Academic Staff Executive Committee Minutes 10-01-15
Approved 10-8-15
Members Present: Bruno Browning; Aaron Crandall; Trish Iaccarino; Sarah Kuba; Heather Mc Fadden, Chair; Robert Newsom; Kevin Niemi; Deb Shapiro
Guests: Rebecca Blank, Jenny Hackel, Ron Harris, Jake Smith, Mark Walters
The meeting was called to order at 2:00 p.m.
The minutes of September 24, 2015, were approved.
General Reports
• ASEC Chair Heather McFadden reported the Chancellor has hired a new chief of staff, Matthew Maryl. There is a draft shared governance policy that will be shared with ASEC at a later date. There were discussions between some MASA members and Heather M. regarding a subcommittee of the Assembly to discuss engagement.
• Secretary of the Academic Staff Heather Daniels reported she has received a draft of the University Research Council membership and charge from Marsha Mailick. The charge indicated all members would be selected by the University Committee. Heather D. will check with the Secretary of the Faculty about this statement. The first Academic Staff Chat was held on Tuesday, September 29. Deb Shapiro served on a panel regarding inclusion of academic staff in departmental curriculum discussions. The chat seemed to be a success. Heather D. sent out letters to the limited employees who will be joining the ranks of academic staff governance due to the Assembly motion in December of 2014. The Office of the Secretary of the Academic Staff received more than 200 requests for the free spots in courses offered by the Division of Continuing Studies. Those who were selected to receive the free courses have been notified.
Business
• October Assembly Agenda
The agenda item were reviewed. There was a motion to approve the agenda (Crandall). Seconded. Approved.
• Library Consolidation Draft Report
Ron Harris reported that the Library Committee reviewed the document briefly at their September meeting and will continue to work on it. Approximately 25 people attended the first listening session. ASEC felt that the report should be more explicit about what the changes are aiming to do.
Guest: Mark Walters, Director of Operations, Office of Human Resources
Mark reported that it has been three months since the implementation of HR Design. The new policies are on the website, and old policies and forms are still being moved over. One area of difficulty is trying to figure out when to use a rate/title change versus open recruitment versus waiver process. They are putting together a process map for these situations.
In regards to the proposed FLSA changes, it would change the minimum salary threshold to $50,440 from $23,000. Right now approximately 2000 academic staff are under the new salary threshold. One option that is emerging is to decide on academic staff vs university staff by applying the FLSA duties test regardless of salary. Because of the possible FLSA changes, the Office of Human Resources decided to delay giving university staff the option to move to academic staff.
Business
• Category A Maximum
ASEC discussed a possible proposal that would ask for the current salary caps to be raised by 11%. ASEC would also like to include language that raising the caps do not necessarily mean any costs are incurred.
• Distinguished Prefix Review
Heather D. presented the language from the Assembly motion in 2011 that calls on ASEC to review distinguished prefix distribution 3-5 years following the implementation of the new guidelines. ASEC will conduct an initial review themselves and form a committee if further review is needed.
• Next ASEC Meeting, October 8, 2015 – for decision
Motion to reconvene in open session (Browning). Seconded. Approved.
Guest: Rebecca Blank, Chancellor
The campus implemented a new human resources system this July. Feedback should be collected and given to Darrell Bazzell and/or the Chancellor.
In regards to changes made in the state budget, a set of changes regarding tenure that will be discussed Monday at the Faculty Senate. There were some changes in shared governance. UW still has stronger protections for shared governance than many other institutions. She sent letters to governance groups in late spring saying that she didn’t see any changes to way the shared governance system at UW-Madison currently operates.
There are two important searches this year. The Dean of the School of Nursing search will get going soon. There have been a number of failed searches across the country for this type of dean in the past couple years. The search and screen committee for the Vice Chancellor for University Relations has been appointed. This person has many stakeholders who are not members of the university community, so the Chancellor asked for a smaller number of individuals from governance groups for the search and screen to allow the representation of stakeholders outside of UW-Madison.
The Chancellor has continued meeting with leadership in the Legislature. UW-Madison state relations staff are working to set up opportunities for legislative committees to visit campus and meet with UW faculty and staff working in the same subject area as the committee.
There is a proposal from UW System to the Board of Regents that would waive the out of state percentage for UW-Madison undergraduate admissions for the next four years. In return, UW-Madison will guarantee a minimum number of Wisconsin undergraduate admissions. Wisconsin faces a problem of declining high school enrollment.
There will be a public launch of the UW Foundation fundraising campaign on October 15 during Homecoming week. They are expecting 1500 people in the Kohl Center for the kick-off event. The Chazens gift of some personal art, as well as two endowed professorships, was recently announced. They have also provided endowment money for maintenance of the Chazen museum. There was also a recent gift of $22 million from Grainger to the undergraduate engineering program.
Donors don’t want to replace state funding. They want to fund new initiatives that complement what is already happening on campus. Fundraising cannot replace state/tuition dollars.
Meeting adjourned at 4:28 p.m.
Minutes submitted by Heather Daniels, Secretary of the Academic Staff
ASEC Minutes
2:00 – 3:35 p.m. Thursday, October 1, 2015
67 Bascom Hall
2:00 – 3:35 p.m. Thursday, October 1, 2015
67 Bascom Hall
Members Present: Bruno Browning; Aaron Crandall; Trish Iaccarino; Sarah Kuba; Heather Mc Fadden, Chair; Robert Newsom; Kevin Niemi; Deb Shapiro
Guests: Rebecca Blank, Jenny Hackel, Ron Harris, Jake Smith, Mark Walters
The meeting was called to order at 2:00 p.m.
The minutes of September 24, 2015, were approved.
General Reports
• ASEC Chair Heather McFadden reported the Chancellor has hired a new chief of staff, Matthew Maryl. There is a draft shared governance policy that will be shared with ASEC at a later date. There were discussions between some MASA members and Heather M. regarding a subcommittee of the Assembly to discuss engagement.
• Secretary of the Academic Staff Heather Daniels reported she has received a draft of the University Research Council membership and charge from Marsha Mailick. The charge indicated all members would be selected by the University Committee. Heather D. will check with the Secretary of the Faculty about this statement. The first Academic Staff Chat was held on Tuesday, September 29. Deb Shapiro served on a panel regarding inclusion of academic staff in departmental curriculum discussions. The chat seemed to be a success. Heather D. sent out letters to the limited employees who will be joining the ranks of academic staff governance due to the Assembly motion in December of 2014. The Office of the Secretary of the Academic Staff received more than 200 requests for the free spots in courses offered by the Division of Continuing Studies. Those who were selected to receive the free courses have been notified.
Business
• October Assembly Agenda
The agenda item were reviewed. There was a motion to approve the agenda (Crandall). Seconded. Approved.
• Library Consolidation Draft Report
Ron Harris reported that the Library Committee reviewed the document briefly at their September meeting and will continue to work on it. Approximately 25 people attended the first listening session. ASEC felt that the report should be more explicit about what the changes are aiming to do.
Guest: Mark Walters, Director of Operations, Office of Human Resources
Mark reported that it has been three months since the implementation of HR Design. The new policies are on the website, and old policies and forms are still being moved over. One area of difficulty is trying to figure out when to use a rate/title change versus open recruitment versus waiver process. They are putting together a process map for these situations.
In regards to the proposed FLSA changes, it would change the minimum salary threshold to $50,440 from $23,000. Right now approximately 2000 academic staff are under the new salary threshold. One option that is emerging is to decide on academic staff vs university staff by applying the FLSA duties test regardless of salary. Because of the possible FLSA changes, the Office of Human Resources decided to delay giving university staff the option to move to academic staff.
Business
• Category A Maximum
ASEC discussed a possible proposal that would ask for the current salary caps to be raised by 11%. ASEC would also like to include language that raising the caps do not necessarily mean any costs are incurred.
• Distinguished Prefix Review
Heather D. presented the language from the Assembly motion in 2011 that calls on ASEC to review distinguished prefix distribution 3-5 years following the implementation of the new guidelines. ASEC will conduct an initial review themselves and form a committee if further review is needed.
• Next ASEC Meeting, October 8, 2015 – for decision
-November Assembly AgendaConvened in Closed Session Pursuant to Wis. Stats. 19.85(1)(c), and (f) to discuss nominations to Dean of the School of Nursing Search and Screen Committee. Motion: Newsom. Seconded. Approved.
-UW System Strategic Plan Input
-Guest: Jake Smith, Parliamentarian (Robert’s Rules); Guido Podesta, Dean of the International Division
Motion to reconvene in open session (Browning). Seconded. Approved.
Guest: Rebecca Blank, Chancellor
The campus implemented a new human resources system this July. Feedback should be collected and given to Darrell Bazzell and/or the Chancellor.
In regards to changes made in the state budget, a set of changes regarding tenure that will be discussed Monday at the Faculty Senate. There were some changes in shared governance. UW still has stronger protections for shared governance than many other institutions. She sent letters to governance groups in late spring saying that she didn’t see any changes to way the shared governance system at UW-Madison currently operates.
There are two important searches this year. The Dean of the School of Nursing search will get going soon. There have been a number of failed searches across the country for this type of dean in the past couple years. The search and screen committee for the Vice Chancellor for University Relations has been appointed. This person has many stakeholders who are not members of the university community, so the Chancellor asked for a smaller number of individuals from governance groups for the search and screen to allow the representation of stakeholders outside of UW-Madison.
The Chancellor has continued meeting with leadership in the Legislature. UW-Madison state relations staff are working to set up opportunities for legislative committees to visit campus and meet with UW faculty and staff working in the same subject area as the committee.
There is a proposal from UW System to the Board of Regents that would waive the out of state percentage for UW-Madison undergraduate admissions for the next four years. In return, UW-Madison will guarantee a minimum number of Wisconsin undergraduate admissions. Wisconsin faces a problem of declining high school enrollment.
There will be a public launch of the UW Foundation fundraising campaign on October 15 during Homecoming week. They are expecting 1500 people in the Kohl Center for the kick-off event. The Chazens gift of some personal art, as well as two endowed professorships, was recently announced. They have also provided endowment money for maintenance of the Chazen museum. There was also a recent gift of $22 million from Grainger to the undergraduate engineering program.
Donors don’t want to replace state funding. They want to fund new initiatives that complement what is already happening on campus. Fundraising cannot replace state/tuition dollars.
Meeting adjourned at 4:28 p.m.
Minutes submitted by Heather Daniels, Secretary of the Academic Staff