Approved Minutes for December 10, 2018          Approved December 17, 2018

UC members present: Amasino (chair), Bowers, Campagnola, Ventura, Warfield, Wolf

Others (along with those below): S. Smith, J. Richard, H. Daniels, E. Sandgren, M. Mayrl, G. Bump

Chair Rick Amasino called the meeting to order at 1:01 p.m. Terry Warfield reported on the primarily positive Board of Regents meeting and the UC had a general discussion about UWS fac reps topics, including a math initiative, common core curriculum, and productivity. Kirsten Wolf reported on the recent URC meeting. The minutes of the meeting of University Committee Meeting Minutes 2018-11-26 were approved with one clarification. PROFS lobbyist Jack O'Meara reported on the Board of Regents meeting, as well as on the lame-duck legislative session. Athletic Board chair Pete Miller introduced Deputy Athletic Director Chris McIntosh and they jointly discussed how the Board-Athletics relationship works. Both described these interactions positively, noting that this is not always the norm at our peers. (Miller took the opportunity to publicly acknowledge his appreciation and McIntosh indicated that "this is what shared governance is supposed to feel like.") As one example of that interplay and to follow-up on previous UC discussions, McIntosh and Miller both spoke about the implementation phase of the safety review. Ample discussion ensued. Miller also presented the Board's annual report, which he will present to the Senate in February.

Chancellor Rebecca Blank gave a nod to the upcoming holiday party and commencement and reported on the recent Board of Regents meeting and discussions with the legislature and governor-elect. She noted that some have raised concern about impact of out-of-state tuition increases on applications, but that our applications continued to increase among that group, both in general and in terms of quality. Blank concluded with updates on accreditation, searches, follow-up on the Senate meeting, and her upcoming foot surgery, which will confine her to home for a while after commencement. The UC discussed at some length a draft letter to the provost from the UWEX/UW-Madison Faculty Transition Workgroup and approved its release. Provost Sarah Mangelsdorf discussed the Office of Strategic Consulting's policy library project with the UC. Discussion went on for some time, with a general consensus that the scope of this project should be as broad as feasible in order to really get a sense of where there are gaps, overlaps, or other concerns.

Dean of the Graduate School Bill Karpus briefly discussed the Senate resolution on graduate assistant segregated fees and then spent the bulk of his time on the best way to roll out the recommendations of a report on graduate STEM education from the National Academies to departments and students. As a campus, we have already implemented some of the recommendations around transparency of student records and the like. We have also begun to look into additional career preparation skill development. Karpus will send preview to UC of materials to be sent to departments. Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Lori Reesor shared drafts of initial thinking on the organizational design of her office. Three different teams brainstormed on this topic and came up with different proposals about themes, functions, and structures. Initial responses from students and other governance and leadership groups have been positive. This process welcomed all ideas, including incorporating aspects from other divisions and functions that do not exist on this campus, as a starting place for conversations and to feed into the development of a PVL for the DoS search. Much discussion was had. Vice Provost Jocelyn Milner reviewed developments surrounding upcoming accreditation visit, including timeline and criteria. Final draft is almost ready and there will soon be simulations run. Lots of discussion about differences from last time, connections between decennial reviews, UWEX integration and accreditation, and the volume of documentation. 

Terry Warfield moved to convene in closed session pursuant to Wis. Stats. 19.85(1)(c) and (f) to discuss personnel matters. The motion was seconded and passed at 3:19 p.m. The UC reviewed membership for an ad hoc de novo review committee. Warfield moved to reconvene in open session. The motion was seconded and passed at 3:41, at which time Amasino adjourned the meeting.