Minutes of the University Committee
for February 24, 2004

Call to Order:

The meeting was called to order at 2:05 PM by Gary Wood, Chair. Present in addition were Profs Sylvia Beyer, Chris Evans, Doug DeVinny, James Kinchen and Don Kummings, members; and Provost Rebecca Martin and Walter Feldt, Secretary of the Faculty.

Business:

Faculty Meeting Agenda
Upon the request of several members of the General Education Committee for a Faculty Meeting consisting of a Committee of the Whole discussion of a proposed revision to the general education requirements, the UC asked Prof Feldt to check with the Chancellor's office concerning a possible alternate date for such a meeting. The Committee had previously been advised that the scheduled meeting date, Thursday, March 11, created a conflict with the Chancellor's calendar.

Conference with Provost Rebecca Martin
Provost Martin advised the Committee that she intended to write faculty members advising them of the plan to distribute this year's one-percent raise across-the-board (ATB) to all faculty except those few to have "unsatisfactory performance." This is in accordance with Regents' policy when the overall compensation increase is low.

Nevertheless, she continued, the merit review process will go forth. While this year's ratings will have no effect on the raise effective for 2004-05, she proposed "banking" the ratings so that when raises returned to more historic rates, they could be utilized in apportioning increases.

After some discussion, the Provost agreed that those receiving "unsatisfactory" ratings would be limited to those faculty who had been non-renewed and were serving a terminal appointment.

Committee members expressed some concern over the lack of a letter in the summer of 2003 advising faculty that while there was no raise, their services were appreciated. She agreed to send out letters that both address the plan for an ATB distribution and offer encouragement.

In a separate matter, the Provost distributed a list of programs that UW System records indicated were still authorized for UW-Parkside. These included Labor and Industrial Relations. It was agreed that she should consult with the Committee on Academic Planning (CAP) concerning the discontinuance of this inactive program.

Provost Martin also discussed progress on the Regents study: Charting a New Course for the UW System (http://www.uwsa.edu/srvpadm/study/index.cfm). She said that one of the study committees had talked of preparing a recommendation that campuses align their campus missions and their program arrays, but that this recommendation was now thought not to be forthcoming.

Prof Wood said that the Regents study committee that he and Chancellor Keating were on would be requesting some funding for planned initiatives.

On another matter, in response to questions from the Committee, Provost Martin said that a plan to expand enrollment to 7500 headcount by 2014 was still in the early stages. Among items to be determined were where these students would be coming from and what new programs should be introduced to attract students and whether programs should target traditional or non-traditional students. Should additional graduate programs be introduced? Also, a capacity analysis and the need for new staffing need to be considered.

Some concern was expressed that the recent budget cuts which resulted in many less adjunct sections had caused higher enrollments in remaining courses, which adds to workload. It was unclear how widespread this was.

Provost Martin said that she had just been appointed to a task force charged with examining how enrollment targets were set and considering alternate models.

Nominations for All-Faculty Election
Prof Feldt said that the University Committee election was now underway and that it was time to consider nominations for other faculty committees.

The Committee agreed to begin the process by asking Prof Feldt to tentatively slate those who had expressed an interest in running on the most recent Committee Preference Survey. Prof Feldt said that he would send the Committee a summary on what additional nominations were needed in upcoming days. The matter will be held over, if necessary, to
the next meeting.

Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 3:15 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,
Walter T Feldt
SECRETARY OF THE FACULTY & Professor of Engineering