from campus around the survey with the purpose of making space for the students taking it to get any questions they have about it answered.

Guest: Kacie Lucchini Butcher, Director, Public History Project

Kacie came to UW-Madison in summer 2019 to begin this project, which itself was a recommendation coming out of an ad hoc study group report looking at the use of the name Ku Klux Klan in student organizations in the 1920s. The project was given a clear mandate by the Office of the Chancellor. There are two qualities that make this project unique. First is the scale of the history involved. From the 175-year history of the institution to the 10,000-year history of Dejope, the project has been looking broadly at both discrimination and resistance, whereas many other universities are focusing either on slavery or one specific controversial piece of history. The second is the public aspect of the project. Whereas reports are the outcome of some similar projects at other universities, this project has numerous public engagement elements, including a public exhibition which is currently open through December 13. This exhibit covers 3,300 square feet of the Chazen Art Museum, and there is a corresponding digital exhibit which includes never-before-seen media from the archives that has been digitized and made newly accessible. There are several events and lectures scheduled, and the Project has also been asked to collaborate on teaching materials, for which 9 teaching guides have been made available as of August. Two more are in the works related to Hmong and Jewish student experiences as UW-Madison. There will also be a report, which will be in the form of a process document, due to the unique nature of the project. There have also been classroom presentations as well as presentations for departments, with over 90 visits scheduled that connect these with the exhibit. There have been challenges in sifting through archives in terms of organization of existing collections. For faculty and staff experiences, there are challenges in knowing why people leave, partially related to record retention policies around personnel issues. The Project was extended multiple times during the pandemic. There is more research to be done, including on the university’s relationship to the broader community. ASEC asked about how the work of the Project might continue. The Project is currently slated to end at the close of fiscal year 2023. Kacie has proposals for how the work might continue. ASEC expressed its support for the continuation of the project.

Business

·         October Assembly Meeting Agenda

ASEC discussed moving the report of the Ad Hoc Committee on Academic and University Staff Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to the November meeting, so that ASEC could have additional time with the co-chairs to review the recommendations and get input on next steps.  UWPD Chief Kristen Roman and Public History Project Director Kacie Lucchini Butcher will both give presentations to the Assembly at the October meeting. ASEC discussed a resolution supporting the continuation of the Public History Project.

·         ASEC Priorities Discussion

ASEC’s subcommittees will be on CASIs (Mallory, Tim, and Stephanie Jones), DEIB (Lindsey, Stephanie Elkins, and Julie), and Transportation (Alissa, Albert, and Donna). Subcommittees will plan on meeting during Assembly weeks to move forward on their goals in each of these areas

·         Topics for Guests

VCRGE: remote work, check-in on outreach with RSP and IRB staff, feedback from research admin on RSP and retention concerns and challenges that research admin/faculty have had; question on Global Health Institute being moved under VCRGE

OHR: TTC titles and subject matter experts, appeals process, remote work survey, benefits (i.e. a unified system of leave, family leave) and next steps; how tied are we to System in the benefits space; when can we expect to see guidance on progression/promotion, follow up on Dobbs impacts to employees

Meeting adjourned at 4:31 p.m.

Minutes submitted by Jake Smith, Secretary of the Academic Staff