UC Chair Kathleen Dolan reported that the Post-Tenure Review policy changes passed the Faculty Senate. She attended the Faculty Representatives meeting in Madison last week. There was a session with Ray Cross, in which the composition of the Search Committee for the UWGB Chancellor was discussed – there are five Regents, two faculty, one university staff, one academic staff, and one community member. Only one faculty member suggested by the representative UC committees was selected to be a part of the search committee. R. Cross also said the budget would be released mid-October, and said that in the next budget cycle, he will request money for employee compensation and begin a conversation about areas of need in the System over the long term. K. Dolan invited R. Cross to a Faculty Senate meeting, and he accepted.

K. Dolan attended the Chancellor’s Expanded Cabinet meeting on Monday. Katie Mioke reported that UWM is 3.8% down in enrollment; final numbers will be available in October. Seven campuses are down in enrollment, while Green Bay, Madison, Parkside, Eau Claire, LaCrosse all have increased enrollment. Tom Luljak presented on a new policy regarding advertising on campus. The Title and Total Compensation Project continues – job titles and descriptions have been created, and now mapping of incumbents to titles and descriptions will take place. Emphasis is on non-faculty positions. David Gilbert said that UWM Foundation and the UWM Alumni Association will merge. Provost Johannes Britz reported that the next round of budget meetings with all units on campus.

K. Dolan also met with Chancellor Mone, and discussed the GER review and family leave policies for campus faculty.

Dean of Students Adam Jussel attended to discuss the services provided by the Dean of Students Office. He described several buckets of services offered/areas covered by the DoS Office: 1) Student misconduct, 2) student support [intervening with students of concern (primarily mental health issues)], 3) crisis response (e.g. threats of an active shooter), 4) everything else (e.g. students and parents voicing concerns about the university and campus life). He is looking for continuing feedback about how the DoS Office is doing and wants the number of reports they get to increase; he believes there are events that are going unreported. A goal is for him to be out in the community doing proactive work on behalf of the university. He is also trying to empower faculty to take control of their classrooms, and document efforts with them. He discussed the Small Emergency Grant funds that have been provided over the past two years ($360k); the funding lapsed, and the DoS Office is looking for more funding. Areas of concern include significant student financial needs (e.g. student emergency grants, food pantry) and campus culture. Dean Jussel is looking for invitations from departments to talk about student services; he also hopes to meet with many student organizations.

Academic Staff Chair Leigh Wallace attended. ASC meets regularly over the academic year and has met once this year so far. They have begun the academic year by reviewing over chapter 104 (i.e. indefinite, fixed term, probationary status). ASC has also requested departmental workload policies for instructional academic staff to get a sense of differences across campus, and to make sure they are consistent with university policy. They are also examining ways for staff to enhance academic learning environments and are looking through policies to make sure ASC members are familiar with policies and to see if any changes are needed. The ASC is also planning to examine AS committees to see if they are all still relevant. ASC has not had issues filling senator positions, academic staff appear willing to serve. Representatives from CGS are still needed on ASC, so the committee is being promoted to encourage participation by CGS staff in the AS elections in spring.

CGS Dean Simon Bronner attended, and discussed the changing mission of CGS and UWM affiliation. He said he is working hard to learn the UWM shared governance system. Discussions of both faculty and instructional staff workload within the CGS are ongoing. Dean Bronner asked about CGS structure and the utility of the CGS steering committee, which may be a holdover from the UW Colleges structure. UC discussed options for structure given examples from schools at the main campus. Dean Bronner would like campus to consider expansion of the UWM brand to one that is more regional, rather than solely urban.

UC Member John Reisel reported that the Economic Benefits Committee met and discussed the Title and Total Compensation study and the status of the Employee Benefits Survey. A long-term benefit strategy to keep us competitive will be recommended by the committee in spring. The Open Enrollment period is October.