April 9, 2019

Chancellor Mark Mone attended and provided an update on the budget. The State Building Commission did not advance any recommendations to the Joint Finance Commission on the capital budget. The Chancellor and UW System President Ray Cross believe that the Chemistry building will remain at the top of the priority list for capital projects, and the Chancellor hopes that the Union will also remain high up on the list as well. They will advocate for these projects. Chancellor Mone will announce a System-wide initiative to prevent sexual misconduct on campuses, with our campus as the springboard for the initiative. The Freshwater Collaborative is moving along and appears to have significant institutional support. There will be a new Chancellor and Provost at UW-Whitewater, and UW-Stout has announced the development of a search committee for a new Chancellor.

There was a discussion about the routing of cases requesting consideration of faculty discipline or dismissal. Suggestions to provide clarification in the process included the provision of training for deans and department chairs, and that deans confer with the Provost prior to forwarding dismissal cases to the Chancellor. Protection of students was also discussed.

John McCune, vice president of Student Affairs for UWM student government, and Kristin Woodward, UWM Libraries, presented to UC on ideas to make course materials more affordable at UWM by increasing open textbook use by faculty and instructional staff. Results from a student survey were presented, and the Open Textbooks initiative was discussed. Grants are available for individual faculty who wish to transition to open textbook use. McCune and Woodward suggested Faculty Senate support of a Student Association resolution advocating for open textbook use.

UC member John Reisel reported that the Rules Committee finalized the Faculty Senate agenda for next week. There will be a AAUP resolution discussed at that meeting.

UC member Bettina Arnold reported that the Budget Model Working Group has presented to APBC and is still working on integrating CGS with rest of campus. The Department of Education is auditing UWM.

UC member Mark Schwartz reported that the Library Director Search and Screen Committee met and developed a list of finalists which has been forwarded to the Provost.

UC member Laura Otto-Salaj reported that the CGS Dean Search and Screen Committee will be conducting Zoom interviews with semifinalists later this week and early next week.