| Present: | E. Aberle, R. Daluge, L. Davis, C. Dillhunt, M. Doyle, L. Heideman, K. Holtgraver, B. Hudelson, B. Jensen, F. Kooistra, R. Monson, M. Theis, M. Westler, and B. Wilson. |
Meeting was called to order by Frank Kooistra at 8:40 p.m.
Since Dean Aberle did not know everyone on the committee, introductions were made.
E. Aberle reported on the good news. The College has had a number of excellent budget years and years of growth in faculty numbers and staff numbers. One of the reasons for the growth in faculty numbers is the cluster hires. Grant funding has increased along with staff. The number of freshman this year was down but overall the undergraduate population has grown slightly. Overall, the College and Campus are in great shape.
The prospect for the future is quite different. Most of the budget adjustment coming into this fiscal year was accommodated at the campus level. CALS had a $500,000 base budget cut. System kept the money that was to come to the College this year so the cut was small. Dean Aberle expects a 3-10% base budget cut in the next biennium and it can't be addressed by cutting the supplies and operating budget. There will have to be some cuts in personnel. The College only released three new faculty positions which was about half the number that is usually released. The Executive Staff will be meeting in December to develop a strategy for addressing the cuts. The College will most likely make vertical cuts to programs instead of across-the-board cuts. When doing cuts like this you only save about half of what you eliminate because of some on-gong obligations to the personnel.
R. Monson asked when the College would have the real numbers as far as the budget cuts. Dean Aberle said it would be probably be sometime between July and October, 2003. The Legislature needs to begin to work together. It will be extremely important for the new governor to set the tenor over the next couple of months. If they don't work together, it could be a long session.
R. Daluge asked if the College's relationship with DATCP would change with the proposed changes such as Trade and Consumer Protection being pulled out of that department. Dean Aberle doesn't think it will have any effect. The College has a closer relationship with the DNR.
Dean Aberle talked about yearly evaluations for academic staff. The Dean's Office promotes evaluations and is using the guidelines the committee put together as a base line for future evaluations. There is a lack of uniformity and extent of how they are applied.
F. Kooistra reported that ASEC held a joint meeting of the CASI's on campus. The main point of the discussion was the research professor title. The Academic Staff Assembly voted to establish a new working title, research professor and teaching professor. The research professor title was approved and it is strictly a working title. The Secretary of the Faculty had to establish a packet for review of this title. A committee has not yet been appointed for the review. In other schools/colleges there are a number of pending appointments. The title is reserved for scientists and the appointments are initiated by the departments. There is not much interest in this title in CALS. There are many academic staff who carry out independent research programs. We may have the teaching professor title in the future. Dean Aberle said the Business School is pushing very hard for this title. They can buy out their teaching responsibilities, which frees up salary money to hire individuals to do the teaching. They have not converted research instruction to academic staff.
R. Monson raised the issue of academic staff who are assigned to a professor and when that professor retires, the staff are out of luck. What can academic staff do to keep the program going? M. Theis said the committee should be careful of what issues they address. There are more important issues to consider than titles and economic impact. The climate has changed greatly over the last 20 years. Departments need to work on those issues. R. Daluge brought up the point that some academic staff teach programs because faculty do not have the expertise. B. Wilson stated that individuals with high salaries stress budgets. It could happen that programs are cut where individuals with lower salaries lose their jobs and replacements are hired at higher salaries.
Dean Aberle noted that all academic staff positions have been filled in the past. The personnel cuts have been in the faculty positions. The majority of the cluster positions are funded by the UW Foundation and WARF on an on-going basis. Clusters approved this year will be funded entirely by private funds.
R. Daluge asked if there would be a push to change from A-basis to C-basis. Dean Aberle said that previously when you converted to C-basis you received 9/11ths of your salary. In the last conversion it was 10/11ths of your salary so there was incentive to change. This is used as a retention choice.
B. Jensen made a motion to approve the minutes. M. Theis second the motion. Motion carried.
R. Daluge distributed a sheet that was presented at the Campus Dean's Council. The Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) is a federally mandated internet-based tracking system for international students and scholars. The deadline for compliance is January 30, 2003. It will take longer to get visas and there will be much stricter regulations for credits and progress toward degrees. Travel will also be more restricted. J-1 regulations will be changed but we haven't received them yet. As a result, the number of international students will likely be down next year.
There were no questions from the committee.
Academic Staff Awards and PD-E. Doyle attended the General Awards Committee meeting for T. Wright. Most of the committee members said they had problems getting enough applicants. Some of the awards have complex nomination requirements. The committee discussed ways to increase people's awareness of the awards. The deadline for making nominations is January 24th with a list of the names to the Dean by January 31st. There is some flexibility in the deadline. There will be one common call for all awards. Letters will be sent to the chairs and department administrators and an email will be sent to all staff. The procedures and nominations forms will be on a website. B. Wilson said that academic staff and classified don't have a committee that could suggest individuals. R. Daluge said the five individuals who applied for Professional Development Grants have been ranked and sent to campus.
Communications, Web-site & Districting-No report.
Nominations and Mentoring-No report.
Personnel Procedures and Compensations-B. Jensen reported that the first email on performance evaluations has gone out. L. Heideman will draft an email on position descriptions and long-term appointments. The subcommittee is looking for some direction of what they should be doing in the future and what other areas they should consider for future informational emails. M. Theis suggested doing an email on how positions are funded. R. Daluge suggested doing a piece on non-renewals, layoffs, and rolling horizons.
Governance-No report.
F. Kooistra said that everyone across campus is having problems getting academic staff representation on department committees. Appointments to College committees will be looked at again next spring.
F. Kooistra reported that the Academic Planning Council met and approved the LTC document submitted a month ago. A committee will be appointed to design the governance structure of the new Center. They are still debating if this is a reorganization or not. Non-renewal and layoff actions will be started next week.
Submitted 11/25/02
J. Simons