Academic Staff Council Minutes

12/17/03

Members Present: Sally Berkholder, Mark Kinders, Steve Luebke, Emily Ronning, Kimberly Gould Speckman, Larry Testa, Amber Tubré, Sue Walton

Members Absent: Sarah Egerstrom, Gretchen Link

Call to order at 2:15 p.m.

Approval of 11/19/03 minutes. Motion made by E. Ronning. Seconded by A. Tubré. Unanimously approved.

Chair's Report (Sue Walton)

Update on visit with Regent Gracz. He provided important information, gave realistic expectations, and noted the importance of identifying the appropriate pathways to change.

Representative's Report (Emily Ronning)

The 11/20/03 meeting of Academic Staff Representatives included discussion on health insurance premium deductions, performance-based salary increases, academic career advancement, and budget issues. Details are available at: http://www.uwsa.edu/srvpadm/asreps/agendaminutes.htm

Legislative Update (Mark Kinders)

• Raids on auxiliary funds will be the top legislative issue for chancellors in 2005-07.
• Auditing process for UW-System administrative expenses will be known in February/March. Currently, administrative costs are 6%; the national average for higher education institutions is 10%.
• No action has been taken on the issue of credit transfers between vo-tech colleges and UW-campuses.

New Business

• The Performance Evaluation section of the Academic Staff Handbook refers to the “Performance Evaluation of Academic Staff Handbook,” but this handbook cannot be located. M. Kinders noted that there should be a document that was created approximately 10 years ago. Sue will attempt to locate this document and we will review it. Emily will contact Academic Staff Representatives from other campuses to learn about their performance evaluation practices.
• Sue encouraged the group to attend the Beyond Diversity workshop that will be held in January.

Old Business

• We will continue to investigate various ways of including Category B/Teaching Academic Staff in the council.
• M. Kinders, G. Link, A. Tubré, S. Berkholder, and S. Walton will meet in January to discuss the grant proposal for the professional development activity. M. Kinders will gather information about facilitation training vendors.
• At the chancellor's request, we will revise the emeriti status motion. A. Tubré will revise and forward to S. Walton.
• An update was given regarding Faculty Senate discussions of commencement options beginning in Spring 2004 due to space limitations at Knowles.
• S. Walton called for nominations for academic staff to participate in search committees for the human resources director and library director positions.

Adjourned at 3:20 p.m. Motion made by E. Ronning. Seconded by K. Gould Speckman