Academic Staff Assembly (ASA) Minutes
DRAFT
MINUTES
ACADEMIC STAFF ASSEMBLY
Monday, 12 December 2005
272 Bascom Hall (3:30-4:30 pm)
Chancellor John Wiley called the meeting to order at 3:30 pm.
AUTOMATIC CONSENT BUSINESS
The minutes of the 10/10/2005 Academic Staff Assembly meeting were approved.
Committee Reports
Academic Staff Executive Committee (ASEC) - Frank Kooistra, chair
http://wiscinfo.doit.wisc.edu/acstaff/asec.html; https://lists.wisc.edu/read/?forum=assembly.
Frank thanked all those who attended the 20th anniversary of governance
party in November. It was a nice celebration. (See pictures on the web
at http://wiscinfo.doit.wisc.edu/acstaff/20th%20Anniv.htm)
SB 452 was just introduced at the legislature. It would allow a vote on collective bargaining, though unlikely to make it through the State Assembly.
Read Gilgen attended the System representatives meeting. Reps heard a report from System legal counsel Pat Brady on the current issues of felons on the payroll and the six-month notice for limited appointments.
Frank asked Assembly members if they were interested in some sort of meeting in January. About half of the group said they would. ASEC will consider options for the meeting format.
Compensation and Economic Benefits Committee (CEBC) - Bill Steffenhagen,
chair
http://wiscinfo.doit.wisc.edu/acstaff/cebc/index2.htm
This committee will work with members of PPPC to review the criteria for
the Distinguished Prefix title to allow more academic staff to be considered
eligible.
The material on required promotion reviews for academic staff has gone to the various human resources offices.
From ASPRO: Regent Spector feels a change to UWS is necessary to provide restrictions for faculty with felony convictions.
Districting and Representation Committee (DRC) - Charlene Krembs, chair
http://wiscinfo.doit.wisc.edu/acstaff/comopp/drc.html
Nominating Committee - Mary Ray, chair
http://wiscinfo.doit.wisc.edu/acstaff/comopp/nc.html
The Nominating Committee is beginning to look for candidates to serve
on shared governance committees. Contact Mary Ray if you are interested.
Mara McDonald created a chart with good information about each committee.
http://wiscinfo.doit.wisc.edu/acstaff/Committees.htm
Personnel Policies and Procedures Committee (PPPC) - Carla Love and John
Mather, co-chairs
http://wiscinfo.doit.wisc.edu/acstaff/pppc/index.htm
The 2004 Job Security report should be on the web soon.
ASPP changes passed by the Assembly over the past two years are still
being held up at the System level.
Professional Development and Recognition Committee (PDRC) - Donna Cole
and Lisa Jansen, co-chairs
http://wiscinfo.doit.wisc.edu/acstaff/pdrc/index.html
The current round of professional development grants has just been completed.
There were 55 requests totaling $43,000. 43 of those requests were funded.
Due to a recent resignation from the committee, they are looking for a new member. If interested, contact Mary Ray. One will need to be appointed soon to help with the committee work on Excellence awards.
CALS Committee on Academic Staff Issues - Peter Crump
Peter introduced himself as a 25-year academic staff member, who had once
served as an Assembly rep and is now on the CALS CASI. The CASI recently
surveyed all those who had been on the CASI over the last five years.
The CASI is also planning to repeat a survey that was done several years
ago asking academic and department chairs about academic staff participation
in departmental and college governance and committees. The results should
show if there is a "disconnect" between what department chairs
say vs. responses from the various categories of academic staff in the
college. The first survey was somewhat flawed with only sporadic results.
The new survey will be done through a new DoIT program with more demographic
data collected and better questions. It is now in the testing phase.
Labor Licensing Policy Committee - Patrick Barrett, Charlotte Frascona,
Michelle Quinn
LLPC members agreed in October to unanimously endorse the designated suppliers'
program recently proposed by the United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS).
Licensees of this program are required (after a 3-year phase-in period)
to source 75% of their apparel from suppliers designated by the Workers
Rights Consortium (WRC) as having a legitimate labor union and paying
a price per good that ensures workers can negotiate a living wage. The
factories must also agree to produce goods exclusively for the university
market or for other organizations in compliance with this agreement. Suppliers
would benefit by having steady orders for products at reasonable prices.
Groups at 50 campuses nationwide are involved in advocating for the USAS
program, and UW-Madison could take the lead in endorsing it fully.
On an ongoing basis, the LLPC is involved in monitoring brand companies regarding disclosure of conditions and labor contracts. They also respond to situations referred by the WRC regarding UW logo apparel being produced at places that oppose workers' rights. The committee is currently working with the chancellor to require Adidas to be more forthcoming with responses to questions asked by the campus. The chancellor sent a letter to Adidas in this regard.
BUSINESS
Introduction of the ASEC Slate - Mary Ray
Mary introduced the slate for the next ASEC election. Voting will be done
electronically with results announced at the February Assembly meeting.
Chancellor's Report, John Wiley
The chancellor mentioned the hiring of a new dean for CALS. She is Molly
Jahn, currently at Cornell. She will be associated with the genetics and
agronomy departments here. The last interview with dean of the Medical
School candidates is tomorrow. All are stellar individuals, any one of
whom would be excellent. The provost search and screen committee will
be presenting the chancellor with a short list for that position in the
next couple weeks. The Dean of Students search will begin after a review
of the office is completed. A group of four outsiders is looking at the
structure of information technology administration on campus before a
new CIO is sought to replace the retiring Annie Stunden after June 2006.
Fundraising for the Capital Campaign is exceeding expectations with one
more year to go. However, more money is still needed to fund specific
initiatives. UW-Madison remains very competitive as one of the top five
schools in the amount of funding for research. The state portion of the
System budget is still deficient, but important. The question remains
as to how much students as users should pay vs. what the public pays as
an investment for the state. There is still a concern about affordability
for students in the less urban areas of the state.
Wiley talked some about the fallout from the Barrows case. The Regents are looking at eliminating a number of Limited positions within the System. There are over 500 now at the Madison campus alone. The term "back up appointments" is to be replaced by "concurrent positions," though the meaning is the same. Discussions are ongoing for how to deal with job security issues for outside offers. Faculty felons accused of egregious crimes will be suspended without pay pending an investigation and conviction. Madison's current three convicted faculty felons are all appealing their dismissals.
The chancellor provided a handout "Achieving Excellence" with statistics on meeting the goals of the strategic plan in areas of student diversity, access, retention, collaboration with faculty, learning environment, achievement gap, citizenship, research funding, and contribution to the Wisconsin economy. Improvements have been shown in all areas.
Meeting adjourned at 4:30 p.m.
Submitted by Colleen McCabe,
Secretary of the Academic Staff