Chancellor Rebecca Blank called the online meeting to order at 3:32 p.m. with 105 voting members present (147 needed for quorum). Memorial resolutions were offered for Professor Emeritus Phil Certain (Faculty Document 2955), Professor Mark Cook (Faculty Document 2956), Professor Emeritus Peter Eichman (Faculty Document 2957), Professor Emeritus Donald McCarty (Faculty Document 2958). and Professor Tejumola Olaniyan (Faculty Document 2959).

In her State of the University address, Chancellor Rebecca Blank reported that UW-Madison was the top public institution in a ranking of universities released by Washington Monthly. UW-Madison welcomed the largest and most diverse entering class in history (8,400). The underrepresented students of color hit a new high of 14.8%. 

Vaccination rates are high on campus with 93% of students, nearly 95% of employees, and over 99% of the faculty fully vaccinated, contributing to the low number of COVID-19 cases. Unvaccinated students and employees must test once a week, and masking continues to be required on campus.

The Provost’s office has created the new Center for Teaching, Learning & Mentoring to provide assistance to faculty and instructional staff, including lessons learned during the pandemic on improving student engagement. The office has created the Exceptional Service Support Program to acknowledge mentoring beyond what is expected. The program provides a course release.

Thirty-nine new faculty have been hired through the TOP program in the past three years. The Raimey-Noland campaign has raised over $40 million for undergraduate scholarships, graduate school scholarships, faculty support, and academic programs. 

In the area of research, an additional 100 grant proposals were submitted last year and the amount of grant money awarded increased by 15%. Capital projects for this year and next include the chemistry building, the Center for Dairy Research, and the Babcock Dairy Plant. A new Computer, Data and Information Sciences building, breaking ground in 2023, will have no public funding. The state biennial budget includes 2% salary increases for faculty and staff in each year of the biennium, and funding for a new academic building for the College of Letters & Science. The faculty compensation fund will be continued this year with $2 million. In the ranking of faculty salaries, UW-Madison rose to number 5 in the Big Ten after spending the better part of 20 years at the bottom.

University Committee Chair Eric Sandgren shared his priorities for the coming year (administrative burden, campus climate, and shared governance), and proposed a shared governance ad hoc committee to work on the issue of administrative burden.

There was a question and comments about modality for the Faculty Senate. 

The Faculty Senate Minutes 2021-05-03 were approved by consent. Professor John Mackay (Philosophy) presented the Immigration and International Issues Committee annual report for 2019-2020 (Faculty Document 2960), Professor Mario Trujillo (Mechanical Engineering) presented the Recreational Sports Board combined annual report for 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 (Faculty Document 2961), Professor Shawn Green (Psychology) presented the Information Technology Committee annual report for 2020-2021 (Faculty Document 2962), Professor Rob Howard (Communication Arts) presented the University Libraries Committee annual report for 2020-2021 (Faculty Document 2963), and UC Chair Eric Sandgren presented the University Committee and Faculty Senate annual report for 2020-2021 (Faculty Document 2964). There were no questions on these reports.

University Committee Chair Eric Sandgren moved approval of a revision of Faculty Document 2570, which covers the process used to establish the academic calendar. An amended revision was approved (Faculty Document 2570 Rev)

Senator Chad Goldberg (District 71, Sociology) moved approval of a resolution regarding the academic calendar, diversity and inclusion (Faculty Document 2965). The resolution was seconded and approved.

University Committee member Susan Thibeault moved approval of revisions to Faculty Policies and Procedures to standardize the language and format of committee sections in FPP that present annual reports to the Senate meeting (Faculty Document 2966). The revisions were approved.

Professor Mario Trujillo (Mechanical Engineering) moved approval of revisions to the Recreational Sports Board name and functions to reflect the rebranding of the unit (Faculty Document 2967). The revisions were seconded and approved.

Professor Rob Howard (Communication Arts) moved approval of revised functions of the University Libraries Committee (Faculty Document 2968). The revisions were seconded and approved.

University Committee Chair Eric Sandgren presented a first reading of revisions to several sections of Faculty Policies and Procedures to allow for electronic meetings (Faculty document 2969). Questions and comments were received.

The meeting adjourned at 4:50 pm.