May 18, 2026 – Academic Staff Committee (ASC) – Minutes

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Time: Monday at 9:00 a.m.
Location: Microsoft Teams and Lubar N440

Attendance

Present: K. Esguerra, B. Freer, J. Herriges, T. Joosten, N. Oswald, A. Schmidt, N. Simonson, J. Steinheiser
Guests: Thorsten Curcio, Tina Freiburger, Nicole Hoover, Melinda Kavanaugh, Deidre Marsh, Kate Scholz

I. Call to Order

The meeting was called to order by Chair J. Herriges at 9:02 a.m.

The agenda was approved as presented.
The minutes of May 4, 2026 meeting were approved as amended. Change to the process for approving the newly proposed Chapter 114 which was reviewed by AS Codification and will continue to be reviewed by ASC before moving forward.

III. Persons Who Wish to be Heard

None.

IV. Chair’s Report

J. Herriges reported she met 1:1 with Interim Provost T. Freiburger on May 7th and she asked how ASC can best work with her during the transition and for a status on current projects. J. Herriges presented an update to the Faculty Senate on May 14th and represented Academic Staff Committee at yesterday’s Commencement ceremonies.

V. Guests

  1. University Committee (UC) Chair M. Kavanaugh voiced support for academic staff job security and multi year contracts. She summarized the UC’s recent activities including faculty and staff policies originating from administration. She spoke about the changes to the department chair policy and UC pushed back and plan to address in early fall. She supports using collective governance to voice concerns and work together to make sure governance voices are heard by administration.
  2. Interim Provost T. Freiburger reported on first weeks as Interim Provost. Commencement went smoothly. N. Oswald and B. Freer shared some of ASC’s priorities including the IAS Workload policy and making sure to involve academic staff governance in the process; academic staff appointment types and contract terms at peer institutions and discussion about automating career progression. Discussion about instructional academic staff with faculty status. K. Esguerra asked Provost Freiburger about her priorities as interim provost and she stated that fostering administration and faculty and staff working together is critical as is rebuilding trust and respect among all. Complete compliance with Act 15 and student success and retention. How much impact we have on student lives. She plans to set specific goals for the coming year as interim provost.

VI. Unfinished Business

  1. ASPPP Proposed Chapter 114: Instructional Academic Staff (IAS) Workload – Discussion about process surrounding revisions to academic staff policies. K. Scholz shared concerns about the process and also specific issues with the current interim policy. Senator and AS Codification Committee member K. Scholz asked if ASC has been in contact with IAS at UW Madison to compare policies. Concerns about the policy excluding adjunct instructors and lack of clarifications surrounding appointment percentages were raised. B. Freer asked about mechanisms for reviewing the document further and ASC agreed to ask the IAS Subcommittee to review and propose possible revisions to the policy that captures instructional academic staff workload issues. Agreed to partner with HR while drafting. Proposed timeline: IAS Subcommittee submit comments and revisions to ASC before the October 5th meeting. ASC expects to share with AS Senate at the November 10th meeting. The ASC will consult with HR and Legal as drafting a revised policy.
  2. Review Academic Staff Appointment Types and Contract Term Comparisons to Peer Institutions submitted by NIAS and IRAS Subcommittees – T. Curcio, N. Hoover and D. Marsh, AS workgroup, were present to discuss the Academic Staff Appointment Types and Contract Term Comparisons to Peer Institutions report. N. Hoover provided an overview of the workgroup’s research and summarized their findings. Peer institutions mostly use multi-year contracts vs indefinite appointments. Many universities administer automatic long-term contracts. UWM is unique in the probationary to indefinite process. It was pointed out librarians at many institutions are treated as faculty. K. Esguerra asked group for ideas to advocate for job security for academic staff. Reports that indefinite status will no longer be offered at UWM are a concern. Problems are not with the policies but with implementation of AS policies. The ASC brainstormed strategies to improve job security at UWM including changing policies and practices to make job progressions/promotions automatic. Next steps and critical areas to address were discussed. ASC agreed to invite Chancellor Gibson and Sr. Vice Chancellor Robin Van Harpen to discuss financial impact on offering probationary contracts. The ASC will continue the conversation in the coming months before sharing the report with AS Senate.
  3. Proposed Revisions to ASPPP Chapters 106, 109, and 110 – Item is postponed until further notice.
  4. Review ASPPP Chapter 108: Notice Periods – T. Howard invited K. Henneman, HR Compliance Officer, to attend a summer ASC meeting to discuss the potential ambiguity in the first exception under Section 1 of Chapter 108. She will confirm date soon.

VII. New Business

  1. Review SAAPs: ​SAAP 10-14: Emergency Operations Management​ (New Policy), ​SAAP 07-06: Employee Assistance Program (PDF) (Elimination), ​SAAP 07-02: Annuitant Privileges (Revised), ​SAAP 07-12: Rehiring UWM Annuitants​ (Revised). ​SAAP 10-08: Smoke and Tobacco-Free Campus​ (Revised) – The ASC raised no issues with the SAAPs being presented for AS Senate approval and agreed with Mike Schmit’s recommendations for placement on the agenda.
  2. Approve AS Senate Agenda (June 9) – After review, N. Oswald moved and B. Freer seconded approving the agenda as presented. Motion carried unanimously. ASC will ask M. Fessahaye to not use time at AS Senate meetings to promote HR/Health and Wellbeing events and to focus on HR related news and information.

VIII. Reports

  1. T. Joosten reported the ABPC will not meet in summer months.

IX. Personnel Matters

None.

X. Good and General Welfare

ASC agreed to request that administration contact the ASC chair when there are suggestions for changes to AS policies. B. Freer shared three initiatives being worked on by the UW President’s Advisory Committee for Mental Health and Well-being.

XI. Adjournment

Meeting adjourned at 11:59 a.m.