CoE CASI (Committee on Academic Staff Issues) Meeting Highlights 4/23/2001

Present: S. Anderson, J. Czyscon, B. Dye, J. Hendricks, M. Landretti, F. McTavish, P. Peercy, and J. Schowalter
Others Present: G. Kulcinski
Absent: L. Grossenbacher (Gisela Kutzbach attended as substitute), B. Peterson
NOTE: Correction to highlights from 3/19 - add J. Czyscon to those present at that meeting.

Announcements
P. Peercy distributed and discussed Budget Overview document prepared by Charles Hoslet, Special Assistant to the Chancellor. ASEC/MASA Spring 2001 Town Meetings reminder of dates, times, locations. J. Hendricks sent reminder email to all CoE academic staff. Status of instructional and research professor titles: UW System committee recommendations have been sent to the campuses for comment by mid-May. J. Hendricks will check with Steve Lund concerning how faculty requirements at UW-Madison (particularly PhD) compare with requirements at other UW System campuses. M. Landretti is on the Memorial Union Director search and screen committee and would welcome suggestions for candidates.

Communications Subcommittee Report and Discussion
CoE Webmaster Joyce Tikalsky will demonstrate the CASI website at the next meeting. M. Landretti and J. Czyscon will contact Karen Walsh regarding procedures for soliciting candidates and conducting the election for the at-large academic staff member of the APC. The committee will proceed to complete the process by the end of May.

Report on ASEC meeting w/CASI reps (J. Czyscon) Comments and information from the meeting: Older CASIs feel "stuck" what to do next? On some committees, a few people are doing all of the work. Some members don't speak up, possibly due to job security fears. Academic staff on graduate student committees Dean Hinshaw generally opposes, but will consider exceptions if a good case is made. Websites with good professional development information L & S, Education, and GLS (general library system). Several CASIs have done surveys and brown bags. L & S had a brown bag with Don Schutt presenting on-campus professional development opportunities. Professional development, job security and merit review were common issues. In response to a question from the committee, J. Hendricks reported that the PPPC monitors the campus wide results of the annual longer-term appointment review process. CALS procedure for reviewing longer-term appointments (recommended by their CASI) was distributed. Do academic staff serve on all CoE committees? B. Dye, P. Peercy, J. Hendricks will compile a list of all CoE committees as a starting point. J. Czyscon distributed the 3/29/2001 survey of the CASIs, and encouraged CASI members to look at responses and give particular attention to items #6 and #7. She also distributed a letter to Chancellor Wiley and Vice Chancellor Torphy from the UW-Madison Coalition for Domestic Partner Benefits, communicating and encouraging support for domestic partner health benefits for UW-Madison employees, which was distributed to the CASI representatives.

Professional Development Discussion
B. Dye reported that only three Professional Development PD) Grant applications were received college wide during the recent application period. Suggestions for increasing the number of applicants included sponsoring a workshop on how to develop applications for Professional Development Grants, and for J. Czyscon to write something for the website describing her experience from a previous PD grant that she applied for and received.

Report on APC Meeting (P. Peercy)
CoE graduate ranking in U.S. News and World Report is same as last year. The ABET 30-day response was submitted. The official result of the ABET evaluation will be received after the ABET vote in July. P. Peercy re-distributed the issues ranking survey to the members of the APC for the APC members to rank. High priority issues with the APC include CoE cluster hires, infrastructure, and centers. The Computer Subcommittee discussed the difficulty of keeping up to date with computer and software support given the rapidly changing technology. Hardware costs are decreasing dramatically; the major costs now are in software. The College is considering the concept of students purchasing their own computers and we license and provide software. Another infrastructure issue is optical fiber (bandwidth is expanding) vs. wireless connections. The Curriculum Revision Subcommittee discussed approaches to using technology to allow faculty to decrease time spent lecturing and devote more time to curriculum development. CS 310 is piloting a new format lectures are available digitally for students to view prior to class. Class time is spent in labs where students learn to apply the material. Other issues include core curriculum (common courses we have fewer than many leading engineering schools/colleges at other universities), and the need for a campus policy/procedures for addressing conflict of interest issues when graduate student are involved with consulting companies.

Plan for COE Town Meeting (Thursday, May 10, 1:00-2:00 p.m., 1610 EH)
The main topics will be the strategic plan (brief presentation by P. Peercy) and the CASI. The CASI portion will include introduction of CASI members, brief discussion of the three top issues identified, the website, the APC election, and presentations by representatives of the Communications and Professional Development subcommittees. J. Hendricks will work out the details.

NEXT CASI MEETING: WEDNESDAY, MAY 30, 10:00-11:30 A.M., 3609 ENGINEERING HALL

Copyright 2006 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System Date last modified: 06-Aug-2001 Date created: 06-Aug-2001 Content by: CASI Thank you for visiting http://www.engr.wisc.edu/staff/casi/mh042301.html