UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN River Falls

Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate

The Faculty Senate is the legislative arm of the faculty. As such, the faculty delegates to the senate its powers and responsibilities as affecting the academic policies and programs, faculty affairs, and the general welfare of the university in accordance with the provisions of Article III.

The Faculty Senate has a dedicated email for agenda items, questions, and other business pertaining to Faculty Senate.  Please send your information or questions to facultysenate@uwrf.edu

 

Respresentation

Term Expires 2024

Term Expires 2025

Term expires 2026

CAFES

 

  Amber Remble
  Joseph Shakal

Shaheer Burney

CAS

  Grace Coggio  
  Karl Peterson

  Alexandru Tupan 
  Magara Maeda

Doug Margolis   Jennifer Willis-Rivera

CEPS

  Tamara Kincaid 
  Dean Vesperman

  
 

Christy Pettis

CBE

  Logan Kelly

 

 

4th Division

   Alicia Reinke-Tuthill
  

   Ryan Bench
   Cory Clark

Kellen Wells-Mangold  Jake Brunnquell

At Large

Brett Kallusky (sr.)
   Lori Nixon (jr.)

  Mialisa Moline (sr.)        Melaku Abegaz (jr.)

Michelle Parkinson (Sr)  Patrick Woolcock (Jr)

Chancellor’s
Designee

David Travis (Provost)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

Office

Officer

Chair

Alexandru Tupan

Vice Chair

Logan Kelly

Elections Chair

Yoana Newman

Secretary

Doug Margolis

Faculty Senate Liaison

Kellen Wells-Mangold

 

  • Receive and consider suggestions, proposals, and recommendations brought before the senate by the faculty, student body, and the administrative staff.
     
  • Prepare resolutions, proposals, recommendations, and specific legislation for faculty action.
     
  • Participate with the chancellor in the establishment and termination of the functions and memberships of all standing committees. There shall be provision for the establishment of faculty committees within the by-laws of the constitution. Specific provisions governing the powers, responsibilities, and procedures of faculty committees and the procedure of their appointment are to be found in the by-laws of the constitution.
     
  • Serve as coordinating and expediting agency for the work of standing committees and assign responsibility along with the chancellor for the execution of studies and activities of these committees. All recommendations for policy changes in the orientation and direction of all committees must be submitted for approval to both the Faculty Senate and the chancellor.
     
  • Study and recommend policies designed to improve faculty welfare.
     
  • Establish general interpretations of academic policy and regulations.
     
  • Conduct nominations and elections of members of the senate, as defined in Article VI Section C.
     
  • Inform the general faculty, the administration, and the student body of all senate actions affecting the areas of their respective concerns.
     
  • Recommend to the chancellor the university calendar, subject to the regulations of the Board of Regents.
     
  • Provide for and regulate such funds as may be raised and expended by the general faculty.
     
  • Study and make recommendations concerning any other subjects relative to the general welfare of the university.

Faculty Senate Meeting Agenda

Date: Wednesday, April 24th, 2024, 3:30-5:00 PM.

Location: Willow River Room, UC 334. Physical attendance is strongly encouraged. Via Zoom, please use the link below.

http://tiny.cc/faculty-senate-meeting

  1. Call to order.
  2. Seating of substitutes.  
  3. UWRF land acknowledgment.

The University of Wisconsin-River Falls sits on the shared ancestral lands of the Anishinaabe and the Dakota Nations and Tribal Communities. Acknowledging our university’s historical contributions to the disenfranchisement of indigenous communities, we declare a standing commitment toward campus-wide education, increased awareness of current indigenous issues, and the development of sustainable partnerships with indigenous nations of the area.

  1. Chair report
    1. A Faculty Senate meeting is scheduled for May 15 (3:30—5:00). This will be devoted to the election of the new Senate leadership.
    2. All motions passed by the Faculty Senate before the Spring Break were approved by Chancellor Gallo, except for the following three.
      1. Motion 61 (rejected)---approved by the Senate on November 15, 2023 (dean search committee structure). The final Senate vote was: 15(Y)-0(N)-5(A). Motion 61 is very similar to the MOU approved by the Chancellor in December 2022. In principle, the MOU remains valid pending the approval of a new legislative initiative.
      2. Motion 74 (rejected)---approved by the Senate on November 29, 2024 (provost search committee structure). The final Senate vote was: 20(Y)-0(N)-1(A). Motion 74 offered a committee structure very similar to the previous provost search.
      3. Motion 83 (pending)---approved by the Senate on January 24, 2024 (the creation of the First Year Seminar category for the Gen Ed program). The final Senate vote was: 14(Y)-3(N)-6(A).

The Chancellor approved the program change form but is upholding the approval of Motion 83 due to the recent System’s decision to deny the requested funding for the First Year Seminar. In principle, there is a legislative loophole needing further clarification: does the approval of a program change form trigger an automatic approval of the corresponding Faculty Senate motion?

 

 

 

  1. Officer reports.  

 

 

  1. Approval of old minutes.
    1. Minutes of 03-27-2024 (AY 2023-2024).   
    2. Minutes of 04-10-2024 (AY 2023-2024).

 

 

  1. Main Business—University Updates.

Chancellor Gallo and CBO Dave Ruhland will address questions regarding the Deloitte report and enrollment numbers and will forward some requests to the Senate. If at all possible, members of the Senate and guests are encouraged to submit questions in advance at this web link.

      1. The Chancellor will address the Senate a request regarding the 100 K compression/compensation fund.
      2. The Provost will report on an initiative related to the First Year Seminar.

 

Two notes:

*Our campus used to carry out a thorough analysis of its programs. Check out this link to the Strategic Planning page (2019) as well as the post from 7-25-2019 with the title “Program Audit and Review Dashboard (2011-2017)”.

**Prof. Neil Kraus kindly informed me about two links from the National Center for Education Statistics regarding college enrollment data trends here and here.

  1. New Business.

 

  1. Motion, from the Calendar Committee, to approve this Schedule for the 2025-2026 AY.
  2. (Second reading) Motion from the Faculty Senate Executive Committee:  Realign the Duties of the Academic Standards Committee and the Academic Program and Policy Committee. The full text of the motion is here. Auxiliary document available here.
  3. (Second reading) Motion from the Executive Committee to revise the membership of the Academic Standards Committee as formulated below. This will be included in the Faculty and Staff Handbook.

Current language (will be entirely removed and replaced by the new language)

 

  1. Membership: Six faculty; The Dean of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences, the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, the Dean of the College of Business and Economics, the Dean of the College of Education and Professional Studies, or their designees; the Registrar; the Assistant to the Chancellor for Equity, Compliance, and Affirmative Action (ex-officio, non-voting); and four students.

 

Proposed language (it replaces the current language)

 

1. Membership

    1. Two (2) faculty from each college (CEBAH, CAFES, CAS) with at least one who is a member of the graduate faculty.
    2. Dean, or designee, of each college (CEBAH, CAFES, CAS).
    3. Dean of Students Office representative, as an ex-officio, non-voting member.
    4. Registrar or designee.
    5. Up to three (3) students.

 

  1. Motion from the Faculty Welfare & Personnel Policies Committee to revise immediately upon Faculty Senate and the Chancellor’s approval the Faculty and Staff Handbook CH. 4.5.2 (e) by deleting the words “a one time” as follows:

Current Language with proposed language markup 4.5.2.e e. If the faculty member’s performance is deemed to “meet expectations,”

The Department Chair will recommend to the Dean an appropriate recognition for achieving a “meets expectations.”

Recognition may be in the form of a one-time additional compensation, reassigned time for professional development, or another appropriate recognition.

If approved by the Dean, the recommendation will be forwarded to the Provost.

---------------------- END of HANDBOOK LANGUAGE------------------------------

 

Proposed Language 4.5.2.e e. If the faculty member’s performance is deemed to “meet expectations,”

The Department Chair will recommend to the Dean an appropriate recognition for achieving a “meets expectations.”

Recognition may be in the form of additional compensation, reassigned time for professional development, or another appropriate recognition.

If approved by the Dean, the recommendation will be forwarded to the Provost.

---------------------- END of HANDBOOK LANGUAGE------------------------------

 

RATIONALE (to include with the motion)

  1. FW&PP discussed PTR and the language of Ch. 4.5.2.e at two meetings (2/15/24 and 3/14/24). The committee invited Brenda Boetel, Chair of Faculty Compensation, who explained the 100k Faculty Adjustment Plan. Further, Dave Ruhland, the AVC of Finance & Administration, shared BOR and UW SYSTEM policies regarding compensation with the committee. Based on these documents and discussions, the committee felt that the original FS Executive Committee recommendation to delete the incorrect information from CH. 4.5.2.e provided the best course of action.

 

  1. Motion from the Faculty Welfare & Personnel Policies Committee to revise immediately upon Faculty Senate and the Chancellor’s approval the Faculty and Staff Handbook, (a) Ch 5.2.1 Responsibility, (b) Ch 5.2.12 Across-the-board Adjustments, (c) Ch 5.3.1 Merit Rating Procedures, (d) Ch 5.5 Sick Leave, and (e) Ch 5.13 Employee Assistance Program as described here. 

 

 

  1. Adjournment.

 

Notices.

  • The schedule for Spring 2023-2024 is below.      

All meetings are held in the University Center, Willow River Room (334)

 

May 8, 2024, from 3:30—5:00

May 15, 2024, from 3:30—5:00 (elections)