46th Faculty Senate
March 22, 2012 – 3:30p.m.
Robert C. Voight Faculty Senate Chambers – 325 Graff Main Hall
Vol. 46, No. 11
I. Roll Call.
Present: M. Abler, C. Angell, J. Baggett, E. Barnes, T. Blumentritt, J. Bryan, B. Butterfield, L. Caya, L.
Dickmeyer, A. Galbraith, K. Hoar, J, Hollenback, K. Hunt, E. Kraemer, D. Lake, M. Leonard, W. Maas, R.
Mikat, D. Riley, K. Rosacker, M. Rott, S. Senger, and M. Tollefson
Excused: F. Klein
II. Minutes of March 1 Approved.
III. Reports:
a. Chair (Steve Senger): The April 19th FS meeting will be the organizational meeting for the 47th
Senate.
b. Chancellor (Joe Gow): Budget news has quieted since the Legislature has adjourned. What
happened to the racquet ball courts in Mitchell Hall? Due to safety and liability concerns, the
area has been taken off line. UWL does not have the funds to make necessary improvements at
this time.
c. Interim Provost (Betsy Morgan): No Report.
d. CFO (Bob Hetzel): No Report.
e. Faculty Representative (Jeff Baggett): There was a lot of discussion at the last meeting about the
UWS Personnel Systems Working Groups and communication with campuses. UWL is seen as a
role model in this respect.
IV. New Business.
a. Update on UW-System New Personnel Systems (Joy Gutknecht & Kerrie Hoar): The work groups
have completed their work on guiding principles and have submitted their reports. The working
groups and steering committee will be meeting at UW-Steven’s Point on March 29 to review all of
the documentation. The work groups for UWS and UW-Madison presented a short overview to
the BOR recently. This presentation is linked on the HR website. It was noted again that UWL
appears to have the most transparent communication and feedback system. Kerrie serves on
the Compensation work group and noted that one area of concern was the proposed Employee
Categories – IAS will continue to be grouped with Academic Staff.
Motion that the Faculty Senate at UWL strongly supports the grouping of IAS with faculty for the
purposes of personnel systems. Motion approved. This will be sent to Joe Gow and to Al Crist
and Jason Beier at UWS.
b. Approval of Ethnic and Racial Studies Department Proposal (Carol Oyster & Shauna Sallmen): ERS
has been operating as an institute at UWL for 40 years. Is there a strong case for the establishment
of a department? ERS is a department now for all intents and purposes and is essentially
operating as a department.
Motion to approve departmental status for Ethnic and Racial Studies.
Discussion: Will ERS need additional funds? Yes, they will need funds for an ADA (funded by CLS)
and for a chair stipend (funded by central administrative funds). They plan to establish
emphases in the minor first and then transition them to the major in time. They will look for
qualified faculty in ERS and other departments to contribute to those areas. Motion approved.
c. Approval of the 2013-14 Academic Year Calendar: Have we ever had graduation prior to final
exams? The UWL calendar is difficult to find on UWL homepage. Our approval could come with
a request for a more prominent display and easier search for the calendar.
Motion to Approve the 2013-14 Academic Year Calendar. Motion approved.
d. Proposal to Clarify By-laws with Respect to Administrative Appointments and Committee
Membership:
There has been confusion and conflict with the definition of administrative appointments in the
bylaws versus practice. For this reason, SEC is proposing new language:
1) Replace II (f) with Faculty with designated administrative responsibilities of at least 50% shall be
ineligible for service on faculty committees. Administrative responsibilities shall refer to the positions of
chancellor, vice chancellor, unit directors and deans or any appointment within the offices of these positions.
Administrative responsibilities shall not include elected chairs of academic departments or directors of
degree programs housed within academic departments.
2) Eliminate the explicit exclusion regarding administrative responsibilities from the membership statements
of all committees with the exception that Hearing will still exclude department chairs.
The discussion today is simply for FS to concur that the language should be changed. It will then
be sent to A&B and brought back to FS for a first and second reading.
Motion to concur with a change in the language.
Discussion: Why are faculty assistants to the Provost included, but not program directors? This is
what we have been doing in practice. It is really not about your duties, but who you report to.
Program directors and chairs report to departments, but faculty assistants report to the Provost.
This is seen as a potential conflict of interest. What about Environmental Studies where the
director reports to the CLS Dean? A&B will need to address this. This will be brought back to FS
along with several other committee bylaws changes at an upcoming FS meeting. Motion
approved.
e. Reconsideration of Online Policy Recommendations: A recommendation, and approved, at the
April 1, 2010, FS meeting that any required course offered online must be offered also be offered
in a face-to-face format. This recommendation was made because, at the time, students taking
online courses were required to pay a fee. All students are now charged an online fee, so the
necessity of this policy should be reconsidered.
Motion to Rescind Approval of Recommendation #2 from the April 1, 2010, FS Minutes which
states that all required course offered in an online format must also be offered in a face-to-face
format.
Discussion: What checks and balances are in place that make sure that online courses mirror
face to face courses? This was addressed and approved at the same FS meeting: The
department should determine the format of courses offered through that department. Motion
Approved (21/1).
V. Old Business.
VI. Adjournment at 4:16 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Kerrie Hoar