University Senate Chair's Report for February 10, 1997

Chair's Report for February 10, 1998

Senate update

remember to initial the roll call sheet when you enter the room

please do not pick up packets for others; packets will be mailed out along with meeting minutes to those absent

meeting transcript available on the web site: http://www.uwec.edu/Usenate

important links to documents and other sites of interest are also available on our Senate web site

Search & Screen update

The Chancellor Search and Screen Committee reports there are currently 15 applicants and 35 nominations for the position of chancellor. Review of applicants is expected to begin on March 1^st. If you know of someone who may be interested, please direct him or her to the web site: http://www.uwec.edu/Sands/Chancellor/

Open Forum Items from Senate Executive Committee Meetings

What is the policy for using new monies for the support of existing labs? A concern was expressed that we refurbish existing labs, curricular specific as well as general access. Response from Interim Vice Chancellor Miller: most of the money from UW-System is ear-marked already, but that trend is slowly relaxing. At UWEC we are asking chairs and deans to focus more on what is needed rather than on which pool of money will be used. After requests are submitted, it is the responsibility of the administration to identify the appropriate funds for meeting the needs. New monies will be used for both existing and new labs.

Other Items from Senate Executive Committee Meetings

At the February 3rd meeting, the Executive Committee authorized the formation of an Ad Hoc committee to investigate the pros and cons of the Self-Study Committee's proposals for Recognition for Service. Some of the Self-Study suggestions included: a) Each year, the Senate Chair may recommend up to two people for extra-merit salary increases. Those person(s) recommended should have made highly significant contributions to the Senate's work during the previous year. The recommendations(s) should be addressed to the Chancellor and the individual's supervisor, with copies to other administrators involved with the individual's salary recommendations. The recommendation(s) should be made in May. b) To heighten service to governance, the University should establish an outstanding University governance award. There would be an expectation that awards would be given annually. A possibility is to award the award's recipient with the University medallion. Any senator wishing to be part of this short-term AdHoc Committee for investigating the possibilities of some type of recognition of service, please email the senate office (senateu) yet this week.
The Executive Committee confirmed that all motions coming before the Senate as part of the agenda must be accompanied by complete background reports including the history of the issue or reason for the action, the pros, and the cons.

Items discussed with the Senate Chair

NTU decision: Graduate Faculty were consulted.

Concerns about parking in 'F' spots, especially Phillips, will be directed to the Physical Plant Planning committee.

While many of the faculty and staff participated in administering and collecting Course Evaluations last semester, the compliance rate was well below 100%. It was agreed to evaluate every course, every semester for three semesters. The Course Evaluation process is to be reviewed by the University Senate and the Student Senate in the fall of 1998. In order to provide the data needed to fairly review the use of the Course Evaluations, please encourage your colleagues to administer, collect, and submit the Course Evaluations as instructed. If you have any concerns about the evaluation process or questions about the process, your comments and questions will be welcomed by Student Senate President Kevin Gatzlaff. Please email him at gatzlakm

UW-System policies covering copyright issues and intellectual property rights can be accessed at: http://www.uwsa.edu/fadmin/gapp/index.htm

Concern from University Archives about the lack of minutes from Senate Committees. All committee chairs are reminded to submit copies of minutes to the Senate Office as soon as they are approved.

Legislation

SB 31 was published as Act 58 and went into effect at 12:01 A.M. December 23, 1997 CST. The bill reduces the age of eligibility for death benefits for a beneficiary to match the minimum retirement age-55 for general employees and age 50 for protective occupations.
The Joint Finance Committee met on December 18, 1997 to consider the release of $12,872,000 appropriated in the 1997-99 bienniel budget for BadgerNet and Faculty Technology Initiative funding. While the funding was approved as part of the budget, the JFC held the funds in its unallotted reserve until the UW System and Department of Administration filed a spending plan for BadgerNet and the UW System filed a plan for the Faculty Technology funding. The reports were submitted on November 21, 1997. The committee unanimously accepted the reports and released the funding for both years of the biennium.

Faculty Reps Meeting

To access a draft of Quality Through Diversity-Plan 2008: educational quality through racial and ethnic diversity-go to: http://www.uwsa.edu/multcult/
To provide comments and suggestions, send email by March 15th to: uwsstratplan@ccmail.uwsa.edu

Recommended Goals and Initiatives for 1998-2008.

Increase the number of well prepared high school graduates of color who apply to the UW system in order to bring enrollment, retention, and graduation rates for underrepresented students of color into alignment with those of the student body as a whole:
- increase precollege programming
- build the educational pipeline...pedagogical exchanges between UW faculty and K-12 teachers
- work with Wisconsin Center for Academically Talented Youth
- review and restructure recruitment efforts of students of color
- review support services for students of color and economically disadvantaged students to ensure the best possible match to student needs
- develop adult recruitment programs targeted specifically to multicultural students (age 25+) who have completed an associate degree or started a university education but stopped
- work towards a better balance of enrollment of students of color across academic disciplines
- improve retention rates for students of color by (1) creating at each institution organized opportunities for administrators, faculty, and staff to learn about intercultural differences in communication and learning styles that can help improve learning outcomes for students of color and (2) bolstering academic and personal advising
- establish a UW Business Advisory Council on Diversity
- determine a home campus for the pilot UW System Native American Language Preservation

Increase the size and shift the composition of financial aid packages for needy students to reduce unmet need and the share of financial aid coming from loans. To lower financial barriers, UW System will:
- seek an additional $1 million in private support to match a similar amount to be requested in the Regents 1999-01 biennial budget
- UW System will encourage families to plan early for college

Increase the number of fully credentialed faculty, academic and classified staff, and administrators of color so that they are represented in the UW workforce in numbers reflecting their current availability in relevant job pools, and in addition, work to increase their future availability.
- continue to monitor institutional progress through annual EEO reporting
- continue to monitor promotion and tenure rates for women and multicultural faculty
- create a systemwide academic staff professional development fund to assist academic staff of color who wish to prepare for faculty careers by acquiring or finishing a terminal degree
- encourage professional development/upward mobility opportunities for classified staff and LTE's of color
- regularly seek information on ways to improve campus climate from AA/EEOC protected faculty and staff

Foster campus and classroom environments that enhance learning and respect for diversity in race/ethnic/cultural heritage, intellectual viewpoints, gender, religious and sexual orientations, differently abled, and other human differences.

increase instructional resources for courses that develop multicultural understanding
continue to measure and report student opinion
encourage every UW faculty, staff, and student governance organizations to set aside an early meeting in fall 1998 to discuss and reflect on how it might advance this goal
Instructional Academic Staff report: A draft report will be distributed this week. Campuses are asked to report through the Vice Chancellor's office. The final report will be presented to the Board of Regents. Senators interested in seeing a copy of the Instructional Staff Report, please email the senate office (senateu). The Academic Staff Personnel Committee, the Faculty Personnel Committee, and the Senate Executive Committee will be asked to review and provide responses to the draft as soon as the draft is released. Responses are due the end of April and should focus on: 1. describing the key conditions that contribute to any unusual aspects of our use of instructional academic staff; 2. identifying issues that concern our institution, academic staff, and faculty or students that are not adequately covered in the report; and 3. deciding if the recommended actions will achieve the desired goals for improving the use of and working conditions for instructional and research academic staff.
Are we willing to reallocate funds to finance the first six months of insurance for new employees? Other states start insurance from day one, we do not. This could be an important recruitment benefit. It would cost about 2 million to finance this system-wide. Reps suggested alternatives.

Board of Regents Meeting

A public hearing was held concerning the proposed revisions in Chapter UWS 18, Wisconsin Administrative Code: Conduct on University Lands. Prior to 1991, minor violations required criminal action. In 1991, the rules were revised to created consistency with state criminal statutes and municipal ordinances to allow citations to be written. The 1997 proposed revisions change the existing rules in several ways: (1) consolidation of the fire safety provisions; (2) addition of prohibitions on the use of fires on university lands and in university facilities, the negligent use of burning materials, and tampering with fire safety equipment; (3) clarification of "camping" and the dollar values that define offenses of petty theft and the issue of worthless checks; and (4) addition of provisions that would prohibit the possession of drug paraphernalia, resisting or obstructing police officers, abuses of telephones, assaultive behavior, the operation of motor vehicles off roadways, misuses of parking permits, damage to computers and related equipment, abuse of computer communication equipment, deposit of human waste, curfew violations by minors, conduct at athletic events, and theft of library materials.

on-line applications - over 2000 perspective freshman used the system

BioWeb - collaborative project with 14 universities and colleges; all can use materials; check out: http://www.uwlax.edu/BioWeb/index.htm

Time Table for Change

Date	Action
February 10	Guidelines for Senate size and committee representation established
February 24	Suggested changes to Constitutions (reflecting Senate and committees) distributed to Senators for discussion
March 10	Discussion/vote on Constitutional changes
March 24	Continued discussion/vote on changes and implementation plan
April 1	Constitutional changes distributed to University Faculty and Academic Staff
April	Constitutional changes come before University Faculty and University Academic Staff at respective April meetings