Academic Staff Executive Committee Minutes 01-03-13

Approved 1-10-2013

ASEC MINUTES 
1:00-3:30 Thursday, January 3, 2013 
67 Bascom Hall

Members Present: Daña Alder, Vice-Chair; Marwa Bassiouni (by conference call); Heather Daniels, Past-Chair; Denny Hackel, Jim Maynard, Heather McFadden, Robert Newsom, Jeff Shokler, Chair

Member Absent: Erin Silva

Guests: Melissa Amos-Landgraf, Chair PPPC; Darrell Bazzell, Vice Chancellor for Administration; Eden Inoway-Ronnie, Chief of Staff, Provost’s Office; Linda Jorn, Director, Academic Technology; Bob Lavigna, Director, Office of Human Resources; Chris Olsen, Interim Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning; Jeff Russell, Dean, Division of Continuing Studies; Karen Tusack, Chair CEBC. 
Chair Jeff Shokler called the meeting to order at 1:00 p.m.

Minutes for Thursday, December 6, 2012, were approved as distributed.

Guest: Darrell Bazzell: Vice Chancellor Bazzell updated ASEC on campus exploration of resource allocation strategies. A core team from the budget and academic planning offices explored the potential of moving from legacy or incremental budgeting to another approach such as responsibility-centered management (RCM). The information from the core team will be shared with the new chancellor who can decide if this is a direction for the campus to pursue. 
The Vice Chancellor also reported on the status of the Administrative Excellence (AE) project which has closed out the formal engagement with Huron Consulting Services as AE completes work on commodity areas and several significant IT projects. 
The Vice Chancellor discussed the issue of special events parking and will issue a memo on this topic within the next few days.

ANNOUNCEMENTS/Good Works: Chemical and Engineering News included information on 
Jim Maynard’s volunteer activities as well as on his work on the nano-playground.

GENERAL REPORTS 
Interim Secretary of the Academic Staff – Jo Ann Carr: Kari Knutson is the new U.W. Communications’ reporter for academic staff issues. 
Administrative Excellence (AE)-Heather McFadden: Steve Hahn reported on the status of the IT decision making future state project, the calendaring and e-mail project, the inventory of campus data centers. AE plans to have a discussion on the role of the advisory committee later this spring. 

GUESTS: Linda Jorn, Chris Olsen, and Jeff Russell 
Jeff provided an introduction to Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and their alignment with the Wisconsin Idea. The Deans’ Council has suggested that a pilot would provide the opportunity for experience and for assessment of MOOCs. ASEC stressed the need for inclusion of student services in planning for MOOCs. ASEC inquired about the potential impact on TA positions and the provision teaching experience as a recruitment tool for graduate students. ASEC also encouraged a consideration of the differing levels of access to technology for Wisconsin residents. Jeff Russell stressed that UW Madison will not implement MOOCs unless we can improve teaching and learning and address the Wisconsin Idea. Chris Olsen stressed that MOOCs are just a small fraction of our educational mission and the campus needs to consider how this might fit into the undergraduate education model ten years from now. ASEC encouraged the MOOC team to work with exceptional instructors from the Teaching Academy. 
GUEST: Bob Lavigna: Bob updated ASEC on the passage of the HR plan by the Board of Regents (BOR) and the plans for involving governance in the detailed design of the first stages of HR design plan. Steve Lund is drafting a charter for a shared governance committee that will include two faculty, two academic staff, two classified staff, and one student. In response to an ASEC concern that this committee might dilute ASEC’s role as the voice of academic staff, Bob emphasized that the committee will not supplant the involvement of ASEC or the UC. ASEC will continue to meet with Steve Lund on a periodic basis.

PROVOST UPDATE: Eden Inoway-Ronnie: Eden indicated that campus is looking at both Coursera and edX for MOOCs. The Provost’s office is reviewing the PVL for the Secretary of the Academic Staff and will meet with ASEC on January 24th to discuss the search. The Provost’s office will be discussing the role and charge of the Diversity Planning Ad Hoc Committee with the committee chairs. In addition the office will convene a discussion regarding the cancellation of examinations on the December 19 snow day. ASEC shared the concern that the source and amount of salary for Barry Alvarez’s role as coach for the Rose Bowl game still needs clarifying.

BUSINESS

  • Convene in closed session pursuant to Wisconsin Stats. 19.85(1)( c), and (f) (Moved by Jim Maynard. Seconded by Robert Newsom. Approved.) 
    -    Recommend appointment of Ida Balderrama-Trudell, Rodney Horikawa, Erica Laughlin, Heather McFadden, and Lillian Tong to the Ad Hoc Diversity Committee. [Moved by Daña Alder. Seconded by Robert Newsom. Approved.]
  • Move out of closed session. [Moved by Daña Alder. Seconded by Heather Daniels. Approved.]
  • Dissolve the Ad Hoc Committee on Budget Repair Impact with thanks for a comprehensive report and excellent work. [Moved by Heather Daniels. Seconded by Daña Alder. Approved.]
  • Approve the 2013 Inaugural Research Award in Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences [Moved by Jim Maynard. Seconded by Heather Daniels. Approved.]

Meeting was adjourned at 3:41 p.m.

Submitted by Jo Ann Carr, Interim Secretary of the Academic Staff