University Committee Meeting Minutes 2026-09-14

Minutes for September 14, 2026

UC members present: Chui, de Leon, Haynes, Johnson, Kendall, Mathieu

Others present: Sonia Bendre, Michelle Felber, Becky Jacobs, Sabine Martin, Jack O’Meara, Julie Scharm

Chair Kendall called the meeting to order at 1:02 pm.

The minutes for August 31, 2026, were approved by consent with a couple corrections.

Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Lori Reesor reported there had been many successful Welcome Week events with more to come. There will be a new full-time position for the Open Seat food pantry. In regards to student assistance, a few areas of concern have been identified for students including lease gaps in August and homelessness. They are working on a pilot project to address lease gaps that could be launched next summer. They have also increased efforts in the Wisconsin Exchange extending training to residence hall RAs so they can help residents negotiate roommate conflicts.

Mathieu motioned, and it was seconded and approved, to convene in closed session pursuant to Wis. Stats. 19.85(1)(a)(c) and (f) to discuss waivers, committee appointments, and grievances at 1:31 pm. Two tenure clock extensions were approved.

Johnson motioned, and it was seconded and approved, to reconvene in open session at 2:33 pm.

The University Committee did a preliminary review of the senate agenda for October.

Didier Contis, Chief Information Officer; Kristin Eschenfelder, Interim Dean, College of Letters and Science; and Kelvin Alfaro, Office of Strategic Consulting shared a draft framework on AI that are being written the AI Competence and Readiness Working Group. The group has been charged with finalizing a readiness and competency framework, developing a plain language acceptable use and guardrails statement, coordinating role-based literacy pathways and provide governance and investment recommendations. The draft framework has 3 components: Commitments, Shared Responsibilities and Decision-Making Practices. The UC provided feedback on the document.

Kent Weigel, Vice Provost for Faculty and Staff Affairs, indicated they are starting to put smaller pieces of the Madison commitment into the place primarily the dean’s onboard part. They are also working on workplace climate pulse surveys and putting together a proposal for feedback from leadership. This would replace the climate surveys. There would be a standard set of questions along with some survey specific questions.

In regards to Act 15, they have received all the school/college implementation plans and are working to address small issues.

Kent also discussed the idea of honoraria for promotion and tenure arm’s length reviewers. The UC was interested in revisiting this discussion at a later date. The UC also indicated to Kent that on the question of including research and teaching professors in Executive Committee meetings, they didn’t encourage it as it was a direct violation of FPP.

Bill Karpus, Dean of the Graduate School, outlined a new Ph.D. Education Task Force. They will examine whether UW-Madison is serving graduate students the best they can knowing that only 20-25% of graduates end up with tenure track positions with an additional 10-15% working in the academy. A number of organizations including the Council of Learned Societies and the BTAA are examining this issue.

The committee would have 15 faculty members from across the disciplines with a couple staff member and a couple graduate students. They are working on soliciting potential members, and Dean Karpus invited the UC to submit names. There will be at least one member who serves on GFEC. He is looking to launch the committee at the beginning of October and meet once a month for the next 6-7 months. Once they have recommendations, they will work with graduate programs who are interested in experimenting and implementing recommendations to see what works.

Kendall adjourned the meeting at 4:07 pm.

Minutes submitted by Heather Daniels, secretary of the faculty.