May 12, 2026 – Academic Staff Senate – Minutes

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

Attendance

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

Call to Order

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

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

Chair’s Report

J. Herriges reported on the latest ASC meetings and guests. The ASC continued the discussion of the new cultural and identity student centers and talked about how to make sure governance is involved in decision-making process. They reviewed the revised SAAP 11-03: Social Media Usage Representing UWM and proposed revisions to the Instructional Academic Staff Workload Policy presented by Canan Bilen-Green, Joely Urdan and Elise Bechly Schubert. They raised some questions and concerns. ASC also nominated next year’s chair and elected Anna Schmidt as next year’s vice chair. ASC continues to review Academic Staff Appointment Types and Contract Term Comparisons to Peer Institutions Report submitted by NIAS and IRAS Subcommittees. The subgroup who drafted the report will attend the May 18th ASC meeting to discuss the results and determine next steps. J. Herriges provided reports to the Faculty Senate (April 16th) and University Committee (April 28th) and met 1:1 with Chancellor Gibson and Interim Provost Freiburger.

Guests

  1. Chancellor T. Gibson
    Chancellor T. Gibson reported on five items: 1. new Vice Chancellor for Marcomm will begin June 26th. 2. Met with many impressive students at several end-of-year events. 3. Old Chemistry building is down and the empty area will eventually be replaced with green space. 4. Recent Chancellor’s radio show focuses on research. Vice Chancellor for Research Ali Abedi and President of Research Foundations were the guests. 5. Chancellor Gibson extended his sincere thanks to UWM employees for their work and invited all to attend one or both Commencement ceremonies on Sunday, May 18th as his guest. Interested individuals are to contact UWM’s Commencement manager for tickets to sit in the Chancellor’s VIP section.
  2. Interim Provost T. Freiburger
    Interim Provost A. Freiburger introduced herself. She provided updates on the recent Canvas security breach and enrollment. Interim Provost T. Freiburger noted the deadline to make all webpages digitally accessible has been extended to 2027. She acknowledged the high volume of work required to complete this project. She shared that nine new advisors have been hired to better meet the needs of students.
  3. Associate Vice Chancellor (AVC) M. Fessahaye and Total Rewards Director R. Joos
    AVC Fessahaye reminded all that carryover vacation hours must be used by June 30th. The HR Team is preparing for the 2% pay plan increase for eligible employees which will be effective June 28th. There is a new campaign to highlight UWM careers on Linked In. She acknowledged the significant increase in applications for UWM positions. Upcoming New Employee Orientation sessions are June 22nd and September 1st. More than half of new employees in the past year were academic staff. R. Joos shared upcoming health and wellness initiatives. She shared that starting June 1st, new employees will receive alerts in Workday about enrolling in benefits (supervisors will also receive alerts).
  4. Student Association President J. Lukos
    J. Lukos reported the UWM Student Association has been renamed Student Government (or StuGov) and encouraged all to use the new name when referring to the group. The membership grew from 3 to 23 in 2025-26. J. Lukos gave a summary of the 2025 activities and noted he worked to bridge the gap with other Student Governments at Marquette, UW Madison and MATC. He asked that UWM leadership and staff use StuGov as a resource and be honest with communication surrounding what want from students. A collaborative attitude is appreciated.

 New Business

  1. SAAP 11-03: Social Media Usage Representing UWM – Interim Vice Chancellor for Marketing and Communications J. Tabak presented the revised policy including the recent exception added today: Exceptions to this policy may be granted by the Vice Chancellor of the Division of Marketing and Communications or their designee in their sole discretion. S. Luelloff moved and A. Stoddard seconded approving the revised SAAP 11-03: Social Media Usage Representing UWM as amended. Motion carried unanimously.
  2. Election of ASC/AS Senate Chair for 2026-2027 R. Edwards moved and A. Singer seconded electing N. Oswald as chair for 2026-2027. Motion carried unanimously.

Unfinished Business

  1. None.

Committee Reports

  1. Committees
    Stephanie Surach, Chair of AS Orientation Committee, reported the recording and slides from the April 9th Orientation Session will be posted soon.
    Tammy Howard, Member of the AS Codification Committee, shared the Committee met on May 8th to review a proposed new ASPPP Chapter and will discuss feedback with the ASC at their next meeting.
  2. Subcommittees
    None.

General Good and Welfare

J. Herriges noted Commencement is Sunday, May 18th and encouraged all to attend if able. She also reported the Undergraduate Research Symposium was excellent and she enjoyed attending.

Adjournment

Meeting adjourned at 3:38 p.m.