UC Chair N. Rothfels reported that Sandra Pucci (Linguistics) has been appointed to fill the vacancy on the Arts & Humanities Divisional Committee. He will also serve as the UC rep to the Graduate Faculty Committee–though elimination of this ex officio position will be considered at the next GFC meeting. Rothfels attended a “pre-season” meeting of the faculty reps., and will attend the first formal meeting, which will be in-person (in Madison) on September 24th. VP for Research Mark Harris has convened several “Research Group” meetings in relation to the 2030 planning effort, including: 1) “Faculty Workload/Effort”, 2) Graduate School Support; and 3) Research Infrastructure. Lastly, responses to the UC’s vaccine statement were generally positive.
Member D. Misra reported that the APBC held its first meeting of the year, elected a co-chair, but did not agree to a proposal to take on the calendar-setting function of the APC. The UC will continue to consider other ways of consolidating committee functions. APBC will continue to meet using a hybrid format. Misra also reported that the Nominations Committee elected a chair and set their next meeting date in February 2022. Member M. D. Schwartz reported that the front page of UCNews has been successfully updated.
Provost J. Britz has made getting the message out to students to “sign up” with their vaccination status a top priority. There are many ways for students to do this, and it is now a link on the main UWM home page. Data on percent of faculty/staff/students vaccinated will be available and shared soon. The UC noted that penalties for not wearing a mask on campus, as well as not getting tested (for non-vaccinated individuals) should be consistent and explicit. The Provost will follow-up on this issue. Britz reported that: 1) International student enrollment is back up to 2019 levels, 2) Overall enrollment this semester is down 2.9% from Fall 2020, and 3) Enrollment (FTE) this semester at our 2-year campuses (Waukesha and Washington County) is down 17% compared to Fall 2020. Further, Britz commented that the System President search process is moving forward quickly, with listening sessions being held now and expected to be mostly over by early October. He anticipates that the actual search will be well underway by early 2022.
Rothfels presented a draft statement about the Title and Total Compensation (TTC) process and invited discussion from the rest of the UC. He will consult with Tim Danielson (UWM HR) and Chancellor Mone about UC’s continuing concerns about the process, as well as asking who it would be most effective to present these concerns to. Rothfels will continue to work on the draft statement and report back to the UC at our next meeting.