44th Faculty Senate
November 12, 2009 – 3:30p.m.
Robert C. Voight Faculty Senate Chambers – 325 Graff Main Hall
Vol. 44, No. 6
I. Roll Call.
Present: J. Anderson, C. Angell, J. Baggett, S. Brokaw, D. Buffton, V. Crank, G. Cravins, T.
Gendreau, J. Heim, K. Hoar, J. Holman, D. Hoskins (excused), K. Hunt, D. Lake, R. LeDocq, A. Loh,
C. Lee, R. Mikat, J. Miskowski, S. Shillinger, R. Smith, M. Tollefson, B. Van Voorhis and M. WycoffHorn
II. Minutes of October 29, 2009 were approved.
III. Reports.
a. Chair’s Report.
i. The Collective Bargaining Open Forum was videotaped and has been posted to the
web. A reminder to attend the Legislators Open Forum on November 13 at 1:30pm in
the Ward Room where representatives Kapanke, Huebsch and Schillinger will be on
hand to answer questions. Students will be voting in a new Academic Initiatives
referendum on Wednesday, November 18. Faculty are asked to simply encourage
students to vote.
b. Joint Planning and Budget Report (Adrienne Loh).
i. Redistribution of Indirect Funds: The current distribution of these funds is 60% to
central funds and 40% to the college. The proposed re-distribution would be 85% to
central funds, 5% to the college, 5% to the department and 5% to the PI (as incentive).
Past spending of indirects was random - monies were pooled in a “slush” fund and not
always used in the manner in which there were meant to be used.
ii. Per Faculty Travel Allocation: Currently, Faculty Development funds are unevenly
distributed between the colleges and are distributed inconsistently in the colleges. The
Provost is currently looking at whether there is a minimum dollar amount per full-time
faculty member that could be distributed to departments. Further discussions with
deans and departments are necessary before any final decision is made.
iii. Educational Attainment Initiative – This program is meant to increase the number of
degrees granted in the state. At this point, it is not clear how this new initiative will
affect UWL. UWL administrators will be meeting with UWS administration in
December to learn more specifics about the program.
c. Faculty Rep Report.
Wisconsin has been rated as one of the ten worst states with regards to budget. A $2 million
deficit is predicted for the next biennium. A reminder to attend the December 1 Board of
Regents meeting and ask questions of our legislators. Summary of the Faculty Rep Meeting:
1) A UWS task force on competitive compensation has been formed. 2) Collective bargaining
was discussed. A UWS consultant has been hired. One or two campuses may be ready to vote
by late spring. Two campuses have had CB open forums and TAUWP has held at least six
forums on different campuses. Although any unit could form a CB unit, AFT (American
Federation of Teachers) will most likely be the only union to seek to represent UWS schools.
3) Some campuses are unhappy with the current Chancellor search and screen procedures and
want more faculty input. BOR would like to lessen faculty influence on these decisions. 4)
Evaluation of chancellors and deans was discussed. UWL does not have a process for
evaluating chancellors or deans. 5) The bulk of Star Fund monies go to Madison and
Milwaukee. Most of the money is used for retention rather than recruitment. Rebecca Martin
(UWS Sr. Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs) will be providing campuses with guidelines
to prevent subjective judgments on how these monies are used. 6) As far as ITS reporting
lines go, one UWS campus reports to the Vice Chancellor for Budget and Finance and one
reports directly to the Chancellor. Other campuses that were polled report to the Vice
Chancellor for Academic Affairs. 7) The new UWS policy on textbook rental will probably
not affect UWL operating procedures.
IV. Faculty Nomination for the Assistant Chancellor (Advancement) Search & Screen Committee.
Motion to approve the nomination of S. N. Rajaopal (SAH), Ken Winter (CBA) and Bart Van
Voorhis (CLS) to serve on the Assistant Chancellor (Advancement) Search & Screen Committee.
Motion Approved.
V. General Education Revised SLOs (Anne Galbraith).
a. The Gen Ed committee began the revision of the current Student Learning Objectives (SLOs)
last spring, which were last revised in 2005. Types of revisions included changing wording
from ‘and’ to ‘or’ so that every item in a series need not be assessed, deleting some that had
never been used and/or merging some of the redundant or similar SLOs.
b. UWS recently distributed a set of goals that were developed by a faculty-led committee.
These were also incorporated into the revised UWL SLOs.
c. The new SLOs have been distributed among six broader categories. They have been
renumbered for ease of use and a cross-reference table has been added for ease of moving from
the old SLOs to the new. These would go into effect for Fall 2010.
d. Motion to approve revised General Education Student Learning Objectives. Motion
approved.
e. Gen Ed’s next task is to discuss requirements that students take a certain number of courses
earlier in their academic career.
f. The Gen Ed committee requests that FS discuss what happens with the Assessment Committee
once their work is finished next year and how it will be affected by the hiring of an
Assessment Coordinator.
VI. Report from CAPS (Sue Anglehart).
a. Student Absence Policy as it applies to student athletes and soldiers. Issues regarding the
student absence policy often end up in the Provost’s office, so the Provost made the request for
a review of this policy. CAPS gathered information from multiple campus sources about this
issue. After discussing the subject, it was the unanimous opinion of CAPS that the current
policy language is satisfactory, but that it should be better disseminated to faculty. Note:
While student soldiers do not have a choice about whether or not they miss class to serve,
student athletes do have a choice about athletic events. Student athletes are advised by their
coaches to compare their course schedule and event schedule to determine whether or not
taking the course during a different term would be the best option.
b. Final Exam Policy. Both the final exam policy in the UWL catalog and the final exam
announcement from the Provost’s office were examined by the committee. During discussion,
CAPS noted that online courses are not addressed in the current policy; therefore, the
committee recommends that an addition be made to the current final exam policy to address
online courses. The new final exam policy would read:
“A final examination will be given in each course within a special examination period
except for one-credit courses, which will have exams scheduled at the last regular meeting
of the class. The examination periods, dates, and times are included in each semester’s
Timetable. Final exams for online courses will be administered by the published end date
of the course. The relative importance assigned to the final examination is determined by
the instructor in charge of each course.”
Motion to approve changing the final exam policy to include online courses as shown
above. Motion approved.
VII. Proposal to Change IT Reporting Line (Vice Chancellor Bob Hetzel, Provost Enz-Finkin and
Assistant Chancellor for Information Technology John Tillman).
a. The Assistant Chancellor for Information Technology currently reports to the Vice Chancellor
of Academic Affairs. It is being proposed that this reporting line be moved to the Vice
Chancellor of Budget and Finance.
b. CIO John Tillman has discussed such a change to the reporting line with both the current and
previous administrations. Many of the issues that IT faces are related to funding (such as,
identifying what systems are needed, planning and financing changes to our ITS, risk
management, etc.). This makes them better suited for Budget and Finance. Currently, River
Falls, Platteville and UWS report to their Chief Financial Officer, Stout, the system colleges
and UW Extension report directly to their Chancellor. Others continue to report to Academic
Affairs.
c. IT reporting lines have indicated support for this change; however, concerns have been voiced
by Ed Tech and others about the need to maintain a tight link between the academic and the
business side of IT. Ed Tech is currently working with CATL and is also concerned about
how they can continue to integrate.
d. There are currently 17 units reporting to Academic Affairs, while only 4 units report to Budget
and Finance. Both offices believe that this change in reporting lines would help IT to most
effectively achieve it goals and give IT a larger voice. The Provost is dedicated to remaining
involved in the area of academic computing.
e. Some faculty have voiced concerns that this structural change may diminish the academic side
of IT in some way. While no plans have been made to formalize a connection between the
business and academic side of computing, both Vice Chancellors are supportive of maintaining
a strong connection.
f. Motion to endorse this change in structure. Motion approved.
VIII. Revised Furlough Statement.
a. At the October 1 FS meeting, a motion was passed to adopt the sentiment of the TAUWP
furlough statement and request that SEC revise the wording and present a new draft to FS.
b. After multiple discussions, SEC felt that FS could make a stronger case if its response was
targeted to a specific audience. SEC presented two letters for discussion by FS, - one
specifically targeted to UW System and one targeted towards Wisconsin Legislators. The
letters also contain documented sources for data cited and additional arguments that strengthen
the responses.
c. Motion to approve FS letters with noted corrections. Motion approved.
IX. Adjournment at 4:42p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Kerrie Hoar