Approved Minutes for May 20, 2019          Approved June 10, 2019 

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

Incoming UC members present: Halverson, Sandgren
UC member absent: Campagnola

Others present (in addition to those below): S. Smith, J. Richard, G. Elliott, M. Felber, J. Smith, H. Daniels

Chair Rick Amasino called his last meeting to order at 1:03 p.m. Terry Warfield reported on the most recent UWS fac reps meeting, notably on dissatisfaction at UWW with the new chancellor search policy. The minutes of the meeting of May 13, 2019, were approved. PROFS lobbyist Jack O’Meara reported that JFC executive sessions continue. They haven’t gotten to the UW part of the budget yet, but they did vote not to increase funds to the Higher Ed Aid Board.

Employee Assistance Office Director Sherry Boeger reported that an external vendor (Life Matters) has been contracted in order to expand services. Campus will now have available a hybrid model of on-campus staff (as currently) combined with 24/7 online, text and video, counseling. Much discussion followed; Boeger will present to Senate in fall.

Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Laurent Heller, accompanied by Allison La Tarte, Michael Bernard-Donals, and Mark Walters discussed recent data on faculty compensation faculty compensation and the various tools (discretionary, bonus, block grant) we have to “move the needle” on this data. Discussion was extensive. Existing programs will continue to make some progress, but need a major investment of additional faculty salary. Will ask each school/college for a plan and then fund those initiatives with the goal of eliminating half of salary gap (currently about $20M) in next year.

Provost Sarah Mangelsdorf bid farewell with an update and discussion on one of the biggest issues her office deals with: faculty investigations. Discussion was wide-ranging and included endorsement of the possibility of creating a “team” of investigators so that each investigation doesn’t involve the same steep learning curve.

Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Lori Reesor reported on progress in developing a new organizational structure for her office, here and here. Four thematic units are replacing four structural units. Idea is that these will run somewhat horizontally as well as vertically. For this coming year, governance groups/elements are the same as before, but Reesor and UC discussed ways this might evolve. Much discussion resulted in, inter alia, general agreement that “identity and inclusion” category needs some shared governance input, which could possibly come from existing SG groups. There was also a good deal of discussion about how to best represent graduate students.

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 3:00 p.m. The UC considered and unanimously approved one clock extension to accompany a leave of absence and one dual role waiver, the latter for just one year rather than the longer timeframe requested. Barb Bowers moved to reconvene in open session . The motion was seconded and passed at 3:10 p. m., at which point Amasino and Bowers said goodbye and the former adjourned the meeting.