Minutes for October 07, 2024

Presiding Officer Senior Vice Provost John Zumbrunnen called the meeting to order at 3:31 p.m. with 162 voting members present (106 needed for quorum). Memorial resolutions were offered for Professor and Dean Emeritus John G. Bollinger (Faculty Document 3174), Professor Emerita Carolyn Dawson (Faculty Document 3175), Professor Emeritus Charles Boyer Kasper (Faculty Document 3176), Professor and Dean Emerita Vivian Littlefield (Faculty Document 3177), and Professor Emeritus Louis Solomon (Faculty Document 3178).

Senior Vice Provost John Zumbrunnen announced that the university enrolled 8,516 new freshmen for fall 2024, which is the second largest class ever, and 1,375 new transfer students. This is the first class to enroll following the Supreme Court decision prohibiting the consideration of race in admissions. Underrepresented students of color in the freshman class dropped from 18% last year to 14.3% this year, which is a decrease of 3.7%. In addition to the new students, 142 new faculty members, in more than 80 departments around campus, joined the university in fall 2024, which is the largest cohort ever. The university now has over 2,300 faculty members, which is the highest faculty number in 30 years.

Two dean searches are currently underway, for the School of Medicine and Public Health and for the College of Engineering. The search for the chief information officer and vice provost for information technology position will be underway soon.

There was a reminder about religious and election day observances policy, available online at: https://secfac.wisc.edu/academic-calendar/#religious-observances. Faculty should be prepared to offer alternative ways to fulfill course requirements per the policy.

The campus-wide BadgersVote campaign is underway, with information on voting online at: https://vote.wisc.edu/. There is a BadgersVote toolkit available, including slides that can be used in the classroom, at: https://strategiccommunication.wisc.edu/for-communicators-and-marketers/guidelines-tips-and-policies/badgersvote-communications-toolkit/. BadgersVote partnered with the City of Madison Clerk’s Office to host over 12 voter registration events on campus this fall, with more opportunities to come.

Three Wisconsin Research, Innovation and Scholarly Excellence (RISE) initiatives have been announced so far: artificial intelligence, sustainability (EARTH) and health sciences (THRIVE). The first RISE hires were made in the School of Human Ecology in May 2024. The inaugural RISE summit was held on September 20, 2024, with over 200 participants. Faculty and staff workgroups are working on questions around hiring and infrastructure (e.g., research computing and space) and around barriers to and opportunities for collaboration on campus. RISE is not a replacement to current faculty hiring, teaching and research, but rather an enhancement of these activities.    

Professor Li Chiao-Ping, University Committee chair, shared the text of the Wisconsin statute 36.09, section 4, relevant to faculty shared governance.

The University Committee is monitoring several projects, including the west campus district, the RISE initiative, the new budget approach, and Workday, and is working on a number of issues, including the analysis of final exam periods and rooms and the possibility of shortening the exam period by one day, and the creation of an ad hoc committee to create a policy on student evaluations of teaching.

PROFS is a voluntary, non-profit organization formed by the Faculty Senate. PROFS advocates on behalf of UW-Madison faculty before state legislators, the governor, the Board of Regents, members of Congress and the general public. Join PROFS and see legislative updates online at: https://profs.wisc.edu/.

There are a number of grant and award opportunities available through of the Office of the Secretary of the Faculty, with additional information online at: http://secfac.wisc.edu/awards-lectures.

Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Rob Cramer provided an update on the new budget approach. The benefits of the new approach are to link funding to instructional, research and service activity, maintain fiscal health and responsible stewardship, engage leaders to act strategically, provide greater transparency and predictability, and reward collaboration, innovation and entrepreneurship. The new budget approach will determine how funds flow from central campus to schools and colleges, taking into account undergraduate, graduate, and indirect cost factors; deans will determine how to distribute the funds within the schools and colleges. Philanthropy, WARF, and direct research dollars are not part of the new budget approach. Other campus divisions and central support units will be less directly affected by the new budget approach. Auxiliaries, such as housing, dining and athletics, have an approximately 7% centralized services assessment on some of their revenues, which flows back to central campus in the future model; those funds will either flow to the central support units or to support the school/college base budgets.

The Undergraduate Tuition Allocation Task Force, the Overhead Allocation Task Force and Graduate Tuition Allocation Task Force presented their findings to a combination of the Deans Council, school/college chief financial officers, and select stakeholder groups for review and discussion and have provided their findings to the Coordinating Committee and executive sponsors. The Wisconsin Idea Task Force will meet over the academic year. The timeline for the new budget approach has been moved back, with the preparation phase in FY25 and FY26, during which shadow calculations and refinement will take place, and the launch in FY27. New budget approach information can be found online at: https://finadmin.wisc.edu/budgetapproach/.

During the question period, faculty senators asked how faculty are involved in the new budget approach: who served on the task forces and apart from that, if faculty have decision-making power regarding budgets. Vice Chancellor Cramer shared that a number of faculty and shared governance representatives are on the various task forces and have been asked to have conversations with their colleagues, and indicated a willingness to join department meetings or hold town halls if useful, to provide an opportunity for engagement and input. A faculty senator expressed concern about substantial student enrollment increases with insufficient budget increases, and about prioritization of funds to the College of Letters and Science, due to their high student numbers, ending. Vice Chancellor Cramer indicated that this is the last year of those additional funds and that the new budget model will build in that trend and the shadow calculations will help with assessment. A faculty senator asked about the degree of shared governance involved in the centralization of financial and human resources staff in the College of Letters and Science, related to the Administrative Transformations Program. Vice Chancellor Cramer indicated that all of the schools and colleges have evaluated the processes and potential implications of Workday.

Professor Keith Woodward (Geography, district 57) moved, and it was seconded, to make corrections to the Faculty Senate Minutes 2024-05-06, to replace the section related to University Committee statement on the Library Mall encampment and protests with University Committee Chair Susan Thibeault’s full comments, and to replace the reference to faculty, staff and student comments regarding the Library Mall encampment and protests with a full transcript of the faculty, staff and student comments, to include the full set of views expressed at the meeting and to provide the full historical record.

During the discussion regarding the motion to correct to the minutes, two faculty senators shared opposition to the motion, sharing that the first change wouldn’t make any practical difference and that the second change would defeat the purpose of minutes providing a meeting summary. A faculty senator shared opposition to the motion due to concern with the students’ names being shared with their word-for-word comments, which they may not have realized would be part of the minutes. A faculty senator asked if the transcript could be obtained in another format, if needed. Secretary of the Faculty Heather Daniels shared that the meetings are video recorded and sent to University Archives and that they can be obtained in that manner. A faculty senator provided support for the motion to reflect the various views expressed during the meeting, and because it is a recorded meeting, there should be no concern for the full transcript being in the minutes. Three faculty senators expressed concern about whether the transcript was verified and the lack of opportunity for its review. Two faculty senators suggested that a summary of the comments be included in the minutes, as opposed to the full transcript.

James Stein, University Committee member, moved to defer the motion to correct the minutes of the May 6, 2024 meeting to the November Faculty Senate meeting, in order to consider the motion and ensure that the text included in the motion is accurate. The motion to defer was seconded and approved.

The proposal to amend Faculty Policies & Procedures 6.43 Kemper K. Knapp Bequest Committee to delegate the committee chair appointment to the committee (Faculty Document 3179) was approved by consent.

Professor Stephen Young (Geography, district 57) presented the Committee on Undergraduate Recruitment, Admissions, and Financial Aid annual report for 2023-2024 (Faculty Document 3170). Professor Michael Bernard-Donals, University Committee member, presented the spring 2024 faculty committees election results (Faculty Document 3172). Professor Li Chiao-Ping, University Committee chair, presented the University Committee and Faculty Senate annual report for 2023-2024 (Faculty Document 3180). There were no questions on these reports.

Professor Ellen Zweibel, University Committee member, moved approval to amend Faculty Policies and Procedures 1.03 to clarify military officer ranks with university faculty status (Faculty Document 3160). The motion was approved.

Professor Michael Bernard-Donals, University Committee member, moved approval to amend Faculty Policies and Procedures 2.04, 2.07, 2.08, 2.12 to indicate whether deadlines related to the Faculty Senate are calculated using calendar days or business days (Faculty Document 3161). The motion was approved.

Professor Li Chiao-Ping, University Committee chair, moved approval to amend Faculty Policies and Procedures 6.04 to clarify that the scope of search and screen committees is academic vice chancellors/provosts and college/school deans, as opposed to search and screen committees of all facets on campus (Faculty Document 3162). The motion was approved.

Professor Annie Jones, University Committee member, moved approval to amend Faculty Policies and Procedures 6.28 Campus Planning Committee, 6.32 Committee on Committees, 6.41 Committee on Honorary Degrees, 6.43 Kemper K. Knapp Bequest Committee, 6.44 Lectures Committee, 6.52 University Academic Planning Council, 6.59 University Research Council to move the faculty seat appointing authority from the Divisional Executive Committees to the Committee on Committees or University Committee, to align policy with practice and to align committee expertise, and to amend Faculty Policies and Procedures 6.28 Campus Planning Committee and 6.52 University Academic Planning Council to change the committees’ joint faculty seats to standard faculty seats, appointed by the Committee on Committees, as the joint seats no longer fill their intended purpose (Faculty Document 3163). The motion was approved.

Professor James Stein, University Committee member, presented a first reading of a proposal to amend Faculty Policies and Procedures 7.04 to increase the maximum prior service that can be applied to the maximum probationary period from three to four years (Faculty Document 3181). A vote on this item is anticipated at the November Faculty Senate meeting.

Senior Vice Provost John Zumbrunnen adjourned the meeting at 4:56 p.m. 

Heather Daniels, Secretary of the Faculty