Greetings, and welcome back or just welcome,

If you are brand new to your Academic Staff position, allow me to introduce myself: I'm [rep name here] and I'm your representative in the Academic Staff Assembly, part of the UW's shared governance. You're in District 999, which comprises about 75 people in similar positions to yours. Our district includes Category A Instructional Staff, Professionals & Managers in the Medical, Health and Other fields. (http://drc.academic-staff.wisc.edu/faq/faq.html)

If you're brand new to the UW and want to learn more about the UW's philosophy of shared governance, you might want to visit this website: http://wiscinfo.doit.wisc.edu/acstaff/doc/chancellors%20participation%20letter.htm

The Academic Staff Assembly has a website with a FAQ section, as well as many other resources at this address: http://wiscinfo.doit.wisc.edu/acstaff/

The Assembly meets the second Monday of each month during the academic year at 3:30 p.m. in Room 272 of Bascom Hall. These are public meetings and everyone is invited to attend.

Through the year, I'll send you the minutes of Assembly meetings as well as a notice of an upcoming meeting. If there's an issue before the Assembly that involves significant discussion, I'll email you for feedback. I try to keep Assembly-related emails to a minimum, but there's just some business that I'm responsible for sharing with you.

If you have any questions or would like more information, please don't hesitate to contact me.

The first Assembly meeting of this year is September 13, and the agenda is below.

Thanks for reading all the way to the end, and best wishes for a terrific year.

Hi Everyone,

It's the beginning of a new year for Academic Staff Assembly. I will continue to represent our district this year and [alternate name] will continue to serve as alternate representative. Please feel free to contact one of us if you have questions about the Assembly or if there is an academic staff issue you would like the Assembly to address.

[Contact information for Assembly Representative and Alternate goes here]

Academic Staff website: http://wiscinfo.doit.wisc.edu/acstaff/
Lots of good info at this site, including a new link to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about academic staff benefits, rights, and governance (including Assembly).

Academic Staff Policies and Procedures:
http://wiscinfo.doit.wisc.edu/acstaff/ASPP/TOC.htm and
http://wiscinfo.doit.wisc.edu/acstaff/doc/asppfaq.html
It is now very easy to read and search ASPP for information about appointments, promotions, evaluations, layoffs, grievances, etc.

District 999

Welcome to a new school year and another year of the Academic Staff Assembly. I am still looking for an alternate for our district. Although I am usually able to attend meetings, I sometimes cannot. For instance, I will be out of town for the first meeting on the 13th. If you are interested in serving as the alternate for District 999, please let me know.

Attached you will find the minutes from the May meeting and the agenda for the upcoming meeting in September.

Hello all,

I continue to be your Academic Staff Assembly Representative from district 999. I will be sending you agendas and minutes from the monthly Academic Staff Assembly meetings as well as from ASEC, the Academic Staff Executive Committee. If you have any questions, ideas or thoughts you'd like me to present, please feel free to email me. I will also periodically be seeking your input on issues that the Assembly will be discussing.

Attached is information on the Academic Staff Professional Development Grant program. We have had District 999 staff successfully compete for these grants in the past.

Thank you.

Dear [Names]:

As a result of your new positions, you have been assigned to the Academic Staff Assembly district I represent. Each month you will receive from me the agenda for the upcoming meeting of the Assembly as well as the minutes of the previous meeting. You will also receive other messages periodically when they come out from the Academic Staff Executive Committee or the Secretary of the Academic Staff. We try not to spam you!

If you have any questions about the messages I send or about any other aspects of being an academic staff member, please get in touch with me. I'll help you or make a referral to someone who can.

Here's the information sent about next Monday's meeting.... [minutes and agenda here]

Welcome to dist. 999

Welcome to Academic Staff Assembly district 999. As academic staff, you have a voice in campus governance through the Academic Staff Assembly. However, your district currently has no representative, so there is no one to vote for your issues. I represent a district of teachers in the [school or college], (dist 888) and I've "adopted" your district for now, sending you information about governance. But I wondered if either of you would be interested in being the representative for this district, so the district has a vote (I'm not authorized to vote for your district, just mine). The Assembly meets just once monthly, on Monday afternoons. Please let me know if you are interested. FYI, it's a great way to meet people outside your own work area, a way to network across the campus.

Greetings--

Interested in personnel issues that affect academic staff? Want to get involved? There's currently an opening for someone to run for a seat on one of the Assembly's standing committees: the Personnel, Policies and Procedures Committee, affectionately known as the PPPC.

Below is more info about the Committee. If your curiosity is piqued and you'd like to serve, please email [contact name] at [email address] saying why you're interested in this committee and what skills/talents/experience you might bring to it.

Committee Responsibilities and Projects

A standing committee of the UW-Madison Academic Staff Assembly, the PPPC is charged with the continuing review of all policies and procedures relating to UW-Madison academic staff personnel practices. The PPPC advises the Assembly and ASEC on personnel issues and makes recommendations as necessary. The PPPC is primarily responsible for rewriting and updating Academic Staff Policies and Procedures (ASPP). The PPPC reviews and summarizes the yearly divisional job security reports and also produces flyers to alert academic staff to important employment procedures such as the methods for promotion and for obtaining increased job security.

[Committee Members and Meeting Schedules here]
Contact any committee member if you have questions, comments, or suggestions for the PPPC.

Hello all,

Please see the information below regarding ASPRO. ASPRO has done a good job of lobbying for Academic Staff with the Legislature. If you haven't joined already, I suggest you look into doing so.

=================

TO: ASPRO Members

FROM: [Name of ASPRO President]

DATE: June 30, 2003

SUBJECT: Veto Request

This letter was sent to the Governor last week. He has not yet acted on this provision but we expect he will do so within the next couple of days. If this issue is of concern to you or colleagues, you can express that concern by writing the Governor at http://www.wisgov.state.wi.us/contact.asp

If you have any questions, please contact us at 608-286-9599 or email at aspro@aspro.net

Subject: <Fwd> voting block issue

An issue of academic staff involvement in departmental governance is coming to the fore. Below is a copy of a memo sent to the Dean, among others, regarding academic staff involvement in departmental issues. It brings up issues about the role of staff in large programs under the supervision of one faculty member; some people are concerned that the academic staff would vote as a block, others are concerned about their freedom to vote differently from their supervisor. (Hence the importance of the academic freedom language.) I thought you would want to know that this issue may be emerging soon.

Subject: <Fwd> workplace issues

A report has just come out that lists many recommendations for improving workplace issues. I am attaching a copy of the report FYI. If you have a few minutes, just scan the executive summary, which lists all their recommendations in bullet points. Let me know if you are particularly in favor of any of these, so I can forward that to the Assembly and try to get them to take action. I think there are lots of good ideas here, but it will take an extra push to get them implemented.

Hello all,

Attached is a resolution draft against the proposed legislation on the definition of marriage. Please read the attached proposal and send me your feedback. This issue will be discussed at our May 10th Academic Staff Assembly meeting.

Thanks.

Subject: Upcoming Assembly Issue

On Monday afternoon, May 13, the Academic Staff Assembly will be discussing and voting on an amendment that says academic staff cannot run for election to the Assembly or to any of its standing committees if they work for less than 33% FTE. Additionally, they could not run for election to the Executive committee if they work less than 50% FTE.

I oppose this amendment for many reasons, and will vote against it as a matter of principle. But I am interested in hearing your opinions and promise to bring them forward in the Assembly's discussion, even if they differ from my own opinions.

Therefore, please let me know if you have any questions about this issue, if you have any opinions you want voiced, or if you want more detail on the rationale behind my position.

Thanks!

Subject: Assembly resolution
Attachments: 340payres_bb2_mark_up.doc 35K
340payres_bb2.doc 28K

Hi Everyone,

At the Assembly meeting on Monday, district reps like me will be asked to vote on a resolution in support of the Board of Regents 2005-07 budget proposal. The resolution was prepared by ASEC (Academic Staff Executive Committee) last month and revised today. The new version and old version (with strikeouts) are attached.

The Board of Regents' budget proposal contains an unclassified pay plan to bring faculty, academic staff and graduate assistants to the average salaries of peer institutions in 2003-2004. The proposed ASEC/Assembly resolution explains the pay plan and recommends keeping faculty and academic staff salaries "coupled". In every budget there is debate over whether faculty and academic staff pay plans should be coupled or whether the two groups should have different pay plans.

I plan to vote for the resolution in some form on Monday unless there is strong opposition from district members.

Chancellor Wiley will chair the Assembly meeting on Monday as well as give his State of the University address. All academic staff area welcome to attend. Meeting starts at 3:30 pm in room 272 Bascom.