Greetings. Well it's been another busy month! And some of the news I have to report is not good. If you've been following my blog you have already read about the Faculty Senate voting to stop the Combined Senates meetings. This is unfortunate! We will soon announce our meeting schedule for next semester.
I also wrote about ASPRO calling our attention to the possibility that the Governor may ask for an additional raise but not for professional category academic staff. Our senate has long been on the record of opposing any proposal that separate faculty and all academic staff pay plans. The Chancellor has given me information that President Reilly is asking for the raises for all academic staff. Our voices may have to be heard. If I get any additional information I will be sure to share it.
You may also have heard that the Special Regents Committee addressing the LAB Audit, which I had the honor of serving on representing academic staff from across the state finished its work. It was one of the primary issues on the agenda for the Nov 15 joint meeting between the Academic Staff reps and the Faculty reps. The following day, Nov 16, I was in
Some of the meetings I participated in representing the Senate of Academic Staff this month included:
On November 5, the Chancellor's Advisor Council (CAC) met. At that meeting Meridith Wentz facilitated a discussion of the seven core strategies of UW System’s Strategic Framework to Advantage
Next the 2007 Cancellation Survey Report was reviewed and discussed. Cindy Gilberts reported that this is the third year the survey has been done, and is used for students who are admitted but decide not to enroll. This was the first year that the survey was conducted by email only.
The meeting concluded with recognition of those involved with StoutQuest. The researchers included in the new StoutQuest publication were recognized and congratulated.
On November 12, the UW-Stout Retention Steering Group, a team of 10 members from campus including myself attended an OPID Workshop in
On November 14, 2007 the Administrative Leadership Team met with Dr. Robert Zemsky to challenge our thinking on issues facing higher education today. His recent work as a commission member on Secretary Spellings Commission on the Future of Higher Education resulted in an article on a 3-year degree completion idea. The discussion was very fascinating and challenged us to think outside of the box.
As I mentioned above on November 15, 2007 the Academic Staff Representatives Council (ACRS) participated in a Joint Meeting with the Faculty Representatives. The joint meeting began with a discussion of the draft Shared Governance Principles and Guidelines. Regent Michael Spector, who chaired the Shared Governance Working Group, began the discussion by summarizing the process that led to the development of the draft Shared Governance Principles and Guidelines. He noted that the Shared Governance Working Group did not attempt to interpret Chapter 36, but rather worked to develop an inclusive process for better decision-making. The basic premise of the draft Shared Governance Guidelines is to have governance groups involved in the development of Regent and UW System policies early in the process. This means getting nominations from governance groups for systemwide policy committees and then having review of these policies by campus governance groups.
Senior Vice President Rebecca Martin next handed out a list of systemwide committees for the faculty and academic staff reps to review and discuss at a future meeting for application of the new guidelines.
Regent Tom Loftus and Associate Vice President Al Crist joined the meeting next to discuss Leave Reporting and the Response to the LAB Audit. Regent Loftus began the discussion by noting that the guiding principle in the discussions by the Special Regent Committee on Regent Response to the Legislative Audit Bureau Audit on UW System Personnel Policies and Practices was that if a person is sick, they should stay home and take a sick day. They should also report sick leave even if they get colleague coverage.
Al Crist also gave a brief update on Pay Plan and noted that the Joint Committee on Employee Relations (JCOER) will not meet until mid-December and therefore, pay plan will not take effect until after January 1.
Lastly, Associate Vice President Freda Harris summarized the 2007-09 biennial budget. Freda noted that this was a much better budget than previous biennia for the UW System with the funding received for Costs to Continue and the Growth Agenda. The budget does include a $25 million lapse for the UW System over the biennium.
On Nov 19, CAC again met. The meeting started with Commications Director Doug Mell introducing Greg Leaf, Don Steffen, Art Juchno and Ed Jakober who developed the recruitment TV ads. Greg Leaf described the objective, strategy and timeline for the advertising campaign, and followed with a review of the ads.
Next George Acker reviewed the major project lists for 2009-2015 and 2015-2021, as well as the proposed 2009-2015 all agency project request list.
Finally, we talked about how to address issues from the Listening Sessions. We started with the proposed items that the university could take care of now. The Chancellor will meet with several administrators to discuss the items that might be combined, and then prioritize and identify next steps.
On Nov 20, the Administrative Leadership Team had the opportunity to meet with Cabot Executive in Residence Brian Colianni who is the Executive Director of Ford Motor Company, Asia Pacific & Africa Region. Again a good opportunity to think about how things work in the corporate world and look for applications at our institution.
On Dec 3, CAC met once again. Meridith Wentz started us off by facilitating a review of the resolution proposals for the long-term issues identified at the listening sessions. Following the review and discussion, Meridith will provide a summary, including resource implications, for the Chancellor. Meridith then reviewed the priorities and action steps that have been taken for each. The performance indicators were also reviewed and discussed.
On Dec 6 & 7, I attended the Board of Regents meetings with Chancellor Sorensen and Provost Furst-Bowe. As I mentioned they did approve the LAB proposals. Regent Loftus was very gracious in publicly thanking me and the Faculty rep Chris Sadler for our participation. The Regents also approved the funding Stout was seeking for planning for the Jarvis renovation and addition!
Other meetings I participated in during the month included:
- 11/6: LLC renaming dedication for former Chancellor Swanson
- 11/6: Monthly meeting with Provost Furst-Bowe
- 11/9: Vice Chair Jerry Addie represented us at a meeting with the SSA President and Faculty Senate Chair. He also the Access to Learning Committee meeting for me. Thanks Jerry!
- 11/13: Attended reception for retirees
- 11/19: Monthly meeting with Chancellor Sorensen
- 11/26: Retention Steering Group
- 11/30: Polytechnic Steering Committee – approved the Polytechnic tenants
- 11/30: Monthly meeting with SSA President and Faculty Senate Chair
- 12/4: Monthly meeting with Provost Furst-Bowe
Well that's my report for this month.
