Academic Staff Assembly Minutes 11-11-19

Approved 12/9/19 

Provost Karl Scholz called the meeting to order at 3:31 p.m.  

Ed Borbely read the memorial resolution for Wayne Pferdehirt.

Automatic Consent: The Academic Staff Assembly minutes of Monday, October 14, 2019, were approved. 

United Faculty and Academic Staff (UFAS) is a part of American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and represents academic staff and faculty.  The two issues they are currently working on are fix-term terminal appointments and graduate student working conditions in regards to hostile and intimidating behavior. Their meetings are open to the public.

Mark and Diane provided an update on the Title and Total Compensation (TTC) Project. In November the mapping of current employees to new titles will be completed and the human resources and manager training will begin.  The Standard Job Description (SJD) library has been posted online. There are also campus forums this week and another online forum next week. In December position descriptions will be created by managers, and employee conversations about their potential title will begin. In the spring employees will receive their new title, standard job description and salary range. 

Additional SJDs will be added as gaps continue to be identified. The SJDs include a job title, job group, sub-group, job summary, essential job responsibilities, and minimum education requirements.

Progression and promotion will mean different things in the new system. A promotion is the vertical advancement to a new job, while progression is horizontal advancement through salary adjustments within the same job. The same type of adjustments that are available now will be available in the new system. 

Things that are not changing as part of TTC include job duties, base pay, reporting relationships, performance and development goals, employee category (e.g. university staff, academic staff, faculty), statutory benefits, and sick leave conversion. 

Employees will be able to have a business title (currently working title) in the new system. It provides a better description to your position within UW. It will appear in the UW directory. Employees should talk to their supervisors and confirm a new business title with human resources. 

Jenny Dahlberg reported that ASEC has been meeting with the Office of Human Resources about the Title and Total Compensation project. She encouraged everyone to attend one of the forums. February 25 will be the date for the Academic Staff Institute. Nominations for the Academic Staff Excellence Awards are open and due on January 10. ASEC formed a joint committee with the Division of Continuing Studies to examine the implementation of the Youth Protection Policy.

Jenny Dahlberg reported that ASPRO is tracking 13 different pieces of legislation in the state legislature. 

Stephanie Elkins (ASEC) moved that the Academic Staff Assembly approve the changes to Chapter 14. Seconded. Amended motion approved.

Lindsey Stoddard Cameron (ASEC) moved that the Academic Staff Assembly approve the resolution. Seconded. Motion approved.

Tim Dalby (ASEC) moved that the Academic Staff Assembly approve the resolution. Seconded. Motion approved.

Provost Scholz reported that campus will be going to a $15 minimum hourly pay for all employees in the spring. Student applications for admissions are up 6.7% so far this year. 

The guidelines for Research and Teaching Professors are in draft. Several deans have formed a working group and will have suggested edits to him by the end of November. 

The deadline for nominees for the Search and Screen Committees for the Dean of the Law School and the Dean of the College of Letters and Science are due today.

Provost Scholz talked about the tragedy in the College of Engineering due in part to a toxic lab environment. The College of Engineering has taken steps since that incident to improve reporting and adopting policies to not jeopardize the status of graduate students who transfer out of labs. Central campus is working to develop ideas on how to prevent hostile and intimidating behavior as well as looking at a way to centralize reporting.

Adjourned at 5:05 pm.