ASEC Minutes
2:00 – 4:30 p.m. Thursday, May 4, 2017
55 Bascom Hall
Members Present: Bruno Browning, Aaron Crandall; Jenny Dahlberg; Sarah Kuba; Mallory Musolf; Robert Newsom; Kevin Niemi, Chair; Deb Shapiro
Guests: Megan Dzyuba, Mara Eisch, Jason Jankoski, Jenny Kvistad, Zubin Mufti, Patrick Sheehan, Jake Smith, Brenda Spychalla, Cathy Trueba
The meeting was called to order at 2:02 p.m.
The minutes of April 27, 2017, were approved.
General Reports
Chair Kevin Niemi reported that Marsha Mailick wanted to talk with him about the University Research Council. He talked with the Chancellor this week about re-examining the structure of the Division of Student Life. Matt Mayrl and Lori Berquam will lead a committee this summer to study this issue. The Chancellor will ask for one or two representatives from the academic staff to serve on this committee.
The UW System Academic Staff Representatives will meet and have an hour with Mercer. In addition, the representatives will have an hour with President Ray Cross regarding the state budget, the Board of Regents and strategic planning updates.
Secretary of the Academic Staff Heather Daniels reported that the University Committee discussed a request for blanket approval of allowing academic staff researchers to teach during the summer. The University Committee did not make any decisions, but did agree that approved blanket waivers would need to be tracked. Jeff Russell will be working on a simple form that could be used.
Guests: Members of the Ad Hoc Committee on Academic Staff Degree Requirements, Mara Eisch and Brenda Spychalla
Kevin thanked the committee for its work. Mara and Brenda explained that the committee was adding three explicit exceptions for degree waivers. The committee discussed the need for flexibilities with parameters. There was a remark from ASEC that units who hire people without degrees should work with them to have them obtain a degree. Otherwise, their career progression may be limited.
Guest: Sarah Mangelsdorf, Provost
The Deans’ Council had a good discussion about the results of the WISELI survey. The Provost had also shared the Worklife White Paper and the Council asked if some of the authors of that report could visit the Council this summer. ASEC indicated that they would be happy to attend and speak.
Provost Mangelsdorf commented on the consultants from Mercer. She found them to be knowledgeable and thoughtful. They are known for their expertise in higher education. She also recently sent three charge memos to UW-Madison committees for the Title and Total Compensation Study.
Guest: Patrick Sheehan, Director of Workplace Relations (Electronic Personnel Records)
Patrick indicated that academic staff personnel files are being scanned into electronic files. Some schools/colleges/divisions are choosing to do this. It is not mandated. The system is secure, has limited access, and proper naming of the files. University staff files are already maintained electronically. Storing records electronically allows them to be more secure and also provides efficiency. Scanning the documents has also allowed for miscellaneous documents that do not belong in the personnel file to be removed.
Guests: Patrick Sheehan, Director of Workplace Relations, and Cathy Trueba, Director of the Office of Compliance (Required Training on Sexual Violence for Faculty and Staff)
There is new training that is being rolled out to campus starting this summer. This training was mandated in December of last year by the Board of Regents. The UW System is using a third part vendor, and UW-Madison elected to prepare its own training. The training has been put together by four teams. There is a communications, content, policy and implementation team. The training applies to every employee. Failure to complete the training will result in the lack of opportunity to obtain increased compensation. The first wave of training will be in July with a second wave in September. UW-Madison reports on the training to the Board of Regents at the end of September.
Business
• May Assembly Meeting
Kevin asked for ASEC members to volunteer to put forward two motions at the upcoming Assembly meetings. Jenny will make the motion for the worklife survey recommendations, and Deb will make the motion on the Category B recommendations.
• Topics for Provost
Listening sessions for administrative efficiency
Student affairs study
Equity training
Meeting adjourned at 4:30 p.m.
Minutes submitted by Heather Daniels, Secretary of the Academic Staff