August 11, 2026 – Academic Staff Senate – Minutes

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Time: Tuesday at 2:30 pm
Location: Microsoft Teams

Attendance

Present: M. Archer, R. Calkins, M. Rausch Camacho, C. Cho, C. Driscoll, R. Edwards, K. Esguerra, C. Fleider, B. Freer, C. Hayes, J. Herriges, B. Hinshaw, T. Joosten, K. Korinek, S. Luelloff, L. McGovern, B. Mueller, N. Oswald, M. Priem, A. Schmidt, M. Schmit, N. Simonson, A. Singer, J. Steinheiser, A. Stoddard, B. Trager, K. O’Connell Valuch
Absent: J. Court, J. Johnson, A. Meddaugh, J. Rotier, K. Scholz, S. Surach, D. Van Kerkvoorde, E. Zaharsky
Guests: Ali Abedi, Makda Fessahaye, Tina Freiburger, Thomas Gibson, Renee Joos

I. Call to Order

Chair J. Herriges called the meeting to order at 2:30 p.m.

  1. Minutes of the July 14, 2026 meeting were approved as distributed.

III. Chair’s Report

Chair J. Herriges reported Chair J. Herriges reported the Academic Staff Committee met on July 20 and August 3. Guests included HR Compliance Officer K. Hennemann who discussed ASPPP Chapter 108 and Associate Vice Chancellor for HR Makda Fessahaye who presented revisions to the HR Title Appeal Process. ASC discussed the lack of engagement with the Senate about speakers and discussion of topics. In the hope to increase           participation and engagement AS Senate meeting will shift to a hybrid format. Herriges and incoming ASC chair met with Chancellor Gibson on August 10th and discussed the need to create a more engaged Senate by changing the meetings to hybrid. Gibson shared his vision for UWM. They also discussed that the statistics on academic staff are difficult to obtain and ASC will pursue through another means such as a survey. This is Herriges’ last Senate meeting as chair and Nicole Oswald will assume the role as chair until August 2027. Herriges said it has been an honor to serve the Senate, and the academic staff. In this position she was granted the privilege to participate in so many things she would not have been able to do otherwise. It has been an honor to represent AS and meet regularly with the chancellor, both provosts, the chancellor’s cabinet and provide updates to the Faculty Senate and University staff Senates. She gave thanks to Jen Steinheiser as vice chair who has helped me and served as acting chair when Herriges was not available. Lastly, she gave a special thank you to Tammy Howard from the Secretary of the University’s Office, saying she is an amazing and knowledgeable person to whom she is thankful for all her help.

IV. Guests

  1. Chancellor T. Gibson
    Chancellor T. Gibson reported leadership changes, including Joel Fogelson has accepted the position of Chief Innovation and Partnership Officer, replacing Brian Thompson. A firm was identified for the provost search. The goal is to identify a candidate by March 2027 so they can join UWM by the Fall 2027 semester. He attended the Wisconsin Drives Summit in Green Bay, where he was a speaker. He engaged with manufacturing partners across the state and discussed how to advance manufacturing in Wisconsin. He met with Waukesha County Business Alliance – the UWM University Center at WCTC has been a success. Last year, the largest number of students in ten years transferred from WCTC to UWM. Gibson also attended the Strategic Enrollment Management Summit and was impressed with the initiatives. He highlighted the outreach to high-achieving first year students to recognize them and to engage them in undergraduate research or study abroad. Gibson attended M-Cubed Summit and reported that 60% of MPS students that visit/tour UWM or MATC say they are more likely to enroll in college when they graduate. Chancellor Gibson shared that UWM is the presenting sponsor for Doors Open Milwaukee 2026. There will be at least 12 spaces open to the public at UWM, and there will be a maker’s market in Spaights Plaza.
  2. Interim Provost T. Freiburger
    Interim Provost Freiburger reported that Jason Puskar has been named Interim Dean of Letters and Science following Scott Gronert’s retirement. Academic Affairs is working with the Chancellor’s Office to launch the search for permanent dean. A search firm has been identified, and listening sessions were held in the Spring. Freiburger reported that Rebecca Klaper, Dean of Freshwater Sciences, is retiring from UWM. Her last day is August 31. She will be joining the University of Delaware as the head of the College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment. Academic Affairs is currently working to get an Interim Dean named Interim Provost Freiburger reported that undergraduate enrollments are up about 2.3% over last year. Graduate enrollments have declined by about 3%, which was anticipated and planned for with the current international environment. Freiberger also took the opportunity to thank all that have volunteered to help with Fall Welcome and encouraged folks that have not volunteered already to do so.
  3. Associate Vice Chancellor (AVC) M. Fessahaye and Total Rewards Director R. Joos
    AVC Fessahaye reported that UWM held its first community job fair on July 20 and stated that it was a successful event. Upcoming training for employees and supervisors has been added to the Human Resources website. Interested parties can find more details and register on the website.
    Non-instructional academic staff evaluations are due on September 30 in Workday. Self-evaluations are due by August 15. Supervisors can push the evaluations to employees before then and then will have the opportunity to edit goals before the September 30 deadline. Pay plan was implemented for 12-month employees in July; pay plan for 9-month employees will be implemented August 24. Remote work agreements must be completed and approved by September 30. She reminded eligible employees to bank unused leave by September 30.
    R. Joos provided health and wellness updates.
  4. Vice Chancellor (VC) for Research A. Abedi
    VC A. Abedi “Research Across Campus: A Growth Strategy” to the group, which is about encouraging research collaboration between schools and colleges. Changing this business model to encourage pursuing larger, interdisciplinary grants by ‘breaking the silos.’ This is a typical approach at other R1 universities.

 V. New Business

  1. None.

VI. Unfinished Business

  1. None.

VII. Committee Reports

  1. Committees
    Chair K. Esguerra of the Non-Instructional Academic Staff Review Committee reported that the committee reviewed 7 files this year, 7 passed. Last year, there were also 7 files. This is down from the past two years when there were 11 and 13.
  2. Subcommittees
    None.

VIII. General Good and Welfare

Encouraged volunteers for Fall Welcome. Chair Herriges thanked the group again for letting her serve.

IX. Adjournment

Meeting adjourned at 3:23 p.m.