Academic Staff Executive Committee Minutes 04-23-15

Approved 4-30-15
ASEC Minutes
2:00 – 4:00 p.m. Thursday, April 23, 2015
67 Bascom Hall

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

Guests: Susan Baculik, Lauren Bowers, Laura Fisk, Jackie Hank, Sarah Mangelsdorf, Don Schutt, Jake Smith, Anjali Sridharan, Steve Swanson, Mark Walters

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

The minutes of April 9 were approved as distributed.

General Reports
•    ASEC Chair Heather McFadden reported that the Ad Hoc Committee on Instructional Titles met for the first time this week.  They plan to report to ASEC and the Assembly in the fall.  The Capital Times is doing on a story on the working conditions of instructional academic staff.  Ray Taffora talked with the University Committee about shared governance and the Board of Regents.  He said that the Board of Regents needs to have necessary and convenient powers in order to pass shared governance as a Board of Regents policy.  Mark Covaleski also attended to discuss possible changes to the Athletic Board policy regarding hiring of coaches.  Heather M. will draft a response from ASEC in response to concerns regarding the budget on the Assembly email list.
•    Secretary of the Academic Staff Heather Daniels reported that she has sent the proclamation request regarding the 30th anniversary of academic staff governance to the Governor’s office.  The Executive Education grant award winners will be going out soon.  Forty-one applications were received for this program.  The announcement regarding the half-day workshop for academic staff on soft money should be announced soon.  Heather D. has been invited to attend a new round of interviews for a new consultant at the Employee Assistance Office.  Lastly, the lunches with CASIs and Shared Governance Reps have been scheduled and email invitations will be sent tomorrow.

Guest: Sarah Mangelsdorf, Provost
Provost Mangelsdorf gave a brief update on the budget.  The recent Marquette poll found that statewide majority opinion is that cuts to education are too much.  77% felt this about K-12 education and 70% about UW System.  Everyone is waiting on the revenue estimates which are due in early May.  

The Vice Provost for Enrollment Management and Vice Provost for Diversity and Climate searches are wrapping up.  The chosen candidates should be announced soon.  The School of Education finalists should visit campus the week following commencement.  
ASEC discussed the overall issue of Category A maxima with the Provost to bring her up to speed on this issue within the UW personnel system.

Guest: Steve Swanson, Dean School of Pharmacy
Steve said that things are going well at the School of Pharmacy.  He thinks the people there are great.  Academic staff are critical to the success of the school.  He has met with the Pharmacy CASI three or four times including about the budget cuts.  The recently approved increase in tuition will help a lot. UW-Madison had the 10th lowest tuition in the nation.  Even after four years of increases, the Pharmacy School tuition here will be below the average for public universities.

Business
•    Athletic Board Update
David Gardner, a student representative on the Athletic Board, has proposed some changes to the Search and Screen policy to deal with unexpected coaching hires in high profile sports.  These changes should have gone to the Athletic Board personnel committee this week, but have been delayed.  David has been working with Mark Covaleski to finalize the changes.  The proposal will be introduced to the full Athletic Board tomorrow.  On Monday, the University Committee expressed that they are firmly behind having a more diverse hiring committee for high profile sports.  
•    May Assembly agenda
Heather M. and Heather D. will write draft resolutions on Category A and a dedicated funding stream.  The agenda and these resolutions will need to be approved at the next ASEC meeting.
•    Annual Survey on Academic Staff Issues
ASEC reviewed a draft survey and approved it be sent to all academic staff.  
•    Next ASEC Meeting, April 30, 2015 – for decision
-May Assembly agenda-for approval
-Campus Master Plan
-Guests: Sarah Mangelsdorf
Guests: Susan Baculik, Lauren Bowers, Laura Fisk, Don Schutt, Anjali Sridharan, and Mark Walters, Office of Human Resources
HR Design provided an opportunity to look at the Recruitment, Assessment, and Selection process.  For academic staff, there is little change, but there will be more tools available.  There will still be waivers and pre-recruitment requirements.  There will also be some internal recruitments.  Each school/college/division will develop standard recruitment plans that include items like when search and screen committees are used.  These plans will be overall for the school/college/division, and the Office of Human Resources (OHR) will review and approve them.  As of June 1, new positions that are FLSA exempt will need to be posted as academic staff positions.  OHR will use Job Apply as an interim applicant tracking system.  Job Apply will not be required for academic staff or faculty positions.  An RFP will be issued this summer for a permanent tracking system.  

Mark Walters mentioned he is working on getting more specific information regarding the 400 positions that will be eliminated as part of the budget cut.

Meeting adjourned at 4:54 p.m.

Minutes submitted by Heather Daniels, Secretary of the Academic Staff