Approved 12-06

Academic Staff Assembly
Monday, 13 November 2006
272 Bascom Hall (3:30-4:45 pm)

ASEC chair Read Gilgen called the meeting to order at 3:30 pm.

AUTOMATIC CONSENT BUSINESS
The minutes of the 10/9/2006 Academic Staff Assembly meeting were approved.

STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS

Academic Staff Executive Committee (ASEC) – Read Gilgen, chair

http://acstaff.wisc.edu/asec.html; https://lists.wisc.edu/read/?forum=assembly

A list of unrepresented districts is circulating at this meeting. Please sign up to “adopt” a district. The CASI/ASEC had a good turnout of CASI liaisons. CASIs had a review of their roles in governance, and shared priorities with ASEC. ASEC has been monitoring reactions to the LAB report on personnel policies. No action is needed by our campus unless – and until – the legislature decides to act on it. UW System will enforce mandatory background checks for new employees despite opposition from faculty governance. Read attended two hearings on dismissal policies (UWS 7/11). This is now is final draft that will be shared with all governance groups at a System-wide meeting this month. In the recent election, two vocal legislators often critical of higher education were unseated.

Districting and Representation Committee (DRC) – Charlene Krembs, chair

Charlene presented the committees annual report for 2004-05.

Nominating Committee – Mary Ray, chair

Mary sent a message through the Assembly listserv about interest in the standing committees. Slates will be prepared for the February Assembly. The Labor Licensing Policies Committee also needs an additional member.

Professional Development and Recognition Committee – Kevin Niemi, reporting

http://acstaff.wisc.edu/pdrc/index.html

The Call for Excellence Award nominations is out now with a deadline of January 26, 2007. Professional development grants were awarded from 60 applications received.

GUEST: Union Director Mark Guthier

Mark gave a presentation to the Assembly on plans for remodeling parts of Memorial Union and completely redoing Union South. Students recently voted to include funding in segregated fees, but other money must be raised to help complete the projects. A fundraising campaign will be ongoing.

BUSINESS

1.   New District 140 for scientists

Due to the large size of districts 120 and 134, the DRC is proposing to add another district of scientists and instrumentation innovators in the medical field. The motion to approve passed unanimously.

2.   Legislative Audit Bureau report – Steve Lund

The LAB report on UW System personnel policies looked at sick leave, vacation, Limited titles, backup appointments, use of consultants, and faculty sabbaticals. A five-page executive summary is on the web at http://legis.state.wi.us/lab. The only matter of some concern for academic staff is the finding on sick leave usage. It might appear that faculty and academic staff use less sick leave than classified staff if you look at the number of hours reported. However, classified staff get more sick leave, so usage is understandably higher. Also, unclassified staff have the option to use vacation instead of sick leave for short illnesses, so the numbers do not tell the whole story. Sick leave credits convert to health care premium payments at retirement, so they are an important benefit. Thus, accurate reporting by all employees needs to be enforced. The original idea of having this benefit was to keep absenteeism down – that seems to have worked.

Steve also mentioned some positive changes to the criminal background check policy. The requirement for periodic checks on current employees has been removed from the policy. Training will be provided for the designated background check coordinators who will be handling sensitive information. Any further comments on the policy have to be sent to System by December 1.

ADJOURNMENT

Meeting adjourned at 4:45 p.m.

Submitted by Colleen McCabe

Secretary of the Academic Staff