Academic Staff Council Minutes
1/24/05
Members Present: Alicia Cosgrove, Sarah Egerstrom, Mark Kinders, Gretchen Link, Steve Luebke, Jason Neuhaus, Cara Rubis, Kimberly Gould-Speckman, Amber Tubré
Members Absent: Carmen Croonquist
Guests Present: Mike Stifter, Jerry Waller
Call to order at 2:05 p.m.
Approval of 12/20/04 minutes. Motion made by G. Link Seconded by S. Egerstrom. Unanimously approved.
Chair’s Report (K. Gould-Speckman)
Candidates for the chancellor position are on campus within the next two weeks.
Representative’s Report (K. Gould-Speckman)
Minutes from the 1/20/05 meeting of Academic Staff Representatives are attached and available at: http://www.uwsa.edu/srvpadm/asreps/agendaminutes.htm.
Legislative Update (M. Kinders)
The governor’s budget will be released on February 8. The UW System is asking for a 7.3% budget increase, including salary increases and restoration of 300 faculty positions.
Although there is a $1.6 billion deficit, state revenues are good.
Continuing Business
Neutral Facilitation
Follow-Up Training
The 4-hour follow-up training to our summer training has not yet been scheduled. A. Tubré will call a meeting of the original planning team to work on this.
Emeriti Status Draft Approval
Kathy Schultz, Director
of Human Resources, and Mary Halada, Vice Chancellor
for Administration and Finance, drafted a policy concerning emeriti status for
review by the Council.
After identification
of 2 corrections (removal of text about fee for locker/towels in section 2.0
and spelling correction of “responsibilities” in 3.0), motion was made by M. Kinders to approve this policy. Seconded by
State Academic Staff Conference hosted by
UW-RF
The coordinator of
this conference, Leslie Bleskachek, has left
UW-RF. Committees that were established
previously have started planning. All
committees will meet on Feburary 14, 2005, at 2:00
p.m. to provide an update and continue planning.
New Business
Election of new Vice Chair
Motion made by
M. Kinders to open nominations for Vice Chair and
nomination of S. Egerstrom. S. Egerstrom
accepted nomination. Motion
by M. Kinders to close nominations and vote. Seconded by G. Link. Unanimously approved.
Chancellor Candidate
Schedule
Academic Staff Council has been included in the agendas of the chancellor candidate interviews. Members can sign up to participate in the scheduled lunch or dinner.
ASPRO Board of
Directors Nomination
The Academic
Staff Public Representation Organization has requested that K. Gould-Speckman send a nomination for a UW-RF representative. Since UW-RF does not have academic staff
members who are members of ASPRO, we will not be responding to their request.
Other Items
Academic Staff Institute – Academic Staff in Campus and State Politics
This conference will be held on April 7, 2005, in
Academic Staff Development Grant
G. Link will check on the deadline for proposals.
Adjourned at 2:56 p.m. Motion made by G. Link. Seconded by A. Cosgrove.
2004-05 University of Wisconsin
Council of Academic Staff Representatives
Meeting Minutes
Thursday, January 20, 2005
9:00 - 11:00 a.m.
Legislative Update
Margaret Lewis, Associate Vice President for University Relations
Governor Jim Doyle delivered his "State of the State" on January 12. The address had positive references to the University. Although the Governor mentioned a plan to provide tax credits for those paying for college, the University would prefer a plan that would target the most needy. To address administrative efficiency, President Riley has proposed combining the business functions of Extension and 2-year institutions. He has proposed having one Chancellor for both. A press release can be found at: http://www.wisconsin.edu/news/2005/r050119.htm The report is at:http://www.wisconsin.edu/news/2005/01-2005/uwc-uwexreport.pdf Representative Rob Kreibich has proposed pairing each 2-year college with a 4-year university for administrative purposes. The press release is at:http://www.wispolitics.com/1006/kreibich.pdf Currently, there is no bill draft or report to detail how the pairing would occur. February 8 is the date of the Governor's Budget Address. After the Governor's address we will need to communicate with our legislators and the Joint Finance Committee. David Olien indicated that we may need to have an emergency teleconference. Budget information will be on the Legislative Relations website:http://www.wisconsin.edu/budget/index.htm The TABOR bill may be dead, but Lewis suspects that there may be some effort to limit spending by a constitutional amendment. Human Resource Issues
Al Crist, Assistant Vice President for Human Resources
The River Falls Chancellor Search and Screen should be completed by June. Finalists may be found at:
http://www.uwrf.edu/pa/2005/0501/0121051.htm
The Whitewater Chancellor Search and Screen Committee has been named:
http://www.uww.edu/npa/news_releases/story.php?id=670
It could be into fall before we have a pay plan.
The fact that the classified staff do not have a contract is a problem. Having union members pay part of their health insurance premiums seems to be the "sticking point." When it is finally settled, no one is sure where the money for all of the back pay will come from.
Federal Relations Issues
Kristine Andrews, Assistant Vice President for Federal Relations
Andrews began by describing some of the goals of her
position: To increase
One of the tools that Andrews uses for the congressional delegation, their staff and the myriad of higher education partners is the Federal Relation Binder. Last year's binder may be found at:
http://www.uwsa.edu/univ_rel/govrel/federal-priorities/
This tool has helped communicate the key funding priorities of the UW System, including Pell Grants, TRIO programs, NSF funding, to name a few. Also identified are key legislative initiatives.
Academic staff are encouraged to help locate potential federal funding opportunities and communicate them to Andrews at kandrews@uwsa.edu.
Forum and Discussion
among Academic Staff Representatives
Bruce Beck, Convener