Academic Staff Assembly (ASA) Minutes
Approved 3-10-08
MINUTES
ACADEMIC STAFF ASSEMBLY
Monday, 11 February 2008
272 Bascom Hall (3:30-4:25 pm)
ASEC Chair Susan Crowley called the meeting to order at 3:35 pm.
AUTOMATIC CONSENT BUSINESS
The minutes of the 12/10/2007 Academic Staff Assembly meeting were approved with one correction.
STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS
Academic Staff Executive Committee (ASEC) – Susan Crowley, chair
Susan mentioned that the Communications Committee presented ASEC with a plan for redesigning the academic staff governance web site. ASEC will consider the plans further before taking any action. The CC will bring their ideas to the Assembly in March or April.
The state is facing a large structural deficit, so any hopes for an addition to the pay plan may be fading.
System representatives have been discussing annual reviews for job security. UW-Madison has a good process in place with required compliance, but other System schools have a harder time mandating reviews, thus many deserving staff are not getting additional job security.
The Academic Staff Institute is set this year for the morning of April 24. There will be a greeting by the provost, with Dean Sandefur as the luncheon speaker.
Districting and Representation Committee – Anne Gunther, chair
The committee’s FAQ page is being reviewed and will be updated. New email lists should go out to Assembly representatives this week.
Professional Development and Recognition Committee – Lisa Jansen, co-chair
The call for the next round of PD grant information went out to departments for distribution to academic staff with a deadline of March 7. The related brown bag will be held February 19 at Memorial Union.
Letters and Science Committee on Academic Staff Issues (CASI) – Belinda Velazquez, reporting
Belinda has been the co-chair of the L&S CASI along with Dean Gary Sandefur. The CASI has nine members plus the dean and associate dean Maggie Sullivan. This year they will need to replace three outgoing members. They look for a balance of administrative, student services, instructional, and research staff. The CASI did an online survey asking about performance reviews. 35% said they had had a review in the past year; 43% had one in the past five years. 59% said they would like to have them, and 39% said their departments had a policy regarding reviews. The CASI developed a performance review template, which they put on the website after it was approved in August 2007. Two brownbags on promotion procedures were offered with HR’s Emuye Asfaw presenting. Both filled to capacity, so more are being planned.
The issue of workloads for those in student services will be looked into by the CASI is the coming year. Dean Sandefur will continue to have listening sessions in the spring and fall.
GUEST: Ronald Kramer, Chief Information Officer
Ron has been involved in technology issues since 1978 and has been at the UW since 1996. He believes that the value of information technology is in the service that it provides. Since he began the job of CIO, Ron has been working with the campus IT Committee to try to engage the IT community by inviting them to meetings where policy decisions are considered. In his first six months as CIO, Ron has met with all of the deans and most of the directors to ask the question “what should DoIT be providing for your campus dollars?”
Ron believes that IT leadership across campus at all levels should be acknowledged and “at the table.” He is putting together teams that will collaborate on ideas and projects. He is hoping to have fewer one-time projects as a result with more sustainable models. One key item for a campus IT strategic plan will be a service delivery model that will improve that capability.
Questions were asked about security with regard to Social Security numbers and audit. Ron replied that encryption and firewall systems are in place, but are not perfect. Campus staff must have new IDs by April that do not list SS#s. A campus safeguarding taskforce will be studying the best solutions.
BUSINESS
- Standing Committee Slates
ASEC moved approval of the Nominating Committee slate. The Nominating Committee moved approval of the ASEC slate, the PPPC slate, and the PDRC slate. One candidate was added to the PPPC slate from the floor. All were approved.
- Shared Governance Guidelines
The guidelines were drawn up by Regent Spector and System administration to provide some systematic way to get input from governance groups on personnel matters that effect them, as required under the Unclassified Personnel Guidelines. In the past, governance groups felt that they were not given adequate time and avenues for providing feedback. This document provides a framework for allowing System campus groups to respond when time is of the essence.
The Assembly approved the document unanimously.
ADJOURNMENT
Meeting adjourned at 4:25 p.m.
Submitted by Colleen McCabe
Secretary of the Academic Staff