University Committee Meeting Minutes 2026-02-02

Minutes for February 2, 2026

UC members present: Bernard-Donals, Chui, de Leon, Jones, Kendall

Others present: Michelle Felber, Ashley Hagen, Becky Jacobs, Genevieve Lambert, Julie Scharm

Chair Jones called the meeting to order at 1:00 pm.

Eric Carson, chair, Department of Extension and Karl Martin, Dean, Division of Extension presented the APC self-study. The Division of Extension moved to UW-Madison in 2019. Early on the division had developed a proposal to hire tenure-track faculty with a research focus on community engagement. At that time a decision was made to no longer hire faculty within the division. They feel the time is right to revisit the decision. They are seeking the support of the UC.

The minutes from January 26, 2026, meeting were approved.

Devesh Ranjan, Dean of the College of Engineering, introduced himself. He was a student on campus and feels his return as dean is repaying a debt. His first faculty position was at Texas A&M and then most recently at Georgia Tech. He led Georgia Tech’s task force during COVID and the experience shaped how he sees private/public partnership. The UC discussed ways the deans typically interact with shared governance at the campus level.

Chui motioned, and it was seconded and approved, to convene in closed session pursuant to Wis. Stats. 19.85(1)(c) and (f) to discuss waivers and committee appointments at 2:17 pm. One tenure clock extension and one dual-role waiver were approved.

Bernard-Donals motioned, and it was seconded and approved, to reconvene in open session at 2:51 pm.

Michael Bernard-Donals shared that the ad hoc group on instructional workload looked at a first draft of a campus policy and will be meeting again to look at a second draft. The draft policy will be shared at the leadership breakfast on Tues, Feb 17.

Jones adjourned the meeting at 3:15 pm.

Minutes submitted by Heather Daniels, secretary of the faculty.