Minutes for September 11, 2023

UC members present: Bernard-Donals, Jones, Thibeault (chair), Zweibel
Others present: Jenny Bernhardt, Michelle Felber, Lesley Fisher, Julie Scharm, Jake Smith

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

Kevin Jacobson, ASM chair, shared priorities for this coming year. These include making sure the west campus planning meets sustainability goals, providing increased transparency for the hate/bias reporting process, and improvement in training for students on anti-bias and anti-racism. 

The minutes from August 21, 2023, were approved by automatic consent.

The University Committee reviewed a draft of the letter regarding shared governance participation that is sent by the chancellor, provost and vice chancellor for finance and administration annually. 

Heather shared that John Zumbrunnen has been promoted to Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs. 

The University Committee continued their discussion about the possible change of the Graduate School Dean reporting line. They revised a document with the proposal and also looked at changes that would be need to be made to FPP. 

Michael Bernard-Donals, Ellen Zweibel and Annie Jones reported on discussion about the change in meetings of the University Resource Council and Graduate Faculty Executive Committee (GFEC) that were held the previous week. The proposal was received positively in both groups. There were comments made in the meetings that tight integration of research and graduate education remains important to faculty. 

The University Committee reviewed changes to faculty legislation on electronic file access. The changes would remove the policy portion of the document due to the presence of a UW System policy that must be followed. The procedures don’t substantively change, but are reworked to making the wording more streamlined, and the process more understandable. 

Jones 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 1:49 pm. One tenure clock extension, dual role and hiring of a former tenure track faculty member were approved. 

Thibeault motioned to reconvene in open session at 2:22 pm. It was seconded and approved.

Thibeault adjourned the meeting at 2:24 pm.

Minutes submitted by Heather Daniels, Secretary of the Faculty