Academic Staff Executive Committee Minutes 06-09-16

Approved 6-23-16
ASEC Minutes
2:00 – 4:30 p.m. Thursday, June 9, 2016
67 Bascom Hall

Members Present:
  Bruno Browning; Aaron Crandall, Trish Iaccarino; Sarah Kuba; Michael Moscicke; Robert Newsom; Kevin Niemi; Deb Shapiro

Guests: Jenny Dahlberg, Phil Dunigan, Marsha Mailick, Amy Rettammel, Mark Walters

The meeting was called to order at 2:03 p.m. by Kevin Niemi, Vice Chair.

The minutes of May 26, 2016, were approved.

General Reports
•    Vice Chair Kevin Niemi-no report. 
•    Secretary of the Academic Staff Heather Daniels reported that the worklife survey response is at 23.7%.  There are 50 responses for the Assembly survey.  She and Jake are working on the new committee database.  They are making good progress in entering historical data and also fixing bugs or issues in the system.  Heather D. mentioned that ASEC has the turnover data in their packets that Michael Bernard-Donals mentioned at the last meeting.  She also indicated that ASEC will discuss the RFP materials for Titling and Total Compensation study with Michael Bernard-Donals at the next ASEC meeting. 

Guest: Phil Dunigan, Chair of Distinguished Prefix Committee

Phil Dunigan reviewed the process for applying for distinguished prefixes.  Recommendations for individuals are sent through the department to the school/college and then on to the Secretary of the Academic Staff office.  The committee reviews packets for the prefix twice a year.  The committee sends recommendations back to the Dean, who makes the final decision.  One of the most frequent issues is that letters of recommendation do not match the statement and CV submitted with the packet. 

Regarding the committee composition, Phil believes the current number is enough given the number of packets that they are receiving for each deadline. 

Heather D. asked if there could be a wording change regarding how letters of recommendation are received by removing references to an envelope with a signed seal.  Phil indicated he didn’t see any problem with the change.  

Guest: Marsha Mailick, Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education (VCRGE)

Marsha shared two handouts from UMETRICS.  UW-Madison has been involved in UMETRICS since its inception.  The purpose of UMETRICS is to look at the impact of research funding on the economy and careers.  There are now many campuses outside of the CIC who participate in UMETRICS.  UW-Madison has made sure that our Institutional Review Board for human subjects has oversight of the data that is provided to this project.

She also talked about the potential move of RSP into the VCRGE office.  The Faculty Senate will vote on this change in the fall.  UW-Madison is an outlier by having sponsored projects under the Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration.

There are two searches for center directors in VCRGE right now.  The arboretum director search is posted and is being recruited nationally.  Marsha is working on establishing a search committee.  The director for WID has not been posted yet, but will be posted soon, likely with an application deadline in mid-September.  D2P will be reviewed during the next year, its second year of three years of its funding allocation.  

Lastly, there was discussion about a research manager community of practice.  Marsha suggested bringing a proposal to an Associate Deans for Research meeting.  The office of the VCRGE would enthusiastically support the idea.  

Guest: Mark Walters, Office of Human Resources
    Mark discussed the Title Change policy that was created to fill a gap that was identified after HR Design was implemented last July.  The policy provides information on when a title change is needed and when it is not.  There are two reasons that a title change is needed: substantive change in duties (50% or more) or addition of supervisory duties.  This led to a brief discussion about the issues of updating PVLs and PDs on campus.  A process for making sure this is done on a routine basis needs to be part of the Titling and Total Compensation Study.
The Office of Human Resources is starting to communicate more about the FLSA changes.  There was disappointment that postdoctoral fellows were not exempt from the changes.  The good news was the delayed implementation until December 1.  The policy that is developed to address FLSA changes will need to allow flexibility while at the same time making sure the policy is applied equitably.
The Titling and Total Compensation Study has finally started.  The business requirements for the RFP have been provided to the Advisory Council, and UW-Madison and UWS hope to get it out by early August.  The vendor will need to balance its work alongside the work of campus partners.  Postdocs are not covered in the scope of the study, and gender equity is not identified as part of the study.

There are three finalists interviewing for the compensation and titling director position.  They will be having a stakeholder interview panel and will invite ASEC to participate.

Business
•    SMPH Draft Communication
ASEC discussed a draft communication that would be sent to School of Medicine and Public Health academic staff regarding the delay in processing of salary adjustments for academic staff.  There was a discussion about where to direct questions.  ASEC thought it would be a good idea to direct academic staff to the SMPH CASI.  ASEC asked the Secretary of the Academic Staff to make corrections and send out the memo.

Motion to convene in Closed Session Pursuant to Wis. Stats. 19.85(1)(c), and (f) to discuss nominations to the Academic Staff Appeals Committee, Wisconsin Union Council, and Area Review Committee: Biological and Medical Sciences and appointments as Academic Staff Assembly representative and to the Library Committee (Browning). Seconded. Approved.

Motion to Convene in Open Session (Browning). Seconded. Approved.

Business
•    Nominations/Appointments
Motion to appoint Cid Freitag to the University Library Committee (Shapiro). Seconded. Approved.
Motion to nominate Chris Verhaeghe to the Wisconsin Union Council (Kuba). Seconded. Approved.
Motion to reappoint an Assembly representative in an even-numbered district (Shapiro). Seconded. Approved.
Motion to nominate Barbara Gerloff, Julie Ganser and Kate Ryan to the Academic Staff Appeals Committee (Newsom). Seconded. Approved.
Motion to nominate Susan Schaefer to the Area Review Committee: Biological and Medical Sciences (Crandall). Seconded. Approved.
•    FLSA Communication
ASEC approved the communication for distribution to all academic staff.
•    Resolution on Budget for Fall Assembly Meeting
ASEC agreed that the revised resolution was headed in a better direction.

Meeting adjourned at 4:54 p.m.

Minutes submitted by Heather Daniels, Secretary of the Academic Staff