Members Present: Bruno Browning; Donna Cole; Aaron Crandall; Jenny Dahlberg; 

Mallory Musolf, vice chair; Deb Shapiro; Lindsey Stoddard Cameron

Guests: Rebecca Blank, Ron Harris, Carol Hulland, Lynne Jones, Duane Ritter, Jake Smith, 

Mark Walters

The meeting was called to order at 2:02 p.m.

The minutes of September 6, 2018, were approved.

Heather Daniels, Secretary of the Academic Staff, reported that the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education held a workshop on Permanent PI status.  The workshop was very helpful, and they plan to include this additional information on their website perhaps as a question and answer section.  The committee tracker should soon be able to track committee interests.  This feature has been created and tested and should be deployed shortly.  The committee looking at academic staff professorial titles has nearly finished its work.  Plans right now are for the resolutions to be presented for a first reading in the Faculty Senate in November for the titles of “Teaching Professor”, “Professor of Practice” and “Research Professor.”

Librarians’ Assembly-Deb Shapiro reported that Lisa Carter, the new Vice Provost for Libraries did a question and answer session.  Most of the questions were regarding some long-term key vacancies. 

 

Summer Term Lunch-Deb reported that the lunch focused on undergraduate summer enrollment.  Online course development grants will be available this year.  In addition, the Summer Course Guide Preview will be available much earlier along with a chatbot for students to ask question.

Veterinary Medicine CASI-Jenny Dahlberg reported that Veterinary Medicine CASI will have a forum on Office 365 this fall.  

The new incoming undergraduate class is the biggest in the history of UW-Madison with 6,700 new freshman with a little over 1,000 transfer students.  The new class also has the largest number of under-represented minority students. 

There are a couple of new faces on campus this fall including Lori Reesor, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, the new CIO, Lois Brooks, and new Vice Provost for Libraries, Lisa Carter.  There are also two searches underway, one for the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education and one for Dean of the Business School.

New building projects underway include the Center for Dairy Research, which is a renovation of the Babcock Dairy Building, and the renovation of the Chemistry Building. 

In regards to compensation, there will be 4% increases for all employees who are performing satisfactorily. The administration will be committing the same dollar amount for other pay increases this year. Laurent Heller, Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration, is working on the analysis of last year’s exercise. There was $11.5 million available for pay increases in last year’s exercise.  The campus spent $32 million on salary adjustments including a 2-to-1 match for the money available for bonuses.  

The Chancellor has appointed Brenda Gale Plummer to chair the search and screen committee to hire a director for a 2- to 3-year project on reclaiming the history of under-represented minorities at the university. Anticipated outcomes from the project are a searchable database, curriculum materials, and some public presentation of the materials. There are also four ethnic studies faculty that are being hired jointly with another department.  The Chancellor thought the discussions around named areas in the Union were done thoughtfully.  

The Chancellor spoke about the Foxconn deal. UW-Madison has previously signed two MOUs with Foxconn this summer for joint research projects. She previously met with Terry Gou, the chair of Foxconn, about a range of research projects on the Madison campus, and Mr. Gou came back to sign at a letter of intent at the end of August.

Foxconn has expressed interest in gift funding for a building on the Engineering Quad which would be interdisciplinary for Engineering. They would fund half of the building, with the other half coming from fundraising. Foxconn is building a research space on their campus, with UW-Madison promising to have a presence there, and Foxconn will have a presence on the UW-Madison campus. The remaining amount of the gift will be negotiated as to where it goes.

The proposed draft Board of Regents policy on Program Productivity Monitoring was discussed.  The policy would set standards for degree productivity. There needs to be language in the policy for various exemptions. 

A lot of the underpinnings of the TTC project are starting to come together. The campus engagement and change management pieces will need to be increased, and there will be added resources in these areas in the coming weeks. They are holding TTC Fundamentals workshops for human resources representatives. They will be using some of the same pieces from this workshop for other stakeholders as well.  

The Benefits Fair will include a series of sessions providing information about the upcoming employee engagements. There will be info at the Benefits Fair as well, including some FAQ documents.

 

Regarding feedback on the standard job descriptions, they have developed a questionnaire with the UW Survey Center to collect feedback in a simplified manner. They are planning training sessions for those reviewing the standard job descriptions. 

•Appointments and Nominations

Motion to nominate Mary Jo Wilson to the Area Review Committee-Administration, Student Services and Library (Stoddard Cameron). Seconded. Approved

Motion to appoint Jim Franzone to the Personnel Policies and Procedures Committee (Stoddard Cameron). Seconded. Approved.

Motion to appoint Kevin Niemi, Heather McFadden, Deb Shapiro and Dorothea Salo to the Ad Hoc Committee on UW-Extension Academic Staff Shared Governance Transition Issues (Stoddard Cameron). Seconded. Approved.

•September Assembly Debrief

The attendance was high at this meeting with 69 people.  ASEC approved of the idea to try and recreate the feeling in Tripp Commons at the September meeting by using signs to encourage Assembly representatives and alternates to sit near the front with visitors sitting father back. 

•October Assembly Agenda

ASEC asked that the new CIO be invited as a guest.  The revised Consensual Relationship Policy will be introduced at this meeting and brought forward for endorsed at the November meeting. ASEC decided to highlight one standing committee per month at the Assembly.  Heather will invite the Professional Development and Recognition Committee (PDRC) for the October meeting.  There will also be a resolution on centrally provided funding for pay adjustments.  Mallory and Jenny agreed to write it.

•Topics for Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration and Provost

VCFA Topics

UW System Budget

Parking

One page budget overview

Changes to strategic plan in regards to Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs

Questionnaire on overly burdensome administrative processes

Provost Topics

Board of Regents policy Low program enrollment policy

Accreditation process update

Meeting adjourned at 4:20 p.m.