Approved minutes for November 06, 2017          Minutes approved November 20, 2017

UC members present: Amasino, Bowers, Litovsky, Ventura, Wanner (chair), Warfield

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

Chair Anja Wanner called the meeting to order at 1:15 p.m. and announced that there will not be a meeting on November 13, due to lack of quorum. Wanner reviewed the Faculty Senate agenda. Extended discussion about academic staff as advisors senate item, among other parts of the agenda. During the meeting, the UC received additional information about this item and, following extended discussion, decided to pull the item from the Senate agenda in order to provide time to more carefully consider who should be covered by the policy. The minutes of the meeting of October 30, 2017, were approved. Jack O’Meara reported on PROFS’ efforts on two fetal tissue bills and the entrepreneurial bill, which will be promoted in honor of Mark Cook. 

Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Laurent Heller discussed the forthcoming Senate resolution on sustainability and climate, indicating that he believes that in general this is something the university should be doing. Sustainability has been added to the OVCFA strategic plan and FP&M Director David Darling is posting the announcement for the director of the Office of Sustainability soon. Heller explained the new Associate Vice Chancellor for Finance position, which will bridge three positions that currently report directly to him. New position will create greater capacity for strategic planning and coordination, as well as continuity in finance-related areas. Heller would like there to be more than one faculty member on this search committee. Heller distributed an updated version of his office’s strategic plan. Ample discussion ensued.

Chief Diversity Officer Patrick Sims reminded those present about the imminent Diversity Forum. Second day of the forum is an innovative health and wellness focus for smaller groups, primarily students. Sims distributed a summary of the Campus Climate Survey. Additional details, as well as the raw data, available at diversity.wisc.edu (click on “climate”). A collaborative process took 2 years to build this instrument and the administration closed last fall. Data analysis that has been going on since then has led to several conclusions: there is work to do, but there are promising themes; there are not many surprises really, but it is helpful to have the data bear out anecdotal experiences; and students feel this topic is of utmost importance. There is a lot of work to be done, but also many efforts currently underway. Next step will be to assess what is already happening, and whether it is producing the desired/expected outcomes. Sims encouraged everyone to study and share the recommendations and other points from the summary document. There was a great deal of discussion throughout.

Terry Warfield 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 2:30 p.m. The UC considered potential faculty members to serve on search and screen committees for a new CIO and for the new Associate Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration. Ruth Litovsky moved to reconvene in open session. The motion was seconded and passed at 3:00 p.m., at which point Wanner adjourned the meeting.