September 1, 2020

Provost Britz reported on plans to hold monthly meeting with SAC and other student organization representatives. Student evaluations are a priority, as is encouraging faculty to use Canvas rather than other platforms for instruction. 2030+ implementation group members are being finalized; final recommendations will be due by December. Enrollments are down 5% overall, freshmen enrollments are down 15%, which was expected but isn’t good news. The Provost’s Office is analyzing data re: high schools that have reduced the number of students they sent to UWM this year. International enrollments have contributed to the downturn due to the inability of incoming students to get visas. Nine metrics will be used in evaluating COVID dashboard data; a UWM dashboard should be up by the first day of classes. On the budget front the state numbers are better than expected; the cut of 7.5% may be a temporary lapse and not a permanent cut to the base. The Fresh Water initiative will certainly receive additional support but it is not clear how much of this will come to UWM.

K. Dolan reported on the Faculty Representatives’ meeting with System President Thompson. A UWM System COVID dashboard will be posted on September 8 that will aggregate System-wide data to monitor the regional impact of the virus. The next Crisis Management Team meeting will probably deal with some of the issues identified at the meeting, including criticisms from Faculty Representatives whose institutions have insufficiently robust testing protocols (with the exception of Madison). Some Faculty Representatives have been told that they may not notify students in a class in which a student has tested positive, suggesting that campuses are not following a uniform approach to reporting cases to faculty and students. System President Thompson announced that Chancellors will not have the ability to close campuses unilaterally but will have to work with System.

Kathleen Koch of the Graduate School’s Office of Research invited K. Dolan as UC Chair to an upcoming meeting of the Associate Deans as part of the Research Policy Committee’s attempts to make the UC aware of faculty recruitment and retention issues across the UWM campuses. Dolan will gather data from the Provost’s Office before the meeting in November. Only nine new faculty were hired this year but more than 40 either retired or left the University, for a disturbingly large net loss. Dolan will report back to the UC on the actual numbers at a future meeting.

N. Rothfels and B. Arnold reported on the Research Working Group, which will be submitting a draft of its recommendations to the Provost next week.

The Chancellor will attend the UC meeting on September 8.