May 12, 2014

Present: Bernard-Donals, Cook, Fair, Meyerand, Petty 

Absent: Farrar Edwards

The meeting began at 1:00 p.m.

1. Minutes of the meeting of May 5, 2014 (Document 130489) approved as amended.

2. Darrell Bazzell presented information on: indirect cost calculations; which features of HR redesign the Legislature passed; rough estimates of the and staffing costs of the new VCRGE and DGS model.  Next steps are to work out separate budgets for each position.  Finally, he reported that the budget working group is well underway.  The UC agreed with Darrell’s suggestion that the issues connected with the sharing indirects between centers and schools and colleges be taken up by the working group.

3. Provost DeLuca’s travel schedule meant he had to cancel his time with the UC.

4. Bill presented a list of UC- appointed Committees that will need filling before the start of the academic year.  He will place 3-4 committees on the agenda each meeting over the summer so that appointments will be completed by summer’s end.

5. Chancellor Blank thanked the UC for their efforts marshalling the proposal and recommendations regarding the new VCRGE/DGS offices through the Senate.  She reported: that 40,000 people are expected for Commencement at the Stadium; recent events have called for a reorganization of the Labor Codes and Licensing Committee and how it operates; and it appears that efforts to increase professional school and out-of-state tuition will not take place this year, but will be on next year’s agenda.

6. Sarah Neibart (ASM) discussed the Committee on Civic Engagement Proposal (Document 130490).  The goal is to have policies in place that permit voter registration in the dorms and to have a shared governance voice in bringing major figures like the President of the United States to campus.  Sarah indicated that they envision the committee would be very busy at start-up but then only be activated on an as needed basis.

Questions were raised about the 5 student majority proposed for committee membership.  Shared governance committees typically have equal numbers of member representatives from all governance groups.  Since these issues primarily affect students, ASM thought a student majority appropriate.

7. Judith Burstyn and Ananth Seshadri discussed  the new Performance Management policy.  It is intended to provide consistency and establish minimum standards across the institution.  Faculty as managers will be required to prepare plans for everyone they supervise.  Post-docs may be included as “employees in training.”   Questions were raised regarding the applicability of the policy in circumstance such as P.I.-Scientist colleagues who work together on grants.  

8. John Lucas and Alice Gustafson met briefly with the UC to discuss their work on the Administrative Process Redesign in the area of Communications.  They are soliciting input from across the campus at all levels of the organization on what are the ways to deliver messages to audiences and what are the most relevant type of information people need.  Shared governance groups are viewed important information producers and are invited to offer comments about current and ideas for new vehicles for communication.  There will be a final report ready by the end of July.

9. Grant moved (Beth second) to convene in closed session pursuant to Wis. Stats. 19.85(1)©, and (f) to discuss personnel matters.

10. The meeting reconvened in open session at 4:55 p.m.

11. Follow-up

• The UC would like to speak with Darrell Bazzel, the Dean of Students and the Director of Housing to understand their concerns regarding the voter registration in the dorms.

• Ask Karl Scholz for memorial library committee nominees to step in for an L&S faculty member who will be on sabbatical next year.

The meeting adjourned at 5:02 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

William A. Heiss, M.S.S.W.

Interim Secretary of the Faculty