Academic Staff Assembly (ASA) Minutes
DRAFT
MINUTES
ACADEMIC STAFF ASSEMBLY
Monday, 9 May 2005
272 Bascom Hall (3:30-4:30 pm)
Provost Peter Spear called the meeting to order at 3:35 pm.
AUTOMATIC CONSENT BUSINESS
The minutes of the 4/11/2005 Academic Staff Assembly meeting were approved.
Introduction of the 2005 Academic Staff Excellence Award Winners
by Daña Alder, co-chair of the Professional Development and Recognition
Committee
The Assembly shared a moment of silence in memory of our dear colleague and friend, Barry Robinson.
Committee Reports
Academic Staff Executive Committee (ASEC) - Bruce Beck, chair
http://wiscinfo.doit.wisc.edu/acstaff/asec.html; https://lists.wisc.edu/read/?forum=assembly.
Guests of ASEC included Chancellor John Wiley on budget and governance
issues, and Virginia Waddick and Charlotte Frascona with a Labor Licensing
Policy Committee report. Prof. Michael Corradini met with ASEC to discuss
the current status of the faculty committee that reviews requests for
the honorific professorial title. And, policy analyst Margaret Harrigan
brought comprehensive data on the gender and ethnic makeup of the campus'
academic staff.
ASEC elected Frank Kooistra as the chair for 2005-2006. Read Gilgen will be the vice-chair.
ASEC will hold its annual planning meeting on July 18. Reps can contact any member of ASEC with suggestions for next year's priority issues.
Bruce thanked the representatives for their participation this past year and encouraged those in odd-numbered districts to continue to serve.
Compensation and Economic Benefits Committee (CEBC) - Bill Steffenhagen,
chair
http://wiscinfo.doit.wisc.edu/acstaff/cebc/index2.htm
CEBC will continue to meet over the summer to work on opening up the Category
A salary maxima. The Program Manager series also need to have new criteria,
providing potential for a more title normal progression.
The legislature's Joint Committee on Employee Relations (JCOER) will soon consider the latest pay plan request from OSER of 2% in July 2005, 2% July 2006, and 1% in April 2007. Pay ranges will go up the same percentages. The employees' share of health care premiums will not go up next year to the tune of $5 for individuals and $12 for families.
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
Personnel Policies and Procedures Committee (PPPC) - Ann Wallace, chair
http://wiscinfo.doit.wisc.edu/acstaff/pppc/index.htm
Job security data for 2004 will be available this summer once all the
numbers are turned in and analyzed. ASPP changes will be submitted to
the Regents by Steve Lund.
Professional Development and Recognition Committee (PDRC) - Daña
Alder, co-chair
http://wiscinfo.doit.wisc.edu/acstaff/pdrc/index.html
Professional development grants were awarded. The provost's office deserves
a big thank-you for providing an additional $4,000 for a large training
project requested by DoIT that will cover about 100 staff. All five Executive
Education grants were awarded.
Committee on Women in the University - Jeff Hamm, co-chair
As co-chair of the committee this year, Jeff presented the Annual Report
for 2003-04. That year's activities included sponsorship of Virginia Valian,
a psychology and linguistics professor from Hunter College with expertise
on gender equity issues. The committee supported the provost's Days of
Listening and Discovery and met with WISELI staff to review study data
on departmental climate. Work-life issues continue to be a focus of the
committee. They are hoping to put together a comprehensive web site with
resource information for all UW-Madison employees.
Linda Keller will be the next academic staff co-chair of the committee. The provost thanked Jeff for his years of service and involvement with this committee.
Campus Transportation Committee - Bill Steffenhagen
Bill reported that the cost of parking permits is going up $10 this year.
Flex parking will go up $.10/hour. There will be enhanced parking zones
for mopeds with specifically marked stalls. All mopeds must be registered.
Students will be notified this summer.
BUSINESS
Academic Staff Disability Accommodation Policy
This latest version of the policy reflects a change in the reporting structure.
Each unit has a Divisional Disability Representative (DDR) authorized
to receive and request confidential medical information for employees
in the division. The DDRs will respond to all requests for accommodation.
The university will make a good faith effort to act upon the accommodation
request within 30 days and will also try to find an alternate employment
opportunity if an accommodation cannot be made with the original unit.
Other provisions of the policy conform to various federal guidelines.
A motion was made to approve the policy.
Dan Ross made a motion to amend the policy by adding a phrase to V. Applicants, B. The Interview Process, 2., to read:
If an applicant has a known disability, either because it is obvious or because the applicant has voluntarily disclosed a hidden disability, and that known disability is relevant to the job functions, he or she may be asked to describe or demonstrate how he or she would perform the job functions, even if other applicants have not been asked to do so.
The amendment passed as did the original motion.
Results of the Standing Committee elections:
CEBC: Dave Drummond, Miriam Simmons, Karen Tusack
DRC: Anne Gunther, Erica Laughlin
NC: Mary Ray, Jackie Hank, Mark Matosian
PDRC: Daña Alder, Sandy Bertics, Al Schubert
PPPC: Bruno Browning, Sandra Guthrie, Jeanne Hendricks
PROVOST Report, Peter Spear
The provost said that campus administrators are lobbying legislators to
increase the pay plan beyond the current 2-2-1 proposal. Faculty are now
7% behind their peers and very costly to replace when leaving for better
outside offers. [As an aggregate, academic staff are 17% behind their
peers.]
The legislation sponsored by Rep. Kreibich to cap tuition at 3% is not fiscally feasible since the state cannot afford to make up the difference. UW-Madison still has the second lowest tuition in the Big 10. This bill should likely not make it out of committee. A more responsible approach would be to raise tuition and offset it with financial aid for those that qualify.
The chancellor and provost are putting together a task force to address the problem of funding the increasing costs of tuition remission for graduate assistants. An academic staff member from the PI group will be part of this task force.
Meeting adjourned at 4:30 p.m.
Submitted by Colleen McCabe,
Secretary of the Academic Staff