Academic Staff Assembly Document #424

March 8, 2010

College of Agricultural and Life Sciences Committee on Academic Staff Issues (CASI) 
Annual Report for 2008/09

Final Report – Approved at the 12/17/2009 CASI Meeting 

I. Purpose: The Committee on Academic Staff Issues (CASI) shall advise the Dean on the formulation and review, and shall be represented in the development, of all policies and procedures concerning academic staff members of the College, including personnel matters.

 

II. Responsibilities of the CASI include, but are not limited to: 

A. Formulating and reviewing College policies and procedures concerning academic staff members. 
B. Representing academic staff members in the development of all College policies and procedures concerning academic staff members. 
C. Providing advice to the Dean on College program decisions likely to affect promotional opportunities or lead to non-renewal or layoff of academic staff members. 
D. Developing opportunities for participation of academic staff members in department and unit governance. 
E. Developing opportunities for recognition of academic staff member contributions to the excellence of the College. 
F. Reviewing campus policies and procedures and recommending implementation and monitoring strategies for the College administration. 
G. Communicating the CALS CASI activities to the Office of the Secretary of the Academic Staff and other appropriate entities.

 

III. Membership 

A. The CALS CASI consists of 13 voting members, 10 of whom are elected by the academic staff of the College to represent particular groups (wards) of academic staff and 3 members appointed at-large by the Dean of the College. The Dean, the Associate Dean for Administration, the Director of Human Resources and the academic staff member on the College’s Academic Planning Council shall be ex-officio members of the Committee. The Dean has designated the Associate Dean for Administration as the acting chair of the Committee and the CASI elected Kathy Zweifel as co-chair for 2008/09.

 

CALS CASI Annual Report 2008-09 
B. Committee Representatives for 2008-09

Ward I 
Nancy Wiegand (09) 
Land Info. & Computer Graphics Fac. 
Senior Scientist

Ward II 
Lynette Karls (10) 
Nutritional Sciences 
Faculty Associate

Ward III 
Ruth Genger (11) 
Plant Pathology 
Assistant Researcher

Ward IV 
Beth Button (11) 
Food Science 
Instructional Specialist

Donna Troestler (11) 
Biochemistry 
Media Specialist

Kathy Zweifel (10) 
Genetics 
Sr. Administrative Program Specialist

Ward V 
Johanna Oosterwyk (09) 
Horticulture 
Research Program Manager II

Terry Jobsis (10) 
Animal Sciences 
Research Program Manager II

Ward VI 
Anne Lynn Gillian-Daniel (10) 
Biochemistry 
Assoc. Administrative Program Specialist

Cheryl Skjolaas (09) 
Biological Systems Engineering 
Senior Outreach Specialist

Ward VII 
Tom Browne (09) 
Undergraduate Programs & Services 
Assistant Dean

John Albright (10) 
Agronomy 
Research Program Manager II

Eric Dieckman (11) 
Agricultural & Applied Economics 
Info. Processing Consultant

C. Ex-officio Members 
Frank Kooistra Ag Administration Associate Dean 
Linda Heideman Nigbor Office of Human Resources Dir. of Human Resources

D. Subcommittee Membership for 2008/09 
See Appendix A.

 

CALS CASI Annual Report 2008-09 

IV. Meetings 
Meetings are held once per month during the academic year. An agenda is prepared using the following format. 

1. Approval of the minutes 
2. Subcommittee reports 
3. Open questions from the committee 
4. Comments and update from the chair 
5. Special issues

Special topics addressed during the year included: 

• Worked on recognition of employee’s length of service to CALS. Pins were designed and ordered to recognize staff with 20 and 30 years of service. The 10-year pins will be ordered and awarded during 2009-10. 
• The governance subcommittee proposed a change to the selection of the CASI representative to the APC.

 

V. Subcommittee Activities 

A. Awards/Professional Development – In general, this subcommittee is responsible for reviewing applications/nominations and making recommendations for the Academic Staff Professional Development Grants and Academic Staff Awards for Excellence.

• The subcommittee met to review and rank the professional development proposals from CALS (3 in fall, 4 in spring) prior to forwarding them to the Academic Staff Assembly Professional Development and Recognition Committee (PDRC). 
• From a field of 30 nominees, three academic staff were selected as CALS Academic Staff Excellence Awards in 2009. They were: Fariba Assadi-Porter (Biochemistry) for Excellence in Research Award; Kathleen Zweifel (Genetics) for Excellence in Leadership Award; and Ted Halbach (Dairy Science) for Excellence in Service. The formal CALS Awards ceremony for these and other award winners was held in April 2009. 
• The subcommittee developed a plan to recognize CALS employees including academic staff, classified staff, and faculty. June 30th was chosen to determine years of service. Pins were developed for 10, 20, and 30 years of service in the College. CALS ordered 100 “30 year” pins and 400 “20 year” pins. Pins for 20 and 30 year employees will be distributed in fall 2009; 10, 20 and 30 year pins will be distributed in 2010. (Ten-year pins will be ordered in 2010.) 

B. Communications – This standing subcommittee is responsible for establishing and monitoring the efforts to maintain communication with CALS academic staff. This would include, but is not limited to, preparing the Annual Report, managing the web site, and overseeing the updates of districting of the CASI. 

• Worked on the 2007-08 annual report.

 

CALS CASI Annual Report 2008-09 

C. Governance – This subcommittee is responsible for monitoring and addressing issues that involve shared governance within the College. This includes monitoring the level of involvement that academic staff have in the management of their respective departments, as well as their representation on various committees at both the department and college level. 
The CALS Academic Planning committee has one representative that is selected by the CALS CASI. In the past, the representative has been limited to certain wards. Kathy Zweifel suggested that the CASI change this requirement so that all members of the CASI are eligible to serve in this position. The Governance was asked to discuss the issue and develop a proposal. The following proposal was submitted to the CASI for a vote: 
“The Governance Committee proposes that the CASI remove the ward restriction from the APC representative appointment and open the position to all CASI members. In order to ensure that the APC representative has the appropriate experience for the committee, all 
CASI members who are interested in the position will be asked to give a short job description to the CASI along with a statement about why they will be a good choice for the APC - these statements could either be oral or in writing. Once the CASI has heard all from all of the applicants, the committee will elect the most appropriate CASI member to serve on the APC.” 
The CASI voted to approve this proposal to change the eligibility requirements for the APC representative at the meeting on December16, 2008. 
E. Nominations/Mentoring - This subcommittee is responsible for ensuring that academic staff positions for membership in the CASI and appointments to other standing committees within CALS have qualified nominees. Developing and managing a mentoring program for new academic staff in the College is included within the scope of this subcommittee. 

• Continued the new staff orientation program. Information packets are prepared by the Office of Human Resources for every new academic staff appointment. These packets are brought to the CASI meeting and distributed to the committee members for delivery to the new staff members. 
• Worked with CALS administration to ensure academic staff are nominated for College committees as vacancies occur. 
• Recruited several academic staff to complete application forms for the Ward I and VI vacancies. 
• Worked with Frank Kooistra and the chair to secure a new committee member to fill the position vacated early by Donna Troestler in Ward IV. 

F. Personnel Policies & Procedures – In general, this subcommittee is responsible for monitoring the compensation and personnel policies and procedures of the College, for providing recommendations for changes and improvements of these policies and procedures, and for providing information on the policies and procedures to academic staff in the College.