UC Chair N. Rothfels reported:  1) The needed replacement faculty senator from the Professions has been appointed, and a faculty vacancy on the APBC has been filled; 2) The Compliance and Ethics position (in Legal Affairs) finalist interviews are underway; and 3) He will be attending the Assoc VC for HR finalist interviews, which are starting soon.

Provost J. Britz provided the following updates: 1) The new VSIP is expected to be very targeted and much more focused than the previous one; 2) The faculty diversity hiring initiative continues to be developed—the UC responded by stressing the urgent need to broadly rebuild UWM’s faculty; and 3) UWM’s GPR increase initiative is still moving forward with the BOR.

The UC met with Director of External Relations K. Duce to discuss campus initiatives to improve student voting rates, especially how increased faculty involvement may help.  The UC suggested that it was critical for the Provost to provide official guidance on proper procedures to facilitate this to the faculty.

In other business, the UC:  1)  Will not plan to invite the UW-System President to address our Faculty Senate this Spring, given the timing of the transition; 2)  Will draft a Faculty Senate resolution of thanks for the service of interim President Thompson; and 3) Will provide a resolution endorsing the “Climate Action-Carbon Resilience Plan” that will be presented to the Faculty Senate in tandem with the presentation by Director of Sustainability K. Nelson.

Member E. Bornstein noted that AAFEC met and is continuing discussion on fostering faculty diversity, and Member J. Snethen reported on several actions taken at the recent APC meeting.

UC Chair N. Rothfels reported:  1) Another faculty senator from the Social Sciences division is still needed; 2) He has started attending the AVC for HR search finalist forums; 3) A new campus student recruitment campaign is being planned and will be a significant charge for the new VC for University Communications (once hired).  Interestingly, consultants have commented that our R1 status is an important campus asset that should be used to distinguish us from other universities; 4) He attended the UW-System governance reps meeting last Friday.  Faculty reps were profoundly disappointed in how the Presidential search process concluded, especially the lack of any public forums for the finalists; and 5) On a positive note, a campus governance support document is being assembled, and it appears (as reported earlier) that there may well be a Regents/UW-System push to provide some funding to all campuses in support of shared governance.

ASC Chair N. Oswald provided the following updates: 1) They are still working on developing a AS/US pay progression plan with campus HR; 2) 115 TTC appeals have been filed, but 15 were quickly resolved.  The first hearings on the rest will start by the end of February; and 3) More detailed information (by School/College) is needed to explore the actual changes of AS numbers in recent years.

Member M. Schwartz noted that the MORFS membership drive will be suspended for the time being, but the 501 (c) (6) organization will continue to be kept active for potential future use.

UC Chair N. Rothfels reported:  1) Many needed Faculty Senate openings have been filled, but one more is necessary; 2) He will create a draft resolution related to the Campus Climate Action Plan for discussion (intended to be jointly considered by the Academic Staff, University Staff, and Student Senates) which will then accompany the planned presentation by Director of Sustainability Kate Nelson at the February Faculty Senate Meeting; and 3) UW-System is seeking transition advice from campus governance groups for the incoming President.

Provost J. Britz provided the following updates: 1) Clear communication from all instructors to their students is crucial for a smooth start to the Spring semester; 2) N95 masks will be made freely available to faculty and staff this semester (logistics to be announced shortly) and COVID-19 testing on campus is continuing; and 3) He is gathering and coordinating input from other Provosts regarding the UW-System President Finalists.

DEI VC C. Vang joined the meeting for an open-ended discussion regarding how campus can become a more inclusive and supportive workplace, especially:  1) The need to backup “nice talk” with actions; 2) How to better align our practices with those on other campuses across the country—especially structural realignment to add more staff; and 3) The need for DEI Liaisons at the School/College level.

UC Chair N. Rothfels reported:  1) The Scenario Planning Workgroup met last week and urged the administration to communicate any changes to the start of the semester soon so that instructors can adjust their syllabi, and that some sort of online or more hybrid start would be reasonable given campus and community transmission rates; 2) The Graduate Program Review Committee needed a replacement, and one was found; a replacement for a senator in social sciences is currently being sought; 3) There was a meeting of a small group of campus leaders to discuss the best paths forward for implementing new opportunity hiring; and 4) UWM System Faculty Reps met to formulate questions to put to prospective candidates for the UW System President position. It is expected that there will be an announcement as soon as later this week about the slate of finalists.

L&S Dean S. Gronert joined the meeting and shared additional thoughts about COVID planning going on this week, including meetings on Wednesday of the Deans and another with representatives of the Emergency Operations Center and the Scenario Planning Workgroup. Recommendations will be given to the COVID Management Team on Thursday and discussions will happen with Chairs on Friday.

The Committee and Dean Gronert then had an extensive conversation about ongoing conversations on GER reform. The model currently being considered would involve moving from a divisional breakdown of GER courses to a breakdown based on areas of inquiry that will match with the UW System Shared Learning Goals. This semester, the plan will need to be fleshed out further and then there will be an analysis of impacts. There is much to do before anything will be ready for consideration by governance bodies.

Member E. Bornstein reported on a meeting on December 19 between members of the AAFEC and Provost Britz, Vice Chancellor Vang, and Associate Vice Chancellor Venugopalan. The discussion focused on how the AAFEC protocols for hiring can be implemented on campus and how retention of BIPOC faculty can be improved. Chair Rothfels will follow-up with Vice Chancellor Van Harpen and AAFEC Chair R. Shumway about coming to a future meeting to discuss HR processes.  Member D. Misra reported that an APBC meeting was cancelled last week and that the meeting before that focused on GER reform.

The Committee then discussed Academic Staff numbers from the last five years. The committee decided that several trends – including increases in the number of fixed-term-renewable Instructional Academic Staff needed further consideration. Chair Rothfels will alert ASC Chair N. Oswald that the Committee would like to hear her thoughts on the data at her next visit to the UC later in the month.

We convened this meeting to discuss campus planning and responses to the on-going pandemic, especially considering the omicron variant surge.  The UC feels there is a need for more planning to facilitate the best nimble and timely responses by campus to a possible rapidly changing situation over the next few weeks, as well as to give individual instructors more flexibility to change delivery methods for their courses throughout the Spring 2022 semester as needed.

UC Chair N. Rothfels reported that:  1) Finalist interviews for the VC for Development have concluded; 2)  The proposed new class scheduling policy rollout generated considerable concern, so it is being walked back, and should come to the Faculty Senate for discussion in Spring 2022 before moving forward again; and 3) The Faculty Senate Committee-of-the-whole discussion on Thursday (about the Teaching and Research Professor academic staff titles) will be led by Rothfels and he expects it to also include AVCs Tim Danielson and D. Venugopalan, VP Mark Harris, and a representative from the ASC.

Chancellor M. Mone joined the meeting and shared the following: 1) Momentum is building in his work with the BOR to implement GPR funding improvements for our campus, but a case statement needs further development for attempts to engage support from business leaders and the legislature; 2)  Commencements this semester and in the Spring will be in person again, and there will also be a make-up ceremony in April 2022 (for those unable to attend one since the pandemic).  The return of these in-person events is generating considerable excitement among our students and alumni; and 3) Overall UWM COVID vaccination rates are up to 88% for employees and 94% for students.

K. Nelson (UWM Director of Sustainability) and J. Gardner (staff in the Sustainability office) joined the meeting to provide an overview and answer questions about sustainability efforts on our campus. This involves assessing our resiliency and vulnerabilities in relation to climate change and looking at mitigation strategy targets (in 2030 and 2050) for emissions reductions. The UC will look to arrange an information session on this topic for the Faculty Senate in Spring 2022.

Member J. Snethen reported that several items from the PAC will be on Thursday’s Faculty Senate agenda (under automatic consent), including the addition of emeritus status eligibility for University Staff.  Member D. Misra noted that the next APBC meeting will include an update from Dean S. Gronert on GER planning.

UC Chair N. Rothfels reported that:  1) He has been attending the VC for University Development candidate interviews; 2) The Chancellor’s Extended Cabinet had a discussion about staff resignation issues and possible mitigation strategies; 3) Dean S. Gronert will attend the UC meeting on Jan. 11^th to discuss GER planning; 4) K. Nelson will attend the UC meeting on Dec. 14^th to give an overview of campus sustainability actions and planning; 5) newly-appointed DEI VC C. Vang will meet with the UC in January (date TBD); and 6) the UC will not plan to meet on December 21^st, 28^th, or January 4^th.

Provost J. Britz joined the meeting and outlined the following: 1) UW-System has provided funds to help support Campus high school outreach efforts; 2)  The Regents Special Committee is expected to announce the finalists for UW-System President later this month; 3)  Proposed expansions of new engineering programs on other campuses across the UW-System is concerning—UWM will look for support to resist approvals of these plans; and 4)  UWM’s GPR increase discussions with the BOR are seemingly progressing well, giving reasons to be cautiously optimistic they may actually be successful in providing more Campus funding in the next biennium.

The UC invited CGS Faculty Senators T. Wessel-Blaski and R. Gulotta to join the meeting today for an open-ended discussion of the broad range of issues facing faculty in their college.

Member E. Bornstein informed us that Provost J. Britz, VC C. Vang, and Assoc. VC D. Venugopalan will meet with the AAFEC next week to discuss DEI hiring strategies. Member D. Misra reported that APBC met last week, noting that the new colleges now have names, and that the average cut to unit budgets next year will be 1.3%. Member M. D. Schwartz attended the Governance Reps meeting on the UW-Madison campus last Friday, and reported the following:  1) There appears to be interest on the BOR to support UW-System providing release time/stipend funds for all campus’ governance committees; 2)  A designated area for governance reps (who attend in-person) is again being provided at BOR meetings; and 3)  JOCER approval of the anticipated pay plan may be delayed until early January, but will is still expected to occur.

UC Chair N. Rothfels reported that:  1) He met with the Chancellor and engaged in discussion about COVID planning for next semester, equity issues and enrollment challenges in the College of General Studies, and the need to engage the AAFEC in the new equity hiring process; and 2) AVP & Library Director M. Doylen indicated that UWM Libraries have switched to a longer (5-year) borrowing period for books.

The UC discussed the new proposed campus policy related to the upcoming federal COVID vaccine mandate, noting that more details are needed in the termination procedure, and provisionally recommending approval (with the strong suggestion that those changes be made).

UWM representatives from the UW-System COVID CARES group (M. Brennan, E. Liedhegner, and L. Hager) met with the committee to discuss issues related to caregivers in higher education. It was stressed that this is not just about COVID matters but difficulties originating from many sources. The overall concern is that these issues have long-term impacts on faculty/staff careers, and that there is no on-going systematic strategy on campus to address them. Rothfels will take the initiative to reach out to the new DEI VC (as soon as possible after the appointment is made) to arrange for a meeting (including the CARES group and UC members) to discuss how to meaningfully integrate this type of support consideration into UWM governance activities (especially in retention/tenure/promotion decisions).

UC Chair N. Rothfels reported that:  1) DEI VC candidate interviews have now concluded; 2) A faculty member has been selected to serve on the AVC for Human Resources search committee; 3) The new campus police chief will be announced in early December; and 4) Communication was received from the Arts & Humanities Divisional committee regarding the roles/interactions of departmental and divisional criteria for tenure and promotion, which prompted additional general discussion and clarification.

ASC Chair N. Oswald provided the following updates:  1) 20-25 volunteers have been solicited to serve on TTC appeals committees; 2) TTC discussions and concerns continue; 3) Some instructors have reported inconsistent communications about positive COVID test notices related to students in their classes; and 4) Concerns are emerging about potential academic staff representation issues emerging from the planned campus School/College realignment.

Registrar K. Hildebrandt and Provost J. Britz visited the UC to discuss the recently announced proposed new standardized scheduling policy. The impetus for the change is related to providing flexibility for students to be better able to easily schedule needed classes. Input from campus on this issue will continue to be gathered.

AVC D. Venugopalan joined the meeting to discuss the consideration of proposed changes to GER requirements. This process will be a difficult and much more deliberation is needed before any plan can be ready for consideration/approval by the Faculty Senate.

Lastly, member E. Bornstein reported that the AAFEC met and discussed Search & Screen procedures, as well as how the committee can get “connected” into the new targeted hiring process being developed by campus administration, especially regarding identifying target areas.

UC Chair N. Rothfels reported that:  1) The UC ex officio member on the Graduate Faculty Committee has now been removed; 2) VC R. VanHarpen has reported that a new FAQ on ventilation has been developed and will be shared with the UC and Profs. J. Jordan and J. Berkowitz; 3) The possibility of requiring 2X per week testing of unvaccinated faculty/staff has been raised. After brief discussion the UC recommends continuing to follow MHD/CDC guidance; 4) VC for DEI interviews are underway; 5) UC has been approached by Wisconsin Public Radio about vaccine mandates; 6) The UC will meet with the 3 CGS faculty senators to discuss the CGS faculty experience at our Dec. 7^th meeting; 7) ASC has been discussing pay progression procedures developed in relation to TTC (20% of staff assessed each year). The UC noted there is no equivalent process for faculty and should discuss further, including reconsidering previous proposals developed in that area; 8) AVC D. Venugopalan will be invited to join the UC for a discussion of the revised GER plan at the Nov. 23^rd meeting; and 9) Discussions continue with the Chancellor about the need to provide compensation for campus governance service.

Provost J. Britz provided the following updates:  1) A new diversity hiring document for campus is nearly ready—it needs to fit into the context of needed strategic faculty recruitment; 2) The 2030 document is being shared with faculty senators; 3) The “ask” for more GPR funding to UWM from the BOR is crucial to visions of a successful future; and 4) Masking and vaccination mandate issues continue to be contentious, but UWM’s mask mandate is expected to be extended.

VC R. VanHarpen has asked for faculty nominees to serve on the search committee for the soon-to-be-vacant AVC for Human Resources position. A list was developed and Rothfels will first contact individuals and then provide names back to the VC.

Lastly, member J. Snethen reported that the APC has sent a revision of SAAP 1-11 for consideration to the Faculty Senate, removing the unused “F+” grade, and member D. Misra reported that the APBC meet for 2 ½ hours this past week which included approving a NOI from the Business School. Additionally, College/School realignment discussions continue to move forward, and campus unit FY23 budget details are expected to be shared in early December.