The October 2, 2007 meeting of the University Committee was called to order in Moln D135 by Dennis Rome, Chair. Also attending were members Chris Evans, Stu Hansen, Peggy James, and Frances Kavenik. Greg Mayer was excused. E. Zepp was present as Secretary of the Faculty.

1) Call to Order:
The meeting was called to order at 3:35 P.M.

2) Minutes:
The minutes of the meetings of September 11 and September 25 (open and closed sessions), 2007 were approved.

3) Announcements:
a) Prof. Rome gave an update on the Elechi case.
b) Prof. Kavenik reported on the Sept. 28 meeting of the Faculty Representatives.
--The Board of Regents has requested an allotment of time in which to meet with
faculty.
--There has been no progress on UWS Chapter 7.
--The budget had still not been passed as of that Friday.
--Prof. Sanders of UWM has produced a power point presentation on Chapter
36.
--There will be a joint meeting with Academic Staff reps. on Nov. 15.
--Colleague coverage is most likely to be ended--sick leave must be taken.
--The counting of work time, if one is not on campus, is being considered as
professional coverage vs. hourly commitment.
--For Interim Chancellor/Provost appointments, the involvement of governance is
split about 50-50. At UWM, the Chancellor came to the U.C.
--Rebecca Martin is visiting campuses.
--The UW System’s Strategic Framework to “Advantage Wisconsin” has been
presented to the Regents. They want input by November. This is planning for
the next decade or so. There will be a number of task forces, with a report
produced by December 4th. There are seven overarching themes, each of
which will be addressed by a “think tank team”:
Prepare Students: Ensure that students are prepared with the integrative
learning skills, multicultural competencies and practical knowledge needed to
succeed in and contribute to our rapidly changing, increasingly global society.
More Graduates: Increase the number of Wisconsin graduates and expand
educational opportunities through improving access and increasing retention and
graduation rates.
High-Paying Jobs: Increase the creation of high paying jobs by expanding our
research enterprise while linking our programs to entrepreneurship and business
development.
Stronger Communities: Strengthen Wisconsin communities by intensifying our
service impact through active engagement, research and learning applied to the
state’s greatest challenges.
Resources: Balance, diversify and grow our financial resources while developing
our human talent.
Operational Excellence: Advance operational excellence by becoming more
flexible, nimble, responsive and cost efficient.
Collaborations: Further leverage UW System’s strengths and impact through
collaborations among our campuses and with other Wisconsin partners.
--Voluntary System of Accountability in response to the Spelling Commission;
there are three parts: 1) web page—student time to degree, 2) NESSE data
available, 3) learning outcomes. System will pay for this.

4) Unfinished Business:

a) Administrator Evaluations: These will be ready to go out as soon as the Scan Trons are ready.

b) “First Friday”—Dennis agreed to get the wine.

5) New Business:

a) Ratification of e-mail vote to approve Executive Committee augmentations:
i) Greg Mayer for Philosophy (and Verb Kolb as “ad hoc” augmentor for the sole purpose of participating in the deliberations regarding Prof. Zaibert’s sabbatical proposal).
ii) Scott Thomson for Criminal Justice.
iii) Alex McNair and Bill Murin for History
Motion to ratify was approved 5 ayes, 0 nays, 0 abstentions.

b) Dean Cress: Request to approve augmentation of the E.C. for the Department of Geosciences: Paul Mohazzabi (Physics); request to approve augmentation of the E.C. for the Department of Geography: Dennis Kaufman (Economics) and Scott Thomson (Biological Sciences).
Motion to approve was passed 5 ayes, 0 nays, 0 abstentions.

c) Replacement for First Year Experience Governance Committee (willing to serve as Chair); replacement for Oko Elechi on Committee on Advising (Anne Gurnack, first runner-up, Tao Chen, second runner-up).
The Committee recommended Mike Seredycz (Criminal Justice) as a new member of the First Year Experience Committee, but recommended that the Committee try again to elect a Chair with experience on the committee.
The Committee approved asking the runners-up for the Committee on Advising to serve (in order of votes received).

d) Prof. Hansen: department involvement in faculty governance
Prof. Hansen presented a seven-page study on Faculty University Service. Members felt that the information should be presented to the Senate.

e) Prof. DeVinny: nominations for a search committee for the faculty Director of Gen. Ed./Co-director of First-Year.
Nine names were suggested and will be sent to Prof. DeVinny. (Chris Evans, Chris Tutlewski, Dean Younk, Suresh Chalasani, Lori Allen, Seif Da’Na, Herb Colston, Kelly McFatter, Chris Zanowski)
f) Sabbatical Review Committee—
CRCA: two members—Chris Evans, Michael Gurtman
CoTL: two members—Fran Kavenik, Jonathan Olsen
Recent recipients: two persons—Judi Tucker-Snider, Joy Wolf
g) Computing Issues (re: faculty e-mail received)
Prof. Evans will spearhead a collection of these issues.

h) Prof. Rome: UWPF Chapter 7
This chapter needs to be made clearer; a committee needs to be formed to do that. However, given the late hour, this item was TABLED.

6) Miscellaneous Business:
There was no further business.

7) The meeting was adjourned at 5:05 P.M.

Submitted by Evelyn Zepp, Secretary of the Faculty