Governance





Minutes of the University Committee
for December 8, 1998

The University Committee met on Tuesday, December 8, 1998, at 3:30 PM. Attending were F. Kavenik, C. Saffioti-Huges, T. Fossum, J. Kinchen, and A. McArthur.

In response to the memorandum from Bill Streeter, we discussed adding another faculty member to the augmented Facilities Planning Committee that is looking at Tallent Hall, and decided to recommend, first, Susan Haller, and then, if she declines, Carol Lee Saffioti-Hughes.

Timothy reported on the December 4 Faculty Reps meeting the following issues which were considered:

  • A. An optional substitute for the current state retirement plan, such as recommended by TIAA. There was some sense that the state Senate may oppose this idea. System administration thinks the plan might be beneficial. UW System is supposed to develop legislation to present to the Regents in the spring, but may not be able to do so that quickly.

  • B. Since July 1, 1998, the University is no longer permitted to enter into any post-retirement employment contract prior to the person's retirement.

  • C. Faculty Sick Leave Policy and use may be subject to a state level audit in the foreseeable future.

  • D. There will be an Academic Staff Forum on April 23, 1999, which will consider teaching load along with other matters. Faculty may also attend.

  • E. Policies on academic staff faculty status differ substantially on different campuses throughout the system.

    We conclude that there should be a meeting of our own Academic Staff Committee and the University Committee early next semester to address some issues of joint concern.

    Angie announced her "retirement" from the University Committee at the end of this semester because of her Spring Sabbatical leave. Her replacement will be decided in a "coin toss" from a tie in previous election.

    We wish to thank Angie fervently for her dedicated service on the University Committee for the past two and a half years.

    Tentative schedule for next semester: Tuesday or Thursday at 3:30?

    Carol Lee and Frances reported on today's visit of the deans of the Schools of Letters and Science and Business Administration and director of the Institute for Global Studies housed at UWM. The pupose of their visit was to discuss the systemwide proposal (DIN/Decision Item Narrative) to be considered by the governor and legislature. The proposal would provide funding for collaborative work within and between campuses in the UW system in the following areas: (1) foreign language training in lesser taught languages for students; (2) study abroad fellowships for students; (3) faculty development opportunities; (4) an ongoing Institute for Global Studies; (5) the WAGE (Wisconsin and the Global Economy) initiative; (6) a competitive grant program for single or multi-campus proposals.

    This initiative comes from a WITCO (Wisconsin International Trade Council) study completed and published in May 1998 [website at www://badger.state.wi.us/agencies/commerce]; the proposal for the DIN went to the Regents in August, and the proposers hope it will be in Governor Thompson's February 1999 budget proposal and that the state legislature will look favorably upon it.

    Among the projects already in the planning stages are a UW SYstem campus in the State of Punjab, India, which will initially offer a two-year associate degree and an internatnional MBA.

    The University Committtee considers that many UW-Parkside faculty and students would benefit from our participation in this initiative, from the planning stages to the implementation.

    The group agreeed to ask Carl Buck to talk to us, perhaps next week, about the issues surfacing in regard to student loans.