Approved 4-9-15

Members Present:  Bruno Browning, Trish Iaccarino; Sarah Kuba; Heather McFadden, Chair; Michael Moscicke; Kevin Niemi; Robert Newsom; Deb Shapiro

Guests: Rebecca Blank, Jake Smith

The meeting was called to order at 2:00 p.m.

The minutes of March 19 were approved with changes.

General Reports
•    ASEC Chair Heather McFadden reported that Ray Cross attended the University Committee meeting last week. Most of what he said has been in the news. The University Committee will be reviewing FPP Chapter 6 committees this week. Heather M. and Heather D. met with the Communications Committee co-chairs last week to provide some suggestions for future projects, including hometown news for excellence award winners, HR Design communication, and liaison assignments with standing committees. ASM has been working on an implementation plan for student shared governance. The goal would be to complete the plan by the end of the semester.
•    Secretary of the Academic Staff Heather Daniels reported that ICTR is working to put together a half-day workshop for research academic staff.  Steve Ackerman will be the keynote.  There will be a panel of experienced research academic staff talking about their experiences as well as breakout sessions.

Liaison Reports
•    Bruno Browning reported that the Ad Hoc Committee on Faculty Supervision has drafted an initial communication to go out to department chairs and faculty PIs. There is a short survey they will be asked to complete about what they need to know about performance management and the approach or support that would be useful to them.  
•    Kevin Niemi gave a brief summary of his shared governance meetings for candidates for the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education.

Business
•    Questions for Chancellor
ASEC discussed topics for questions for the Chancellor. These included research presence in Washington D.C. with funding agencies, budget proposal, school/college layoffs of academic staff, and the new UW System-wide shared governance committee.
•    April Assembly agenda and materials
Resolution Celebrating 30 Years of Academic Staff Governance. Motion to Approve. Second. Approved.
Resolution in Support of the UW-Madison Chemistry Building Renovation and Construction Project. Motion to Approve. Second. Approved.
Resolution on Merit-Based Salary Adjustments for UW Employees. Motion to Approve. Second. Approved.
Resolution on Operational Flexibilities for UW System. Motion to Approve. Second. Approved.
Heather M. agreed to draft a resolution regarding stable funding source for UW.  
Motion to approve agenda. Second. Approved.
•    Survey on CASIs
ASEC reviewed a draft survey to be sent to academic staff in schools/colleges/divisions without CASIs. The Secretary of the Academic Staff Office will move forward with sending out the survey.
•    HR Design policies
ASEC will revisit these next week to determine whether they need to talk with the Office of Human Resources about them.
•    Annual Survey on Academic Staff Issues
ASEC looked at last year’s survey and recommended changes including removing the broad categories and ranking issues for importance in the future. ASEC also would like to include questions regarding Assembly districts and also leftover questions from the CEBC survey. The Secretary of the Academic Staff Office will provide a new draft of the survey at the next meeting.  Heather M, Kevin and Sarah agreed to meet the next day to consider other changes.
•    Next ASEC Meeting, April 9, 2015 – for decision

-May Assembly Agenda
-Guests: Marsha Mailick, Michael Bernard-Donals

Guest: Rebecca Blank, Chancellor
Chancellor Blank commented on recent news about an Ebola vaccine for monkeys, a record number of undergraduate applicants, and the combined research and economic engine of the Final Four schools in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. 

The budget process is approximately halfway complete. The Joint Committee on Finance will deal with UW System budget in late April/early May.  This will be near the end of their process. Everything rests on the new budget estimates in May. The K-12 school system needs $120 million. They are likely the first priority for any new money. The total cut facing UW System is $368 million when everything is added in. There does seem to be some support for operational flexibilities in the Legislature. The Board of Regents has created two task forces: tenure and shared governance. The tenure task force will focus on issues like post-tenure evaluations. The Chancellor is serving on the shared governance task force. 

The Chancellor reported working on tuition and budget cuts. The tuition proposal for the Board of Regents should be available to the public on Monday. The campus is asking for increases to the out of state undergraduate tuition and tuition for some professional schools. The campus will release some aggregate-level statements in mid-April. 

Convened in Closed Session Pursuant to Wis. Stats. 19.85(1)(c), and (f) to discuss appointments to the GLBT Issues Committee and the Ad Hoc Committee on Minimum Qualifications for Instructors (Moved. Seconded. Approved.)

Reconvened in Open Session (Moved. Seconded. Approved.)

Motion to appoint Kelly Krein to the GLBT Issues Committee. Seconded. Approved.

Motion to appoint Scott Mellor and Elaine Klein to the Ad Hoc Committee on Minimum Qualifications for Instructors. Seconded. Approved.

Meeting adjourned at 4:04 p.m.

Minutes submitted by Heather Daniels, Secretary of the Academic Staff