Approved minutes for April 1, 2019          Approved April 8, 2019, correcting one spelling error 

UC members present: Amasino (chair), Bowers, Campagnola, Ventura, Warfield, Wolf

Others present: S. Smith, J. Richard, M. Felber, H. Daniels, C. Springer, M. Mayrl

Chair Rick Amasino called the meeting to order at 1:02 p.m. In order to preserve the structural integrity of Camp Randall and as the only item in these minutes acknowledging the date this meeting was held, the Athletic Department posted on social media that the “Jump Around” tradition has come to an end. The UC discussed the ensuing agendas for both UC and the Senate. The minutes of the meeting of March 25, 2019, were approved with one copyedit.

Vice Provost Jocelyn Milner reported on the public release later this month of data on graduate outcomes, primarily earnings. As explained in a handout handout, this data is the result of a collaboration between IRIS and the US Census working with Post-Secondary Employee Outcomes (PSEO) information. This high-value set of information has been worked on for a long time and is of high importance at both the state (see Act 32) and federal (see executive order) levels. A great deal of discussion ensued about methodologies, utilities, correlation with other data, and how to avoid the simplistic “pick your major” approach to utilizing the data.

Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning Steve Cramer, accompanied by Professor John Zumbrunnin discussed the latest iteration of our “Digital Education Principles”, a document the UC has seen before but that has now been reviewed by many other bodies and revised accordingly. Discussion was ample, focusing on two aspects primarily: intellectual property issues and the “One Badger” principle, which assures that anyone admitted to UW-Madison is treated the same as everyone else and there are no asterisks on certain types or modalities of degrees. (This was reflected in Chancellor Blank’s response to the recent admission scandal, which was also mentioned.)

Steve Ventura 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 2:00 p.m. The UC approved one clock extension and selected nominees for the UAPC and a Title IX working group. Warfield moved to reconvene in open session. The motion was seconded and passed at 2:11 p.m.

Chief Diversity Officer Patrick Sims reported on the first two affinity group gatherings (Native American and Latinx groups met last week). Ample discussion followed. The well-received gatherings aim to help create spaces where people from various communities can meet and interact, reducing isolation. Some issues, such as how to involve those who identify with more than one background, remain to be worked out. This week Southeast Asians and African Americans will meet and plans are in the works for those with disabilities and LGBTQ+. Sims also reported on a review of the Chancellors Scholars/Powers Knapp programs, our premier merit scholarship. Goal is to make sure program is serving high-achieving URM students as best as possible. In response to Sims’s query about whether to get faculty more involved, UC was wholeheartedly supportive.

Chancellor Becky Blank reported on the recent accreditor visit (seemed to go well; final report in June), upcoming Board of Regents meeting, discussions with VCRGE candidate, upcoming events she is attending (donors, AAU, alums, and more), and the fact that she will leave the Senate early to go to DC to meet with our congressional delegation and attend the Internet2 board meeting. Blank also addressed matters relating to the UW Extension merger, emphasizing that the Dean of Extension will be a direct report to the provost. She believes a vice provost is still needed for other kinds of support, not unlike the role the Vice Provost for Faculty and Staff serves in relation to the schools and colleges but on a statewide level. UC emphasized need for clarity on these administrative arrangements. Discussion was ample and also included possibility of the vice provost position being explicitly to support two divisions (Extension and Public Media), timing of the hiring of a permanent Dean of Extension, and much more. Blank and the UC concluded with a lengthy discussion about videotaping of finalist candidate presentations. She indicated that we are getting more and more pushback about public sessions in general and pointed out that the national standard on searches is no public search. In particular search firms tell us that the taping of public presentations in general, and the recording of the less-structured Q&A afterwards, are putting us at risk of losing candidates. The UC feels that our standard of a search that involves public engagement with faculty, staff, and students is appropriate, recognizing that there are potential risks to that and that the trade-off may well be limiting the pool of candidates. The UC and the chancellor agreed that the difference between taping just the presentation and taping the presentation plus the Q&A was negligible; the important debate is between whether to make the search public or not and that if the presentation is public, taping is not a big deal. Everyone also agreed that the technical challenges to recording the question portion were superable. For the current provost search, all agreed that—pending a discussion with the search chair—we should pilot the taping of the Q&A and that the UC and others should have a broader discussion about how to handle recording in the future.

Amasino adjourned the meeting at 3:02 p.m.