Academic Staff Assembly (ASA)
Minutes
ACADEMIC STAFF ASSEMBLY
Monday, 12 December 2003
272 Bascom Hall (3:30-4:34pm)
Provost Peter Spear called the meeting to order at 3:34 pm.
AUTOMATIC CONSENT BUSINESS
The minutes of the 11/10/2003 Academic Staff Assembly meeting were approved.
Committee Reports
Academic Staff Executive Committee (ASEC) - Bruce Beck, chair
http://wiscinfo.doit.wisc.edu/acstaff/asec.html
Two groups of volunteers worked on Campus Natural Areas projects to collect
trash. Seven helped with the MuirKnoll/Woods area, and Tania Banak was
the sole volunteer at the Class of 1918 Marsh. They will have another
outing in the spring.
The resolution passed by the Assembly in November opposing concealed weapon legislation was sent to Sue Riseling, Linda Weimer, the governor, and various local legislators.
Assoc. Vice Chancellor Linda Greene was a guest at ASEC to discuss latest initiatives related to the human resources aspects of the campus strategic plan.
Vice Chancellor Paul Barrows attended an ASEC meeting with two students from ASM to make a pitch for a shared governance task force to look at options for obtaining textbooks. The University Committee has prepared a draft for such a task force, but Barrows suggested that the students prepare one of their own for consideration. ASEC is willing to appoint academic staff members when the task force is eventually constituted.
Mark your calendars for the Academic Staff Institute on April 13.
Compensation and Economic Benefits Committee (CEBC) - Bill Steffenhagen
reporting
http://wiscinfo.doit.wisc.edu/acstaff/cebc/index2.htm
CEBC plans to follow up APO's notice to departments that lists those academic
staff who have three years of service in the associate prefix title or
seven years with no prefix. These folks are due for a promotion review.
CEBC will work with APO to ask the departments to provide a report that
details the promotions granted or if not, to identify a reason from the
alternatives shown. This pilot will occur in the spring, with full implementation
in the fall.
At the System Fringe Benefits Committee meeting, the prescription formularies were described. The level 1 co-pay is $5, level 2 is $15, and level 3 is $35. The out-of-pocket maximums for levels 1 and 2 respectively are $300 and $600 (under Tier 1 and 2 HMOs). Patients who have prescriptions not covered may petition for an exception. Membership cards will be mailed in December to those covered. See the Navitus web site for full details at www.navitushealth.com.
The governor offered the state employee unions the opportunity for domestic partner health care benefits at a cost to the salary package in 2004-5 of .03 percent. The unions declined this offer.
Vacation payouts for staff with 25+ years of employment have been stopped, but those employees may bank up to 80 hours in the ALRA for a cash payment at retirement. At 10-24 years, you can bank up to 40 hours in ALRA.
The System Fringe Benefits Committee will look at the possibility of a change to UWS that would give unclassified staff the same number of years as classified staff to recover benefits after a break in employment. Classified staff now get five years and unclassified only three.
The Campus Transportation Committee held a forum for all those who wanted to be heard on the issue of the hangtag permits. Of the 40 invited, only 17 attended. The CTC agreed to find an acceptable option for motorcycles and convertibles. They also will provide a plastic sleeve for each household vehicle, which will allow the hang tag to be easily moved among the vehicles.
Districting and Representation Committee (DRC) - Anne Gunther, chair
http://wiscinfo.doit.wisc.edu/acstaff/comopp/drc.html
Nominating Committee - Laurie Mayberry, 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
Ann reported that the new document called "What to Expect When You
File an Appeal" is now on the web at http://wiscinfo.doit.wisc.edu/acstaff/doc/Whattoexpect.htm.
Professional Development and Recognition Committee (PDRC) - Daña
Alder, co-chair
http://wiscinfo.doit.wisc.edu/acstaff/pdrc/index.html
Excellence award calls for nomination packets have been mailed to all
academic staff and faculty and are also on the web at http://wiscinfo.doit.wisc.edu/acstaff/awards.html.
The deadline for most of the awards is January 30. All packets should
be mailed to the Secretary at 270 Bascom Hall.
GUESTS: Bernice Durand and Louise Root-Robbins with Fran Garb and Emily
Gilbert on the Sloan Foundation project
Bernice described the 18-month grant they received from the Sloan Foundation
to study work-life issues for instructional academic staff and junior
faculty. Universities in the project will be looking at themselves to
understand what is expected and what is available for career advancement.
Louise noted that in a System study of women done in 1999, there were glaring inequities between men and women. Since that time, more academic staff are being hired to do teaching and faculty lines are being lost. The Sloan project will look at the reasons for these trends with the hope of increasing the options for women in their chosen academic careers.
Fran Garb, a senior planner at System, described what the team has done so far using the UW System schools as a "laboratory." The grant has so far provided funding to Oshkosh for leadership training, to Parkside for a mentoring program in the business school, to La Crosse for conflict resolution, and to Stout for the use of technology in instruction.
UW-Madison will participate in some way - yet to be decided - to look
at improving the work life of faculty and academic staff involved in teaching.
Jim Loter, Law School Committee on Academic Staff Issues (CASI)
Jim gave a summary of the CASI's recent initiatives. Currently the Law
School has 110 academic staff (67 are general appointments, including
clinical instructors; the rest are part-time instructors). The CASI looked
at the strategic plan of the Law School to see where academic staff fit
in. They hosted a workshop on Law Library services and are planning for
a new-staff orientation program. The CASI also discussed performance evaluations
and recognition awards.
GUEST: Ann Lamboley, Academic Personnel Office
Ann reported on the Academic Staff Issues Forum held on November 11 at
Memorial Union. A much larger group attended this session than in the
past. Research specialists in attendance were particularly vocal about
the lack of respect they felt. Because of the soft-money funding, many
are forced to move from one grant to another to keep working and are often
rehired at less money with a lower title.
When Ann and Emuye Asfaw went back to look at the actual data, they found that of the 250 in research specialist titles, 45 had taken a pay cut, 25 stayed at the same level, and the rest got an increase. At the forum, Ann stressed that while moving between grants is the nature of the field, the first item to negotiate is salary. Accepting a fair salary at a lower title is best, since a promotion brings a higher increase later.
Others at the forum questioned why it took so long to get an approved
promotion through the paperwork jungle. Since APO takes only a week to
process the change, most of delays occur at the dean's office level. Some
units only process promotions at certain times during the year. Much of
the anxiety could be alleviated if the units would do a better job of
communication. Ann suggested that staff should use the influence of CASIs
to see that this is improved.
New Business
As a result of the ballots returned today, Read Gilgen was elected to
fill the unexpired term of Lawrence Casper on ASEC until June 30, 2004.
Old Business
None
Provost Report: Peter Spear
The provost's office has put together a screening committee to hire a
new associate vice chancellor to replace Linda Greene, who is cycling
back to the Law School.
There will also be an internal search for a new director of the Institute for Cross-Campus Biology Education.
The Board of Regents recently made a number of provisions for credits from the tech colleges to transfer to System campuses. A group of faculty and staff will be reviewing each of the provisions and will write principles to govern the transferable credits.
Meeting adjourned at 4:34 p.m.
Submitted by Colleen McCabe
Secretary of the Academic Staff