UC Chair Kathleen Dolan issued an invitation to UW System President Ray Cross to attend a UWM Faculty Senate meeting; he has accepted. K. Dolan also received the official invitation to participate in the Chancellor’s Think Tank 2030 work group.

Provost Johannes Britz reported that he is initiating lunch meetings with all department chairs; chairs are divided into several groups for these meetings. Ombuds Council Chair Nadya Fouad will also attend.

Provost Britz is also examining enrollment statistics for explanations of this semester’s overall decline. Losses are primarily among upperclassmen –
Provost Britz says this is not a new phenomenon, but has increased this year. Two significant reasons for this are students leaving because of financial issues, and students leaving to take jobs. Provost Britz said that a significant number of students transferred to UW-LaCrosse or UW-Madison. Engagement of faculty to help with retention will be important going forward. There are also issues with declines in international students, and transfer students from the private technical schools. Provost Britz identified the need to update our agreements to remove barriers to transfer.

Provost Britz attended a meeting of Chinese university administrators. China is investing heavily in education.

The proposed Freshwater Collaborative appears to have bipartisan support for funding. And, additional funds from the state were approved to help with the pay plan.

The Outside Activity Reports must be completed in order to receive a salary increase. These were due in April. Conflicts of interest are also noted on the report.

UC Member Laura Otto-Salaj reported that the Affirmative Action in Faculty Employment Committee (AAFEC) met and discussed bolstering resources available to search and screen committees for faculty hires. The committee is evaluating online training modules available through HR as part of a bundled package purchased by the university; one module addresses enhancing diversity in hiring. The committee will also work on developing a recruitment checklist focused on diversity enhancement, to augment existing school recruitment checklists.

UC Member John Reisel reported that SSEA is formulating questions for three reviews.

UC Member Julia Snethen reported that there has been a resignation from the Rules Committee. An election will be held for a new member at the Faculty Senate meeting this Thursday.

UC Member Mark Schwartz reported that the MORFS agreement with PROFS has been signed.