Topics Map > Academic Staff Assembly > 2016-2017 > 6. March
Academic Staff Assembly Minutes 03-13-17
Approved 4-10-17
Provost Sarah Mangelsdorf called the meeting to order at 3:36 p.m.
Automatic Consent: The Academic Staff Assembly minutes of Monday, February 13, 2017, were approved.
Guest: Kathi Kilgore, Lobbyist, Academic Staff Professionals Representation Organization (ASPRO)
Kathi Kilgore shared that ASPRO is a state-wide organization that represents academic staff to the Legislature, Governor, Board of Regents and Chancellors.
The Governor’s budget proposal is the first step in the budget process. The budget may be changed by the Joint Committee on Finance and then by both houses of the Legislature and finally by the Governor through his veto power.
There are several proposals in the budget that are being discussed. Some legislators are talking about backfill for the 5% tuition cut and that this money could be redirected to financial aid or somewhere else. There is $42.5 million of new money that would be distributed to campuses based on performance metrics. The proposed metrics do not include research, which is a metric important to UW-Madison.
There is a proposal to monitor and report teaching load for academic staff and faculty. ASPRO has been hearing from different legislators about faculty teaching loads for several years. It is unclear whether instructional academic staff are being included just because they teach. There is a question about what the legislature will do with this information once it is collected.
There is language to protect academic freedom in the budget, which to some extent mirrors the language in Board of Regents policy. Some have indicated they don’t understand why the governor included these changes in the budget. The requirement for internships or work experience as part of degree requirements has brought specific concerns around affordability and time to degree. ASPRO is eager to hear from academic staff on how the budget would affect them.
The other topic of interest to the Assembly is self-insurance. The Group Insurance Board voted on the same day that the budget was introduced to move to self-insurance. According to Employee Trust Funds (ETF), 98% of current providers would be covered. ETF projects that the plan would save $60M through the biennium, with $20M in the first year and $40M in the second year. This amount is based on the actual proposals ETF has received from health insurance companies. The Group Insurance Board will likely approve contracts in April temporarily. The Joint Committee on Finance has passive review on these contracts.
Guests: Gretchen Viney and Jackie Hank, Academic Staff Representatives on the Athletic Board
The Assembly was provided with copies of the two most recent years of the Athletic Board annual reports (2014-2016). Jackie and Gretchen represent 2 out of 23 votes on the Board. There are 12 faculty, 4 alumni, 2 students, 2 university staff and 2 student athletes, who share one vote. The Board has four committees; Equity, Diversity and Student Welfare; Academics and Compliance; Personnel and Finance; and Facilities and Operation. Each member serves on three of four committees. Each member is expected to be a liaison to one of the varsity sports. Jackie is the liaison to volleyball and Gretchen is the liaison to women’s hockey. The board and committees meet approximately 30 times between September and June of each year. The Athletic Board’s top priorities include: academic performance and student welfare; financial responsibility; compliance (mostly NCAA); and athletic performance.
Student welfare metrics can be found in the Board report. The federal graduation rate is the percent of full-time freshman who graduate within six years from the instruction they entered as freshman. For 2015, UW-Madison’s rate was 71%. The graduate success rate measures the percent of students graduating, not including athletes who leave the institution in good academic standing and including students who transfer into the institution. The UW-Madison rate for this calculation was 85% in 2015. The academic progress rate is a term by term calculation for athletic teams. A score of 1000 means that all athletes on the team stayed eligible and returned to school following completion of the athletic season. Teams must have scores of 930 in order to avoid NCAA penalties. UW was above 930 in all sports for the 2014-15 academic year. These are the kind of indicators that the Athletic Board looks at and keeps track of.
Standing Committee and Other Reports
Academic Staff Executive Committee (ASEC) – Kevin Niemi reported that he was unable to put together a paper report for ASEC for this meeting. ASEC has met 3 times since the last Assembly meeting. They met with a number of new leaders on campus including Kristen Roman, UW Chief of Police; Linda Scott, Dean of the School of Nursing; and Wayne Guthrie, Director of the Office of Human Resources. ASEC also met with Heather McFadden who reported on the Titling and Total Compensation Advisory Council. They discussed concerns about the lack of clarity on how shared governance would be included in the Titling and Total Compensation study with the Provost. They also discussed the governor’s proposed budget with Laurent Heller, Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration. The Chancellor will be attending the April Assembly meeting, and Kevin encouraged Assembly representatives and alternates to bring questions for the Chancellor.
Business
Changes to ASPP-Chapter 6
Bruno Browning (ASEC) moved for the Academic Staff Assembly to approve the changes to Academic Staff Policies and Procedures Chapter 6. Seconded. Approved.
Resolution Calling for Fair and Equitable Pay for Faculty Assistants
Tim Dalby (District #263) moved for the Academic Staff Assembly to approve the Resolution Calling for Fair and Equitable Pay for Faculty Assistants. Seconded.
Robert Newsom (ASEC) moved to amend the resolution by replacing “College of Letters and Science” with “UW-Madison” and striking “Dean of the” in the last therefore clause. Seconded. This substitution would occur three times in the resolution.
Sir Williams (District #473) moved to amend the previous amendment by leaving “College of Letters and Science” in the fifth clause. Seconded. Approved.
Aaron Crandall (ASEC) moved to amend the previous amendment from Robert Newsom by leaving “College of Letters and Science” in the sixth clause. Seconded. Approved.
Nick Terrible (District #451) moved to amend the previous amendment from Robert Newsom by adding “Chancellor of” in front of UW-Madison. Seconded. Approved.
Jenny Dahlberg (ASEC) moved to postpone the item due to time limitations until the April Assembly meeting. Seconded. Motion failed.
Sir Williams (District #473) called for the previous question. Seconded. Approved.
The amended resolution was approved.
Motion Regarding Academic Staff Assembly District Size Corrections and Districting Logic
Kevin Niemi took over presiding of the meeting for Provost Sarah Mangelsdorf.
Brady Minter (District #496) moved for the Academic Staff Assembly to approve the motion regarding Academic Staff Assembly district size corrections and districting logic. Seconded.
Nick Terrible (District #451) moved to postpone the item due to time limitation until the next Assembly meeting.
Robert Newsom (ASEC) asked if there was still a quorum.
Following a hand count of members, a quorum was found to no longer be present.
Adjourned at 5:20 pm.
Minutes submitted by Heather Daniels, Secretary of the Academic Staff
ACADEMIC STAFF ASSEMBLY MEETING MINUTES
272 Bascom Hall
Monday, March 13, 2017
3:30 to 5:00 p.m.
272 Bascom Hall
Monday, March 13, 2017
3:30 to 5:00 p.m.
Provost Sarah Mangelsdorf called the meeting to order at 3:36 p.m.
Automatic Consent: The Academic Staff Assembly minutes of Monday, February 13, 2017, were approved.
Guest: Kathi Kilgore, Lobbyist, Academic Staff Professionals Representation Organization (ASPRO)
Kathi Kilgore shared that ASPRO is a state-wide organization that represents academic staff to the Legislature, Governor, Board of Regents and Chancellors.
The Governor’s budget proposal is the first step in the budget process. The budget may be changed by the Joint Committee on Finance and then by both houses of the Legislature and finally by the Governor through his veto power.
There are several proposals in the budget that are being discussed. Some legislators are talking about backfill for the 5% tuition cut and that this money could be redirected to financial aid or somewhere else. There is $42.5 million of new money that would be distributed to campuses based on performance metrics. The proposed metrics do not include research, which is a metric important to UW-Madison.
There is a proposal to monitor and report teaching load for academic staff and faculty. ASPRO has been hearing from different legislators about faculty teaching loads for several years. It is unclear whether instructional academic staff are being included just because they teach. There is a question about what the legislature will do with this information once it is collected.
There is language to protect academic freedom in the budget, which to some extent mirrors the language in Board of Regents policy. Some have indicated they don’t understand why the governor included these changes in the budget. The requirement for internships or work experience as part of degree requirements has brought specific concerns around affordability and time to degree. ASPRO is eager to hear from academic staff on how the budget would affect them.
The other topic of interest to the Assembly is self-insurance. The Group Insurance Board voted on the same day that the budget was introduced to move to self-insurance. According to Employee Trust Funds (ETF), 98% of current providers would be covered. ETF projects that the plan would save $60M through the biennium, with $20M in the first year and $40M in the second year. This amount is based on the actual proposals ETF has received from health insurance companies. The Group Insurance Board will likely approve contracts in April temporarily. The Joint Committee on Finance has passive review on these contracts.
Guests: Gretchen Viney and Jackie Hank, Academic Staff Representatives on the Athletic Board
The Assembly was provided with copies of the two most recent years of the Athletic Board annual reports (2014-2016). Jackie and Gretchen represent 2 out of 23 votes on the Board. There are 12 faculty, 4 alumni, 2 students, 2 university staff and 2 student athletes, who share one vote. The Board has four committees; Equity, Diversity and Student Welfare; Academics and Compliance; Personnel and Finance; and Facilities and Operation. Each member serves on three of four committees. Each member is expected to be a liaison to one of the varsity sports. Jackie is the liaison to volleyball and Gretchen is the liaison to women’s hockey. The board and committees meet approximately 30 times between September and June of each year. The Athletic Board’s top priorities include: academic performance and student welfare; financial responsibility; compliance (mostly NCAA); and athletic performance.
Student welfare metrics can be found in the Board report. The federal graduation rate is the percent of full-time freshman who graduate within six years from the instruction they entered as freshman. For 2015, UW-Madison’s rate was 71%. The graduate success rate measures the percent of students graduating, not including athletes who leave the institution in good academic standing and including students who transfer into the institution. The UW-Madison rate for this calculation was 85% in 2015. The academic progress rate is a term by term calculation for athletic teams. A score of 1000 means that all athletes on the team stayed eligible and returned to school following completion of the athletic season. Teams must have scores of 930 in order to avoid NCAA penalties. UW was above 930 in all sports for the 2014-15 academic year. These are the kind of indicators that the Athletic Board looks at and keeps track of.
Standing Committee and Other Reports
Academic Staff Executive Committee (ASEC) – Kevin Niemi reported that he was unable to put together a paper report for ASEC for this meeting. ASEC has met 3 times since the last Assembly meeting. They met with a number of new leaders on campus including Kristen Roman, UW Chief of Police; Linda Scott, Dean of the School of Nursing; and Wayne Guthrie, Director of the Office of Human Resources. ASEC also met with Heather McFadden who reported on the Titling and Total Compensation Advisory Council. They discussed concerns about the lack of clarity on how shared governance would be included in the Titling and Total Compensation study with the Provost. They also discussed the governor’s proposed budget with Laurent Heller, Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration. The Chancellor will be attending the April Assembly meeting, and Kevin encouraged Assembly representatives and alternates to bring questions for the Chancellor.
Business
Changes to ASPP-Chapter 6
Bruno Browning (ASEC) moved for the Academic Staff Assembly to approve the changes to Academic Staff Policies and Procedures Chapter 6. Seconded. Approved.
Resolution Calling for Fair and Equitable Pay for Faculty Assistants
Tim Dalby (District #263) moved for the Academic Staff Assembly to approve the Resolution Calling for Fair and Equitable Pay for Faculty Assistants. Seconded.
Robert Newsom (ASEC) moved to amend the resolution by replacing “College of Letters and Science” with “UW-Madison” and striking “Dean of the” in the last therefore clause. Seconded. This substitution would occur three times in the resolution.
Sir Williams (District #473) moved to amend the previous amendment by leaving “College of Letters and Science” in the fifth clause. Seconded. Approved.
Aaron Crandall (ASEC) moved to amend the previous amendment from Robert Newsom by leaving “College of Letters and Science” in the sixth clause. Seconded. Approved.
Nick Terrible (District #451) moved to amend the previous amendment from Robert Newsom by adding “Chancellor of” in front of UW-Madison. Seconded. Approved.
Jenny Dahlberg (ASEC) moved to postpone the item due to time limitations until the April Assembly meeting. Seconded. Motion failed.
Sir Williams (District #473) called for the previous question. Seconded. Approved.
The amended resolution was approved.
Motion Regarding Academic Staff Assembly District Size Corrections and Districting Logic
Kevin Niemi took over presiding of the meeting for Provost Sarah Mangelsdorf.
Brady Minter (District #496) moved for the Academic Staff Assembly to approve the motion regarding Academic Staff Assembly district size corrections and districting logic. Seconded.
Nick Terrible (District #451) moved to postpone the item due to time limitation until the next Assembly meeting.
Robert Newsom (ASEC) asked if there was still a quorum.
Following a hand count of members, a quorum was found to no longer be present.
Adjourned at 5:20 pm.
Minutes submitted by Heather Daniels, Secretary of the Academic Staff