Minutes for April 24, 2023

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

Others: Greg Bump, Lesley Fisher, Jennifer Noyes, Julie Scharm, Jake Smith

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

The minutes for the meeting of April 17, 2023, were approved.

The report on the idea of a Native Nations tuition waiver was shared. Congratulations were given to Annie Jones and Michael Bernard-Donals who were elected to full terms on the University Committee. Barbara King will serve in the UC this fall during Li Chiao-Ping’s sabbatical.

Crystal Potts provided an update to shared governance representatives on the state budget the previous week. There is still lots of work to be done before any votes are expected. There is a bill that would allow UW-Madison to keep the differential tuition from the Minnesota compact, and there continues to be talk of pay plan.

Chair Papp reported that she plans to ask for volunteers for an ad hoc committee on sustainability during her report to the Faculty Senate. Both Steph Tai and Bruce Barrett are willing to serve on the committee, but not as chairs.

The University Committee provided a final review of the Faculty Senate agenda.

Lori Reesor, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, reported that the Bakke facility opened this morning with more than 500 students in line. It has a pool, hockey rink and many spaces for wellness.

They are continuing to see increase in stressors for students. Dean of students staff and counselors provided assistance on site of the two student deaths that occurred recently. Her office plans to reach out to the National Suicide Foundation to do a review of UW-Madison’s resources in this area.

Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin reported that the Vice Chancellor for Strategic Communications is underway with a soft deadline for applications coming soon. A new provost should be announced soon. In relation to the search, the Chancellor asked the University Committee to think about whether the reporting line of the Dean of the Graduate School should be moved to the Provost with a dotted line to the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education. The University Committee was generally favorable about the idea and would want to study the idea more in depth.

Interim Provost, Eric Wilcots, visited on his first day on the job and expressed his plans to continue to move the work of the provost forward and provide consultation to the chancellor as needed. He is keeping track of the work of the vice provosts including HIB working group and the demand on the McBurney Center. He plans to talk with the deans about the upcoming SCOTUS decision as well as how to set up the next provost for success. He is planning to meet individually with deans to see what they are working on. He expects that there will be changes in the structure of the provost office in the near future to make the job more manageable.

Li 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 at 2:17 pm. Two tenure clock extensions approved.

Papp motioned to reconvene in open session at 2:35 pm. It was seconded and approved.

Papp adjourned the meeting at 2:49.