Present: R. Daluge, C. Dillhunt, L. Heideman, K. Holtgraver, B. Hudelson, B.
Jensen,
F. Kooistra, M. Theis, B. Wilson, and T. Wright.
Meeting was called to order by Frank Kooistra at 8:40 a.m.
1. Opening Remarks
This is the last meeting this academic year. F. Kooistra thanked C. Dillhunt, B. Jensen, and T. Wright for their service on the committee.
2. Approval of Minutes
There were two corrections to the minutes. On page 1, #2, first paragraph, last sentence, principals should be principles. On page 1, #2, last paragraph, it should state, “Dean Aberle does not want to eliminate hiring at this time.” B. Hudelson made a motion to approve the minutes with the two changes. B. Wilson seconded the motion.
3. College Update
Facilities Report—There has not been much change in facilities since the last meeting. Everything that was reported last month is moving ahead. The latest report on the co-gen plant is that it will not have a negative impact on Lake Mendota. They are currently looking at noise levels and air quality.
Budget Update—Nothing has changed since D. Hogg reported last month. There is speculation there may be a mid-year budget correction. There will not be a compensation plan the first year of the biennium and may be a 1% compensation in the second year. It is likely state employees will have to pay higher contribution rates for health insurance. R. Daluge asked whether there would be any changes for retirees who are using sick leave to pay for health insurance. B. Hudelson asked if couples would be allowed to opt for two individual plans since that is cheaper than the family plan. At the current level of budget cuts, CALS will layoff 2-3 individuals and 5 will be displaced. With a mid-year correction, CALS will face an additional 10-20 layoffs.
F. Kooistra was at a meeting where D. Bazzell said he was optimistic that some things would start to play out. He thinks we will get a higher level of tuition, the transfer from DOT will be closer to what we should get, and federal money will be about one-half of what we thought we would get. That will make the shortfall about $1B which is about one-third of the predicted shortfall.
Network Charges—DoIT received a Cisco grant to upgrade voice/data services.
Two-thirds of the cost will be covered by campus. The cost will be $30 per month
per FTE. Dean Aberle distributed estimated costs to the department chairs. The
charges for some departments are larger than their S&E budgets. Part of
the cost may be taken from indirect costs. Telephone costs may decrease and
there is some talk of switching to cell phones.
4. Questions from the committee
There were no questions.
5. Academic Planning Council Report
R. Wolkowski was not present so F. Kooistra reported on the last APC meeting. At last month’s meeting the Council gave each faculty position request a high, medium or low ranking. This month the Council ranked the high priority positions. Their recommendation is advisory to the Dean. The Executive Staff will also provide Dean Aberle with their ranking. Only one or two positions will be released this year. If there are positions primarily funded by Extension, they usually get a high rating.
The LTC issue is still unresolved. The campus committee has submitted their report. Because of the budget situation, all state money has been removed from the Center. Deans from several colleges/schools met yesterday to discuss the possibility of providing funding for LTC. Nothing was decided at the meeting. Dean Aberle asked the Deans for their commitment in writing. The APC will discuss LTC at the May 14th meeting and hopefully reach a decision. If the Center is closed, there will be a phase out period. Eight of the eleven academic staff in LTC have appealed their layoff notices.
6. Governance Report
The governance survey was sent to all departments and centers. F. Kooistra is most interested in responses from departments because the centers are basically run by academic staff. Twelve of twenty-one departments have responded. He reviewed the responses received so far and some departments are very good about involving academic staff and some do not involve them at all.
F. Kooistra received a call from one of the chairs saying the academic staff
had suggested to the chair that the merit process for academic staff be conducted
by academic staff. In that department there is a joint committee of faculty
and academic staff that reviews the academic staff but only the faculty on that
committee review faculty. F. Kooistra asked the Committee for feedback. ARS
is the exception because everyone is academic staff except R. Straub. Academic
staff positions vary
greatly and it is important to have a cross section of the departments on the
reviewing committees so the merit is distributed equitably. M. Theis said each
department is very individual in the way they handle the merit process. They
are very happy with the way it is done in Food Science. It alienates faculty
and academic staff if the process is split between faculty and academic staff.
If done together, it is an educational process because many faculty don’t
know what academic staff do.
R. Daluge asked that the committee discuss the CALS Committee document and Charge and Function document. This issue was tabled at the last meeting. The memo sent out by P. Ludden responding to the recommendations of the CASI regarding academic staff representation on CALS standing committee was discussed. Not all the recommendations that were approved have been implemented. Rick’s subcommmittee will meet to check the discrepancies in the documents and then meet with D. Hogg before he starts making appointments for next year’s committees. R. Daluge made a motion to remove the motion that tabled this discussion from last month’s meeting. T. Wright second the motion. B. Hudelson made a motion to: 1) review the Charge & Function document and the CALS Committees document for consistency, 2) follow up on whether the recommendations made by the previous subcommittee were implemented, 3) make recommendations to add academic staff to the current committees, and 4) meet with D. Hogg to discuss the documents and committee recommendations. B. Wilson second the motion.
9. Committee Reports
Academic Staff Awards and PD—Nothing to report.
Communications, Website & Districting—Nothing to report.
Nominations and Mentoring—L. Heideman has begun to collect data for the academic staff orientation.
Personnel Procedures and Compensations—The committee met to discuss academic staff who received non-renewal or layoff notices to alert them to which options are best regarding their benefits, etc. F. Kooistra said campus would like to recommend non-renewals as the first option. It may be better to do a lay off. CALS would like to give their employees the choice.
Governance—Nothing further to report.
10. Adjourn
Meeting adjourned at 10:05 a.m.
Submitted 5/6/03
J. Simons