Minutes for Month day, 2024

UC members present: Bernard-Donals, Jones, Kendall, Li, Stein

Others present: Greg Bump, Lindsey Stoddard Cameron, Ashley Hagen, Michelle Felber, Jennifer Noyes, Jenny Skibba, Dominic Zappia

Chair Li called the meeting to order at 12:18 pm.

The minutes from September 9, 2024, meeting were approved by automatic consent.

The University Committee discussed changing the two faculty seats which require membership on both the Campus Planning Committee and University Academic Planning Council to regular faculty seats. In talking with current occupants of these seats as well as the other offices involved, it does not seem to be the case that knowledge from each of the committees helps inform decisions on the other committee. The University Committee was in agreement with this change and suggested that there should instead be a mechanism for the two committees to connect regularly.

The UC asked to invite Angela Byers-Winston and Alex Gee to discuss their recent report on the Black community experience at UW-Madison. The UC also discussed leading the creation of a policy on course evaluations.

Vice Chancellor Rob Cramer discussed progress on the new budget approach. The graduate tuition allocation task force submitted their findings this summer. Deans are starting to have conversations in their schools/colleges about how they are thinking about the budget. It is likely there will be more than one shadow year with implementation in FY27 due to the implementation of Workday.

Workday is starting to become more real as more employees are able to see what it looks like and how processes work. They are looking at the balance between what faculty need to do and what can be done by others. Permanent delegation isn’t possible so a change in security roles might make sense in some instances.

In FY24, revenues and expenses at UW-Madison both increased by 13%. There is a $482 million balance, which would provide 140 days of operating expenses, which is approximately in the middle of our peers. Campus leadership is looking at what we would need for a AAA credit rating as the campus continues to push for bonding authority.

For the next fiscal year, central campus is  providing additional funds to schools and colleges for enrollment growth, McBurney Center, undergraduate financial aid, cybersecurity and some deferred maintenance. Areas of concern include the lack of student housing on campus, inflationary pressures, deferred maintenance and the litigation against the NCAA and pending settlement.

Jack O’Meara and Michelle Felber with PROFS are continuing to watch the progress of the legislative study group. PROFS is considering hosting a forum on different kinds of governance models. The state budget proposal from the Board of Regents has been submitted. It does not include a tuition increase, but does include pay plans in both years of the biennium and an increase in funding.

Bill Karpus, Dean of the Graduate School, shared preliminary enrollment that notes a decrease in admissions for graduate students who are under-represented minorities. They are working with the BTAA to develop a holistic admissions toolkit. They are encouraging graduate programs to build partnerships to identify potential students. Partnerships should involve an exchange. Summer Research Opportunity Programs and the McNair program are another good way of identifying potential students. 

Erla Heyns, Dean and Vice Provost for Libraries, shared that they are working on a strategic plan for the libraries. The goals of the plan include advance emerging research, engage in educational innovation, broaden and deepen access to research resources, revitalize spaces to enable research and learning, and develop organization strength. David Pavelich, Associate Dean in the Libraries, discussed the additional off-site storage facility that will start to be constructed in 2025 with a completion date of May 2026. It will have the campus’ first cold AV storage room. It will quadruple the amount of storage available in Verona and help preserve some of the most critical research materials. Solar arrays are expected to help generate power for the facility.

Li adjourned the meeting at 2:15 pm.