Draft minutes for October 10, 2016

(Centenary of the dome fire on what was then called Main Hall)

UC members present: Amasino, Bowers, Broman (chair), Litovsky, Wanner, Wendt (by phone)

Others present: S. Smith, J. Richard, J. O’Meara, H. Daniels, M. Felber, O. Arain, M. Mayrl

Acting chair Tom Broman called the meeting to order at 1:00 p.m. Candles were lit on the dome-shaped cake commemorating the Bascom Hall fire. Secretary of the Faculty Steve Smith called attention to a draft letter to the State Lab of Hygiene about search and screen committee membership. Following some discussion, UC agreed to review the document and decide next week whether the UC should be added as a signatory. Ruth Litovsky provided a summary of her participation in the Big10 Academic Alliance governance meeting. Generally she found it useful and learned that our campus is significantly better off than many of our peers in terms of governance.

Jack O’Meara said that PROFS leadership is working on a draft budget-related resolution potentially for November Senate meeting. At Board of Regents in Eau Claire there was unanimous vote to freeze tuition for one year and increase at inflation rate in second year, as well as strong statements by regents that tuition should be their purview. Discussion of film “Starving the Beast,” in which UW plays large role. Film leaves perception that Madison no longer has tenure, reflecting national sense that we totally eliminated it. Ample discussion about need to counter this misconception, which Litovsky heard at Big10 meeting as well and several people indicated has affected various searches. 

Minutes of the meeting of September 26, 2016, approved. 

CURAFA chair Kristyn Masters presented recommendations to change committee membership and charge in order for it to have more effective and meaningful impact. Recommendations based on several meetings with stakeholders (ASM, Division of Enrollment Management, and people whose scholarship relates to CURAFA concerns). New functions strengthen connection to Division of Enrollment Management, both for advice and access to data, while still connecting CURAFA to broader campus and other senior administrators. Hope is to be able to be more active, including laying out new initiatives. Ample discussion, including certain specific issues such as tuition increase, and overall goal/purpose/mission of committee. Chapter 6 does not list this kind of information. Consensus (and ample discussion) that this would be a valuable addition to FPP for all committees. Agreement that broader context of CURAFA within university/campus should be highlighted to Senate during presentation of FPP changes. UC endorsed moving these proposed changes forward to the Faculty Senate, with the deletion of Diversity and APIR ex officio roles.

Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Laurent Heller indicated that RSP is working internally on a transition plan that will address what needs to be changed, which will then go to VCFA, VCRGE, and URC for review. Discussion. Heller and the UC discussed idea of new shared governance committee to address issues on sponsorships. Consensus that this is good idea worth exploring. Ample discussion, including confidentiality, survey of issues, possible structure. Heller will talk to VCUR and perhaps Legal and then report back to UC. Heller updated the UC on the state of play with the Amazon pick-up point. Amazon willing to look at this anew, considering other spaces, including due diligence on most promising alternative. Discussion. Interest in more local community outreach and partnership generally. All agree to work with community relations office on this. Heller looking forward to feedback on important CHRO search. Ample discussion about meningitis cases reported on campus. Van Orman working with CDC, county, state, to determine if we need to declare outbreak. Situation being taken very seriously; campus will follow Van Orman’s recommendation regardless of likely substantial cost. 

Provost Sarah Mangelsdorf informed the UC that 3 dean reviews (Golden, Shim, Robbins) launched and one more (VandenBosch) will start in spring. Search and screen committee for dean of business school is ready to be charged. Follow-up discussion on the deadline for submission of grades and usage of final exam blocks. Discussion of how best to move PTR policy forward. 

Dean of the Graduate School Bill Karpus brought the UC up to speed on recent developments with the Graduate School online application and updated them on pay structure for graduate assistant appointments. New policy to start May 29 sets stipend level at 50% (= current TA stipend + 2%). Ample discussion, especially about communicating expectations and navigating power differentials. UC felt it would be helpful to have guidance for PIs on RA workload and training for students on how to talk to mentors and deal with problems. Karpus indicated that there is space for this in the rollout of the IDP (individual development plan), which is structured as a 2-way, dynamic conversation between student and advisor. Discussion of possible graduate student ombuds. 

Chancellor Rebecca Blank summarized Eau Claire Board of Regents meeting and her first of several events with chancellors from other campuses and their local alumni/business leaders. First event went well; idea is to communicate UW impact and need to reinvest. Discussion. Blank alerted UC to ASM resolution calling for declaration of indigenous peoples’ day (chancellor does not have that authority), a statement about Ho Chunk land before all events (we do this at Convocation), and addition of flags of tribal nations around Lincoln statue and plaque of Dakota slaughter during his administration. Blank not averse to recognizing 1st peoples but there are significant difficulties with specific suggestions. Blank and UC believe there are ways to recognize the presence of Native American tribes more than we’ve done. There is a lot of programming on campus on this topic and we might be able to revisit what we do around this time of year. Much discussion. Blank has several major events this coming Friday (Foundation and Alumni Association fall meeting, class of ‘66 50th, Van Hise Society meeting [million dollar donors, which have gone from 123 to 435 during her tenure], zoo ribbon cutting on badger exhibit. UC and Blank discussed how best to advance PTR. UC must now figure out how to amend and package. Need for strategy to convince system to be advocates. Agreement that UC will send 2-3 people to meet with Ray Cross. Discussion.

Rick Amasino departed at 2:59 p.m. for CHRO candidate meeting with governance groups.

Vice Provost for Faculty and Staff Michael Bernard-Donals presented draft guidelines on promotion to full professor. Guidelines (best practices not new policy) aimed at addressing wide variance across campus, and address need to have defined process in writing, restriction of voting to full professors to avoid conflicts, use of outside letters, annual evaluations. Ample discussion. UC suggested some changes, including making first PTR more explicit trigger for promotion discussion, but generally felt that this guidance is important and necessary.

Litovsky moved to convene in closed session pursuant to Wis. Stats. 19.85(1)(c) and (f) to discuss personnel matters. The motion was seconded and passed at 3:21 p.m. The UC nominated several faculty for one-year vacancies on the Commission on Faculty Compensation and Economic Benefits and a faculty member to complete a term on the UAPC/CPC, as well as a potential backup. The UC named Anja Wanner as the co-chair of the accreditation advisory committee. Bowers presented and moved approval of a dual role waiver request, which the UC unanimously approved. Bowers moved to reconvene in open session. The motion was seconded and passed at 3:51 p.m., at which time Broman adjourned the meeting.