Minutes for October 20, 2025

UC members present: Bernard-Donals, Chui, de Leon, Jones, Kendall, Mathieu

Others present: Emily Beach, Lesley Fisher, Nate Heckendorf, Becky Jacobs, Mallory Musolf, Julie Scharm

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

The minutes from the October 13, 2025, meeting were approved as distributed.

Rob Cramer, Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration, said that the ad hoc budget committee met for the first time. They are thinking long term about budgeting in a changing fiscal landscape.

Workday is in a stabilization period. Many things are being worked on. The number of expense reports waiting for approval continues to fall. Ideally expense reports would be completed in 8-10 days. In the area of reporting, they are starting to get good feedback about where the challenges are.

LinkUW will have a soft launch on November 3. It is a centralized service that will provide transactional services in both finance and human resources.

The Deloitte financial assessment looked at four areas: position management; hiring and compensation; capital expenditures; and travel and expense reimbursement. A communication about next steps should be coming out shortly.

Michelle Felber and Jack O’Meara, provided legislative update. PROFS has registered against the antisemitism definition bill on free speech grounds. They will have their annual report at the December Senate meeting.

Jeff Linderoth, chair of the Lectures Committee, shared that the committee funded 35 proposals last year that had more than 3,000 people in attendance. The numbers are now back in line with numbers before COVID. The University Committee suggested marketing this opportunity to STEM departments.

April Haynes, professor and senator from the Department of History as well as assistant professor Aireale Rodgers from Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, and Leah Horowitz, associate professor from the Nelson Institute, presented a proposed resolution for the Faculty Senate on a federal compact. The UC provided some feedback and indicated it would be on the November Senate agenda for a first reading.

Gopal Iyer, chair of the University Curriculum Committee, indicated they met 11 times during the past academic year and reviewed a total of 791 course proposals (283 new, 372 changes and 136 discontinuances). Some department reorganizations led to the higher numbers this year. The committee reviewed and endorsed a new grading system for the School of Veterinary Medicine that emphasizes learning over letter grades. They discussed the new budget model in regards to influences on course offerings and continued their discussion about 0 credit courses. The University Committee suggested that the UCC consider taking a lead role in integrating AI into course proposals.

Elmo Rawling, chair of the Budget Committee, shared that the committee’s work focused on Workday implementation and the state budget bill. They have also been involved in discussing the new budget approach during the last 18 months. Their upcoming November meeting will include a presentation on the shadow data.

Bernard-Donals 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 3:11 pm. One tenure clock extension was approved.

Chui motioned, and it was seconded and approved, to reconvene in open session at 3:16 pm.

Jones adjourned the meeting at 3:17 pm.

Minutes submitted by Heather Daniels, secretary of the faculty.