UC members present: Babcock, Bernard-Donals, Papp (chair), Tejedo-Herrero, Thibeault

Others: Julie Scharm, Jake Smith

Chair Papp called the meeting to order at 1:15 pm. 

The minutes for the meeting of September 19, 2022, were approved.    

The University Committee approved clarifying language to their grievance procedure. Documents shared with the University Committee include a draft of the Menard Survey and UW System strategic plan. The UC also approved the Faculty Senate agenda and a response to Department of Extension faculty regarding their question on whether the changes in their department could be considered restructuring.  

Dean of the Graduate School Bill Karpus shared there will be a new Associate Dean for the Graduate School, Marcy Carlson. Fellowship funding allocation for the next fiscal year is underway, and more money is available this year to students for conference and research travel funding through the Vilas travel program. This year’s entering class of graduate students is mixed with an increase in Ph.D. students and decrease in master’s students from last year. 

Dean Karpus indicated the Graduate School was in the middle of a strategic planning exercise expected to conclude by the end of the year. He also talked with the University Committee about mentoring for graduate students and the use of outside companies like EdX to market UW-Madison graduate degree programs.   

Shawn Green presented the annual report for the Information Technology Committee. An updated digital accessibility policy was passed last year. Changes were made based on stakeholder interviews and looking at standards. It will be effective in summer of 2023 and will require additional infrastructure. Another item the committee is working on is the oversight of policies, looking at the burden a policy creates and wanting to make sure there is evidence the policy as written is working. 

Provost Karl Scholz indicted that the 10-day enrollment numbers are coming out. Overall UW System enrollment is down 4%. Madison, Superior and Green Bay all grew this year. The largest drop in enrollment was 8% at River Falls with Stout, Parkside and Oshkosh down 6%. He expects Madison numbers to show 8635 freshman, a 4-year graduate rate of 75% and a 6-year graduate rate of 89.2% with an average of 3.9 years to degree. The retention rate has fallen about 1% to 94.3%. 16.6% of freshman are under-represented students of color compared to 10% in 2015. For all students of color, they make up 31.2% of the freshman class compared to 16.1% in 2013. Issues they are keeping an eye on include math placement (performance placement tests were worse this year than last) and requests for accommodations, which are up with as many as 10% in some classes. 

Provost Scholz discussed mentoring in the Center for Teaching, Learning and Mentoring (CTLM). They have created a position and are hiring a research mentoring training coordinator that will identify needs and resources for research mentor training on campus. He also discussed EdX marketing UW-Madison graduate degrees. He believes it is worth experimenting to see if they can meet their promise in recruiting students for a degree program.

Papp adjourned the meeting at 3:25.