Academic Staff Executive Committee Minutes 01-28-21

Approved 02-04-21

 

ASEC Minutes

2:00 – 4:30 p.m. Thursday, January 28, 2021

https://uwmadison.zoom.us/j/93921129494

Members Present: Donna Cole; Jenny Dahlberg; Tim Dalby, chair; Stephanie Elkins; Mallory Musolf; Leslie Petty; Deb Shapiro; Lindsey Stoddard Cameron; Bill Tishler

Guests: Elizabeth Covington, Lesley Fisher, Laurent Heller, Beth Meyerand, Karl Scholz

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

The minutes of January 21 were approved.

General Reports

Tim Dalby, ASEC chair, reported that vaccinations continue to proceed for Tier 1A employees, as well as for those 65 and older. Vaccinations will be moving to the Nicholas Recreation Center to expand capacity. On the topic of testing, building enforcement is pushed back to February 8, while campus continues to work to drive down rejection rates and increase turnaround times. There is now a walkup model in place instead of the previous appointment model. There have also been requests for later hours for testing sites. Numbers of calls to the call center are going up every day, with an almost even split between student and employee calls. Tim raised the question of having the ASM Chair to talk about the COVID Relief Fund resolution. ASEC agreed to invite the Chair to the next ASEC meeting.

Jake Smith, Secretary of the Academic Staff, reported that a virtual training session was announced in campus communication this week on expectations for employees in the workplace and campus visitors related to COVID. Jake also confirmed plans with ASEC regarding a special meeting of ASEC on February 11 to discuss issues related to single payroll and TTC with Mark Walters and Karen Massetti-Moran. Jake reported that the call for the Academic Staff Professional Development Grant program has gone out. ASPP and other academic staff legislation have been moved to the new Policy Library. Registration for the next Academic Staff Chat will go out next week.

Liaison Reports

Deb Shapiro reported on the L&S CASI meeting. Plans for an L&S building are still going forward, and there was discussion of a new online degree program launching in 2022. The search for a new CIO for L&S is on hold.

Bill Tishler met with the Athletics CASI. The CASI discussed concerns around the use of sick leave for child care, questions around the conflict of commitment policy, and questions regarding vacation carryover.

Jenny Dahlberg reported that the Vet Med CASI is working to make their website public facing. Topics under consideration for the CASI include single payroll, testing, and eligibility for vaccines.

Mallory Musolf reported on the UW System Reps meeting. UW-Madison’s testing plan is more rigorous than those of other campuses in the UW system. There was a great deal of discussion on vaccine administration. The priority is instruction and those individuals who have close contact with students. Reengagement with TTC was discussed, and there were several questions around titles and available levels for those titles. The Employee Value Proposition was also shared, which is a program marketing the value of working within the UW System that is in alignment with the All In Wisconsin program.

Guest: Karl Scholz, Provost

Provost Scholz reported that the spring semester is off to a good start. He has received good feedback from some teachers who are teaching classes in-person. The team working on planning around testing at UW-Madison is working hard and effectively. At the same time, we realize that the program is not where we want it. There is a backlog on some test results, and as a result, enforcement of the testing protocols has been pushed back from February 1 to February 8. We are working to increase rate of testing. The rejection rate has gone down to 2-3%. We are also doing more tests than we were in the fall, and to be able to do 70,000 tests per week is critical for the health of the community.

On the topic of a platform like Turnitin.com being applied to research, we have had a campus site license for the last 12-18 months, so everyone can use it. It can be used to check any written work at the university. With respect to research, there would likely need to be IRB approval as well as FERPA concerns that would need to be addressed. Vice Provost Steve Cramer will look into this as well, and ASEC will also be posing this question to Vice Chancellor Steve Ackerman.

With regard to Tier 1B, there is not hard and fast guidance yet. The 65-and-older population has been added before anyone else in 1B, and those others in Tier 1B won’t be starting until March 1. This group includes not only in-person instruction, but also housing, dining, custodial, library, trades, student affairs, and a number of other areas.

Provost Scholz has also been asked about altering the fall start date due to a conflict with Rosh Hashanah. Unfortunately the start date of the semester will not be able to be moved due to a number of considerations. Convocation will be moved, and the academic calendar will be more heavily scrutinized going forward.

Guest: Laurent Heller, Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration

Vice Chancellor Heller reported on efforts to return to strategic priorities in the Finance and Administration area. His office had previously launched a strategic plan outlining five high level strategies with projects to advance each of those. They were due to be evaluated in spring/summer 2020, but with the onset of the pandemic, the aim is to evaluate progress this summer. Vice Chancellor Heller is currently thinking about four long-term areas. The first is a set of large transformation projects, including Title and Total Compensation, Procure-to-Pay, and the Administrative Transformation Project. P2P will go live in April, with discussions about possible implementation of TTC this summer. The second area is revenue innovations work, including a real estate initiative partnering with Research Park to develop underused land on- or off-campus to generate endowment to support key priorities. Vice Chancellor Heller is working with Research Park and the Board on this, and hopefully the framework for this initiative can be in place this year. There is also the possibility of public/private partnerships for auxiliaries, such as utility operations concessions or parking concessions. David Murphy’s team is working on a framework for this. The third area is the EID (engagement, inclusion, and diversity) framework. There is an annual survey of staff that are in the VCFA area on how well diversity and inclusion efforts are being supported. DDEEA is assisting with putting together a report on the latest survey, and Vice Chancellor Heller will be sharing the results at a later date, as well as thinking about how to extend EID. The fourth area is long-term planning. Our multi-year financial model is being reviewed not only to figure out how to bounce back from the pandemic but also to look at other long-term areas, like seeing how we are growing related to staffing at a campus level. Vice Chancellor Heller is also excited to see what will be coming in the report of the Sustainability Advisory Council. ASEC discussed concerns on the research front with P2P and the ability to make purchases quickly in our current system. The approval process may create problems for urgent purchases for research purposes. Vice Chancellor Heller saw results from the first walkthrough, as well as comments and feedback around how research purchases are being made. He will raise this issue again with the other executive sponsors of the project.

Guest: Beth Meyerand, Vice Provost for Faculty and Staff Affairs

Vice Provost Meyerand provided an update on the Professor of Practice campus guidelines. Individuals from the Division of Extension were added to the committee looking at the guidelines, and they are working on making edits to the current draft to ensure that the title would be appropriate for those individuals in Extension doing that kind of work. There has also been continued discussion about prefixes and progression within the title. For teaching professor and research professor, the only approved school/college guidelines are those from SMPH. L&S is close but not yet approved.

The Campus Committee on Diversity Education and Training will be meeting next week with a goal of charging working groups within the committee. These working groups will be canvassing as to what types of training are already out there (including campus, Big 10 peers, and other nationwide organizations), looking at curriculum types, learning objectives, assessment tools, and audiences. The committee will meet twice a month, with one meeting for the whole committee and one for each of the working groups. Vice Provost Meyerand anticipates a preliminary report at the end of March, at least in terms of what programs already exist. The committee will be discussing how to engage other groups on campus as well.

The Committee on Women in the University met this week and endorsed the creation of a caregiving task force and COVID impacts. The committee approved the draft letter from Vaishali Bakshi, co-chair of the committee. The letter will be sent to Vice Provost Meyerand and other members of administration. The Vice Provost is excited about the potential for this task force and is committed to keeping work in this space going.

ASEC recessed at 3:54 p.m.

ASEC reconvened at 3:58 p.m.

Motion to Convene in Closed Session Pursuant to Wis. Stats. 19.85(1)(c) and (f) to Discuss Nominations to the Vice Chancellor for Legal Affairs Search and Screen Committee and Appointments to the Athletic Board Selection Committee (Dahlberg). Seconded. Approved.

Motion to Reconvene in Open Session (Stoddard Cameron). Seconded. Approved.

Business

·         Nominations and Appointments – for vote

Motion to appoint Donna Cole and Lindsey Stoddard Cameron to the Athletic Board Selection Committee (Petty). Seconded. Approved.

Motion to nominate Rebecca Scheller and Steven Wright to the Vice Chancellor for Legal Affairs Search and Screen Committee (Dahlberg). Seconded. Approved.

·         February Assembly Agenda – for vote

Motion to approve the February Assembly agenda (Stoddard Cameron). Seconded. Approved.

·         Topics for Guests

OSC: update on next steps for policy library, including hiring of policy manager position

OHR: TTC, ALRA, single pay, disparities in title change opportunities across campus, progress on reevaluating policies with DEI lens

Meeting adjourned at 5:03 p.m.

Minutes submitted by Jake Smith, Secretary of the Academic Staff