Minutes for October 23, 2023

UC members present: Bernard-Donals, Jones, King, Tejedo-Herrero, Thibeault (chair), Zweibel

Others present: Michelle Felber, Lesly Fisher, Jake Smith

Chair Thibeault called the meeting to order at 12:45 pm.

Jones motioned, and it was seconded and approved, to convene in closed session pursuant to Wis. Stats. 19.85(1)(c) and (f) to discuss waivers, committee appointments and personnel issues at 12:46 pm. One tenure clock extension was approved.

Bernard-Donals motioned to reconvene in open session at 2:03 pm. It was seconded and approved.

The minutes from October 16, 2023, were approved by automatic consent.

Secretary Heather Daniels reported that she would be giving a presentation at the UW-Madison Human Resources Conference on the life cycle of faculty appointments and that she and Beth Meyerand would be holding a workshop on the tenure process in January.

The University Committee reviewed the results of the survey on tenure-track or tenured faculty hiring. The survey showed a large number of departments allow assistant professors to vote on these hires and a handful allow academic staff and others to vote. There are also some departments where the chair is the only party making the decision. The UC will send a memo to departments outline that the only people able to vote on these hires are tenured faculty. They will also add some clarity in the wording of FPP 5.22.C.1.

Beth Meyerand, Vice Provost for Faculty and Staff Issues, talked about the TOP program for this year. The funding formula has changed, but all other processes remain the same. They also revised wording to make it clear that faculty hires that contribute to the diversity of thought and scholarship also qualify for this program.

She discussed the Faculty Strategic Hiring Initiative. The Deans Council is making decisions on the topic areas. They have been encouraged to solicit ideas from faculty. The hiring process will run as it normally does. Artificial Intelligence and Sustainability are the two themes that will be advertised this fall. Deans Shim, Wilcots and Robertson are putting those proposals together.

Vice Provost Meyerand is also working on a mentoring curriculum for faculty who mentor faculty. Her office would offer support to schedule trainings. They would first offer train the trainer sessions to build a pool of trainers. 

The University Committee discussed concerns about the continuing push for short timelines regarding the strategic hiring program and the narrow focus of some proposals. There were also concerns expressed about the window for advertising new positions quickly coming to a close.

Thibeault adjourned the meeting at 3:27 pm.

Minutes submitted by Heather Daniels, Secretary of the Faculty