Minutes for October 30, 2023

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

Others present: Jack O’Meara, Lesly Fisher, Jake Smith

Chair Thibeault called the meeting to order at 1:00 pm.

Zweibel 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 and committee appointments at 1:00 pm. One tenure clock extension was approved.

Bernard-Donals motioned to reconvene in open session at 1:08 pm. It was seconded and approved.

The minutes from October 23, 2023, were approved by automatic consent.

University Committee member Ellen Zweibel reported that she and Secretary Daniels met with Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Rob Cramer and others about segregated fees. Changes would have to be made soon in order for them to go into effect for next year. University Health Services was discussed as well as an idea to waive fees for graduate students in their first semester.

Secretary Daniels shared memos and asked for feedback on tenure clock extensions and tenure-track and tenured faculty hiring votes.

The University Committee reviewed the Faculty Senate agenda.

Senior Vice Provost John Zumbrunnen discussed the faculty strategic hiring initiative as a way to deploy the Wisconsin Idea at the institutional level to address pressing issues or concerns in the world. The hiring of faculty members would be done in departments through the typical faculty hiring process. The University Committee discussed their concerns about process and communications.

Senior Vice Provost Zumbrunnen also discussed the budget model. The plan is to have small task forces that will focus on a particular area of the budget model. He mentioned that his role in the Provost office was still developing, but he will be involved in special projects and strategic initiatives. He is also helping with rethinking the structure and organization of the Provost office. In addition to keeping his duties as the Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning, he is also working on undergraduate online degree programs.

Cynthia Czajkowski, Interim Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education, gave an update on RSP. They are no longer having a problem hiring, but are continuing to look at whether processes are as efficient as they can be. The consultants working on the efficiency project started about a month ago and will give her their first update this week. The plan to have a full assessment available at the end of December or January with possible next steps.

They have launched a new program to provide money to purchase on or off campus resources for large grants that are at least $2 million in direct costs per year for five years. They have already gotten inquiries from a handful of people. Resources could include a graphic designer or grant writer.

Tom DuBois, current chair of the University Curriculum Committee, and Michelle Young, who staffs the committee, provided the annual report. The committee reviewed over 500 course proposals last year and recently completed a couple of large projects. The committee spends quite a bit of time discussing whether a syllabus illustrates regular and substantive student/teacher interactions as required by the federal government. This year they plan to talk about AI and reducing the number of year at which point courses become obsolete. Looking at the data, courses only have a 20% chance of being taught if they haven’t been taught in 3 years. Currently a course becomes obsolete after 8 years. They are going to suggest that number be reduced to 6 years.

Thibeault adjourned the meeting at 3:20 pm.