Minutes of the Meeting of the Faculty
for November 8, 2006
PSF 12/06-07

Faculty present: Fay Akindes, Lori Allen, Rob Barber, Norm Cloutier, Linda Crafton, Doug DeVinny, Alan Goldsmith, Gail Gonzalez, Stu Hansen, Farida Khan, Traci Lee, Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz, Mary Lenard, John Longeway, Greg Mayer, Megan Mullen, J. Ubaldo Quevedo, Bob Sasso, Anne Statham, Susan Takata, Scott Thomson, Gary Wood, Evelyn Zepp.

 

Administrators present: Jack Keating, Rebecca Martin, William Streeter.

 

Other attendees: John Desch, DeAnn Possehl, Charlotte Short 

 

Chancellor Keating called the meeting to order at 3:40 P.M. 

 

Ms. Possehl and Mr. Desch reported on the plans for the Union Expansion and other projects.  Those interested may consult the expansion web site.  A document with the time line for construction was distributed at the meeting.

It was stressed that, although sites may be different from those most desired, there WILL be sites for conferences; anyone planning a conference should continue to do so.

This portion of the meeting ended at 4:15 P.M. 

 

Prof. DeVinny moved to go into the Committee of the Whole.  The motion was approved. 

 

Prof. DeVinny noted that 30% of the faculty constitutes a quorum for a faculty meeting, and that there was therefore not a quorum for an official meeting. 

 

Prof. DeVinny began the discussion my noting the importance and uniqueness of Chapter 36, which legislates shared governance in Wisconsin, the only state to do so.  (Copies of the first 9 pages of Ch. 36 were available at the meeting.)  The U.C., and many others throughout the campus, wanted to discuss the value of Chapter 36, its responsibilities and opportunities, and the fact that the same people appear to be doing the majority of governance things.

 

Chapter 36 codifies the opportunities and responsibilities of everyone from the Board of Regents to the students.  It is an honor to be able to have these responsibilities and opportunities, and the hope is to strengthen these lines of communication, and, in particular, to be sure that junior faculty are aware of the unique situation in Wisconsin. 

 

Discussion points included:

 

--Faculty elections: newer faculty might be elected if something was known about them.  Jr. faculty could start with appointments and"work their way up."  Elections might be reserved to major committees and more people appointed to the others.  The old Committee on Committees was mentioned.

 

--Socialization: example of First Friday, just to get to know people. Something that cuts across department boundaries.

 

--Department vary greatly on how they value service.  Sense that too few people doing disproportionate share of service.  If we cease to participate, we could lose our opportunity to participate, lose Chapter 36.  The sense of the body was that T R S percentages across departments should be make public (along with the expectation for service), so that a sense of the "range" of percentage for survey could be reached.

 

--Faculty and staff all over the System have worked on Chapter 7 and have had a real impact. 

 

Prof. DeVinny thanked everyone for coming.

 

Chancellor Keating noted that the election results should be helpful to us. 

 

The meeting adjourned at 5:05 P.M. 

 

Submitted by Evelyn Zepp, Secretary of the Faculty