Approved 10-9-14

Members Present: Marwa Bassiouni; Bruno Browning; Heather McFadden, Chair; Michael Moscicke; Robert Newsom, Kevin Niemi, Vice-Chair

Guests: Rebecca Blank, Lisa Jansen, Noel Radomski, Jake Smith, Toni Ziegler

The meeting was called to order at 2:01 p.m.

The minutes of September 25, 2014, were approved with one change.

ASEC recognized Lillian Tong, Eva Vivian, Dang Chonwerawong  for receiving the 2014-15 Outstanding Women of Color awards.  Jeff Henriques was awarded a UW System Underkofler award for teaching.

General Reports

• Chair Heather McFadden reported the letter from the Chancellor, Provost and Vice Chancellor Bazzell regarding shared governance has been distributed on campus.  Heather McFadden solicited names from ASEC for the internal communications committee.  Suggestions will be sent to John Lucas.  She also discussed the academic staff governance orientation that occurred on Wednesday, September 24.  She presented an idea to ASEC about how to encourage Assembly engagement.  Several members suggested that the Assembly should bring forward a resolution forming an ad hoc committee to look at the issue.
• Secretary of the Academic Staff Heather Daniels asked whether the Assembly would be an appropriate place to have a Partners in Giving presentation.  She also talked about her plans to meet with the chairs of the Area Review Committees before the end of the semester.  Lastly, she provided ASEC with data on how many academic staff were in schools/colleges/divisions without a CASI (Committee on Academic Staff Issues).
  

Liaison Reports

• Kevin Niemi provided an update on the UW System Academic Staff Representatives group.  David J. Ward talked on behalf of UW System and was interested in the rough data that Heather D. had shared with the email list.  There was also discussion of shared governance and HR changes.
• Marwa Bassiouni presented an update on the Campus Planning Committee.  The campus is in the process of designing the 2015 campus master plan.  There will be listening sessions for input from campus.  Planning for the 2017-2019 capital budget is currently underway.  The top priority for this biennium is new chemistry teaching space.
  

Business

• Procedure for nominating slates of academic staff members to a committee.
• Motion to adopt the following:

When the diversity of a committee composed of more than just academic staff members is a compelling factor the following process for making appointments to the committee must be utilized:
ASEC will solicit all academic staff members for interest in serving on the committee with the assistance of the secretary of the academic staff.
ASEC will review all applications for appointment to the committee and submit to the ASEC chair a list of acceptable nominees greater than the number of available seats on the committee.
The ASEC chair will consult with the UC chair, CSEC chair, ASM chair, and if applicable the administrator who charged the committee, regarding their slate of nominees to ascertain the most diverse panel of nominees as a collective.
The ASEC chair will report back to ASEC with a recommendation as to which nominees should be appointed to the committee, based on the overall composition of the committee, after consulting with the faculty, classified staff, students, and administration.
ASEC shall approve the final academic staff appointments to the committee and submit these appointments to the appropriate university authority.
There was much discussion on whether other parties would collaborate in the manner that is laid out in the motion.  Timing could also make this a problem.  
Seconded.  Motion failed.

Guest: Chancellor Rebecca Blank

Chancellor Blank reported that a request for names for the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education Search and Screen Committee will be sent soon.  Also, the Ad Hoc Committee on Classified Research will have a report prepared shortly.  

The Chancellor provided an update on the budget.  The UW System fund balance report will be coming out soon.  The vast majority of funds are already committed.  There will be about 4% that are true reserves.  The last budget cycle UW-Madison filled cuts with outstanding balances.  If there is no new money, cuts will need to be imposed on campus.  This is the purpose of the budget cutting exercise.  The Chancellor stressed the need to pay attention to school/college/division priorities and that cuts should not be across the board.  They are looking at ways that units which are not GPR funded can share in the cuts.  UW System has placed a $94 million request for new funding for the university.  If fully funded, UW-Madison would need to cut its budget by ½%.  January and February will be the prime time for budget negotiations.  

She also talked about the new budget model.  Current indirect costs are allocated based on activity by school/college.  The Budget Model Development Committee suggested a few changes to this allocation, but concentrated their work on how to allocate tuition.  There would be a slow implementation of any changes.  Any decision on changes would need to be made by early January.  ASEC stressed the need to have a Faculty Policies and Procedures Chapter 6 committee where all groups are represented on the budget.  If there was an agreement on language around this committee, the Chancellor would see no problem with having a committee.

Guest: Toni Ziegler

Toni Ziegler presented the report from the Ad Hoc Committee on Bridge Funding.  There was a discussion about PI status for academic staff and the benefits of that status.  Heather D. agreed to check with the VCRGE office about advertising that process to academic staff who serve as PIs.  There was some discussion about how a bridge funding program could be funded.  ASEC thanked the committee  for all their work.

Business

• Assembly planning
• Heather D. asked when ASEC wanted the Assembly to discuss the inclusion of limited appointments in academic staff governance and also a discussion about districting for the Assembly.  ASEC plans to bring the limited conversation forward in February followed by districting in April or May.
• October Assembly Agenda
• ASEC reviewed the October Assembly Agenda.  Moved. Seconded. Approved.
• Follow up on balance of power between ASA and ASEC
• Heather M. will work on providing some type of shortened chair’s report prior to the Assembly meeting.  ASEC members will also be available for discussion of the academic staff governance priorities prior to the Assembly meeting on Monday.
• Next ASEC Meeting, October 9, 2014 – for decision
• November Assembly agenda
• Hostile and intimidating behavior legislation
• Guests: John Biondi, John Lucas and Alice Gustafson, Kevin Helmkamp, Patrick Sims
  

Meeting adjourned at 4:29 p.m.

Minutes submitted by Heather Daniels, Secretary of the Academic Staff