Meeting Minutes

February 12, 2007

Members present: Carmen Croonquist, Sarah Egerstrom, Brad Gee, Mark Kinders, Gretchen Link, Jason Neuhaus, Travis Tubré

Members absent: Alicia Acken Cosgrove, Kevin Bertelsen, Kimberly Gould-Speckman, Gretchen Link, Cara Rubis (maternity leave)

Substitutes: Tony Bredahl for Kevin Bertelsen, Laura Walsh for Alicia Acken Cosgrove

Call to order: 2:06 p.m.

Approval of 1/22/07 minutes: Moved by Neuhaus. Seconded by Kinders. Unanimously approved.

Chair's Report (S. Egerstrom):

Changes to Sections 11 and 12 of the handbook have been sent to the Chancellor for approval.

Academic Staff Development grant proposals are due March 23. Croonquist said she had a contact who could do a program on diversity or race/ethnicity issues. Tubré suggested that a proposal could be made for funding a mentor training workshop. Walsh commented that Acken Cosgrove might be willing to do a workshop on conflict management. Croonquist asked if a survey could be sent to academic staff asking about their training needs. Egerstrom responded that she would contact Croonquist and Acken Cosgrove to discuss sending out a survey.

Representative's Report: Minutes of the 2/15/2007 meeting of Academic Staff Representatives can be found online.

Legislative Update (M. Kinders):

United St. Croix Valley Day will take place tomorrow in Madison. The members of our delegation will meet with Governor Doyle and Deputy Policy Director Chris Patton. They plan to show their support for the governor's Growth Agenda and to promote funding for a new Health and Human Performance facility at UWRF.

Regarding tuition reciprocity between Minnesota and Wisconsin, negotiations are still taking place between the higher education boards of the two states and have not reached the governors' offices yet. There is a high degree of political sensitivity to this issue since Minnesota tuition rates have been going up much faster than the Wisconsin rates. UWRF is trying to influence the discussions by encouraging an outcome that would do no harm to either side.

New Business
Review and comment on ROTC/UWRF Partnership Agreement (Egerstrom): Council members felt that the university had negotiated the best deal possible. Tubré commented that the faculty would start developing specific coursework soon. Kinders pointed out that the wording at the top of page 3 did not specify whether the word "staff" referred to academic or classified staff.

Continuing Business

Handbook Updates (S. Egerstrom)
Sections 1 & 2
Several minor cosmetic changes were made, including renumbering of the sections in order to be consistent with the rest of the document.

Final motion to adopt the sections as amended was made by Kinders. Seconded by Croonquist. Unanimously approved.

Sections 5 - 8
Discussion of these sections will be moved to the March meeting. Acken Cosgrove will cover 5 & 6 and Link will do 7 & 8.

Section 9
Minor cosmetic changes were made, including renumbering of the sections.

Final motion to adopt the sections as amended was made by Croonquist. Seconded by Neuhaus. Unanimously approved.

Adjournment

Motion to adjourn was made by Neuhaus. Seconded by Croonquist. Meeting adjourned at 3:15 p.m.