Minutes of the University Committee
for October 20, 2003

Call to Order:

The meeting was called to order at 12:05 PM by Prof Gary Wood, Chair. Present in addition were Profs Sylvia Beyer, Doug DeVinny, Christine Evans, and Don Kummings, members; Donald Cress, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and Prof Walter Feldt, Secretary of the Faculty. Prof Kinchen was excused.

Business:

Office Hours Policy
After some discussion with Dean Cress, who had suggested an office hour policy for the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), it was agreed to ask Prof Feldt to draft a possible policy for the campus for possible Faculty Senate consideration.

Physics Executive Committee Augmentation
The Faculty Policies and Procedures provide that departmental executive committees contain a minimum of three members. When the number of tenured associate and full professors in a department is less than three, a mechanism for augmentation is provided.

In this situation, the dean consults with the members of the department faculty and appoints additional members for the executive committee, subject to confirmation by the University Committee.

Prof Feldt had asked the dean to provide assurance that the proper consultation had taken place. When this assurance is given, he normally sends the tentative appointments to the University Committee via email. If any member objects, the matter is held over to a UC meeting for action.

In the case of the Physics Department, assurance of consultation was not provided, so Prof Feldt placed the item on the agenda.

After some discussion, Dean Cress agreed to separately consult with the two members of the department faculty and then provide tentative appointments.

Full Professor Criteria
Dean Cress suggested that it would be best if the Faculty Senate approved a statement of the criteria for promotion to professor rank. Currently, the Full Professor Subcommittee (FPS) of the Personnel Review Committee (PRC) has a statement it uses, but this statement has never been considered by the Senate.

The Committee agreed that having the Senate approve a criteria statement would give it greater meaning and make it binding upon departments and the administration, which would be desirable.

Prof Feldt was asked to prepare a draft statement for consideration by the PRC and the UC as an item for Senate action.

UWS - WTCS Transfer Plan
The Committee chose several nominees for possible service on a UW System committee charged with studying the transfer of credits from the Wisconsin Technical College System to the UW System.

Provost's Research Fund
Prof Wood and Provost Martin agreed to the addition of faculty members representing the UC and the Committee on Research and Creative Activity to the committee that will be constituted to review proposals submitted for funding by the provost's newly-created research fund.

Teacher Education Steering Committee
Concerning the implementation of PSF 6/03-04, calling for the creation of a Teacher Preparation Steering Committee, Prof Feldt asked about several details on the conduction of the election for memberships.

It was agreed that each department would be asked for nominations, though in some cases, the "electoral divisions" included more than one department. It was further agreed that terms would be "semi-randomly" staggered so that approximately one-third of the three-year terms would expire each year.

Schneider "Bill"
The Committee discussed a draft bill submitted by Rep Marlin Schneider (Dem, 72nd Assembly District). Prof Wood agreed to submit a response that addressed each of Rep Schneider's points in a serious manner.

Adjournment:

The meeting adjourned at 1:10 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,
Walter T Feldt
Secretary of the Faculty