Minutes for September 16, 2019
As approved with corrections, September 23, 2019
 

UC members present: Campagnola, Halverson, Sandgren, Ventura, Warfield (chair), Wolf

Others: Amol Guyol, Michelle Felber, Bill Tishler, Heather Daniels, Jane Richard, and those in the text below

Chair Terry Warfield called the meeting to order at 1:15 p.m. The UC reviewed a draft of a resolution regarding the Our Shared Future plaque prepared for the Academic Staff Assembly to be adapted and adopted by the October 7 Faculty Senate.

The minutes of the meeting of September 9, 2019, were approved. PROFS lobbyist Jack O’Meara alerted the UC that Board of Regents member Tracey Klein will attend a PROFS Steering Committee on October 7, and she’ll participate in a forum on October 24 on the cost of higher education. O’Meara also reported on a bill coming up affecting the transfer of course credits between tech college system and UW.

Athletic Board chair Pete Miller announced that the full 24-member AB met for their first meeting of the school year. He shared their meeting topics: 1) the UW athletic program is unusual for a large school in that it’s “broad based” meaning that many students participate (800 students in 23 sports); 2) challenges exist in measuring career outcomes (graduate school? Professional athletics?) and is muddled by students transferring to different institutions (how to measure graduating at a different institution?); 3) a growing UW infrastructure supporting student athletes to get to successful academic and professional outcomes; 4) a new collegiate sports model broadens the rule that any financial benefit be tied directly to education to allow payment for image and likeness (California SB 206). Some discussion about maintaining continuity in the various AB seats, and Miller gave a brief update on the research on head injuries: Alison Brooks is the PI for UW-Madison.

Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Lori Reesor talked about this year’s convocation which was flipped to be in the afternoon, allowing students to meet with schools and colleges in the morning; this was well attended and well-received. The student speaker resonated. As an added surprise, thousands of parents watched on Facebook Live. She brought up the immunization policy—not that one has to be, but that one  must report whether or not they’ve been immunized. She asked if there were questions or comments about the incident where 2 students used nooses during a climate protest: there were several opportunities to communicate and provide feedback. The recently released mental health task force report on available resources will likely result in an advisory committee to be organized by Jake Baggott, new EHS director. The exact group affected (grad, undergrad, etc.) is still being worked out. There was a short discussion on how faculty can connect quickly with the right mental health service (more triage and peer coaching).

Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Laurent Heller revisited the Lakeshore Nature Preserve Committee governance—it’s not in Faculty Policies and Procedures and might be better served as an administrative board. FPM/John Horn will reach out to governance groups for to gain agreement on details. Discussing a handout illustrating the issues around building lab accommodations, he noted that the legislative framework is very challenging. However, if the project is all grants-funded, the project is completed much faster and the process can start before the faculty member shows up.

Sandgren 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 1:36 p.m. The UC considered and approved one dual role waiver. The UC moved into executive session to discuss the search and screen process for the Secretary of the Faculty position.

A motion was made to reconvene in open session and Warfield adjourned the meeting at 3:00.