Present:	Karen Brucks, Eduardo Douglas, Glen Fredlund, Peter Geissinger, David Heathcote, Joyce Kirk, Pat Kissinger, Michael Liston, Kris Ruggiero, Gabrielle Verdier
Guests:	Dane Baumgartner, Connie Jo, Richard Meadows, Kim Romenesko

1. Call to Order - The chair, Glen Fredlund, called the meeting to order at 10:08 a.m. in Merrill 148. The members of the committee introduced themselves to one another and to the Dean.
   
   
2. Special Order of Business - Discussion with Dean Meadows
   Dean Richard Meadows provided the committee with an update on his current priorities and plans for the College. He spoke mainly about budget, faculty recruitment, fall enrollment, instructional innovation, and research innovation.
   
   The Dean distributed a summary of the College budget year-end balances for 2005-2006 (copy attached to the original of these minutes). One of the biggest concerns the College continues to face are the negative balances in 101 and 189 funds. The overall budget climate remains one of restraint. This year, the College is around $2.8 million short, which, compared to last year's $4 million shortfall, is a bit better. L&S is funded largely by tuition revenue dollars. Last year, L&S generated $64 million in tuition revenue but got credit for only $57 million. The reason for this is complicated, but, in part, it is because campus administration says that instructional costs are not as high in L&S as compared to other schools/colleges. Campus administrators have not come down on L&S for its budget deficit because they understand the College's situation and because L&S is crucial to the Chancellor's agenda, in terms of both access and research. In addition, L&S administrative expenses are a much smaller percent of the total College budget than is the case for any other campus unit. Dean Meadows is hopeful that the College will fare okay with this year's tuition revenue dollars. The campus has submitted a DIN (decision item narrative) to System for a $10 million base budget increase. The Chancellor remains optimistic that the DIN will be funded. If so, we are likely to receive $2 million the first year of the biennium and $8 million in the second year. While the State budget is not in great shape, legislators are aware that UWM serves more Wisconsin residents than any other campus in the State.
   
   Dean Meadows distributed a list of faculty recruitments for the 2007-2008 academic year (copy attached to the original of these minutes). He thanked the APGC for its faculty recruitment recommendations, most of which were followed. Ten to twenty individuals retire each year. Although we need thirty to forty new faculty members, there are insufficient resources for that level of hiring. This year's faculty recruitment plan calls for hiring 13 new faculty members. Because of partner hires, the number actually hired is likely to be closer to 20-22 individuals. Dean Meadows said that faculty retention remains a problem, and the number of counter-offers the College is making each year is on the rise. We are being raided because we have wonderful faculty and because faculty at UWM are underpaid. The Dean and the Provost were able to boost some individual faculty members' salaries last year ($560,000 total adjustments); though this helped, it did not fix the entire salary compression problem. There also are severe salary compression problems in the teaching academic staff. Under the current UW System salary arrangement, there is no pay-off for experience beyond the senior level. The Dean is trying to address this problem through the development of a step system, but all resulting adjustments must come out of the College's base budget.
   
   Dean Meadows then addressed fall enrollments; he distributed a handout comparing this year's fall enrollments to those of last fall (copy attached to the original of these minutes). The campus shows a 2.2% increase in credits; L&S has increased 1.2%. Because we are lower than the campus average, we may lose tuition revenue. L&S is down 250 freshmen compared to last year. Dean Meadows noted that the dorms offered more contracts last year than available room allowed, so many students learned at the last minute that they would not have dorm space. To avoid that problem this year, students were turned away. If we had been able to accept all those who applied, L&S likely would be at the campus average. A new dorm will be built on North Avenue just across the river. The campus would like to have all freshmen housed in the dorms. The dean also noted that summer enrollments this year were down. It may be that the increased tuition has forced more students to work instead of taking classes in summer.
   
   Instructional innovations are a College priority. Several introductory courses (Chemistry, Math 211, Philosophy 101, and Psychology 101) are undergoing redesign, trying to use technology in more innovative ways to increase retention. The campus received an invitation from the Sloan Foundation to apply for grant funds to develop hybrid instructional programs. Sloan has put a lot of money into online instruction to try to increase access to higher education. The Foundation wants to seed-fund projects that help students who cannot get to campus. Sloan has identified UWM as the first campus in the country to pilot innovative projects to accomplish this. Proposals from campus were requested by November 1. The campus has asked for ideas, especially from L&S. Dean Meadows distributed copies of a plan developed by Tom O'Bryan (copy attached to the original of these minutes). This plan involves online instruction in new sessions. Course scheduling on this system would allow students to take at least seven courses in a year.
   
   There were numerous questions about the plan. Gabrielle Verdier asked how the new, shorter sessions were different from a quarter system, which most people find difficult. Eduardo Douglas asked what the implications for teaching load would be, and he noted that the necessarily longer in-class instruction sessions might be too intense. Dean Meadows said that we probably would want to look at other means of delivery, such as online instruction. Concern was expressed about whether it was possible to teach foreign languages on the internet. Kris Ruggiero reported on a presentation at a meeting in Washington at which a person at UW-Madison discussed teaching language with technology. She noted that Madison is a national resource center in African languages.
   
   Dean Meadows announced that a new College fee for all online instruction has been implemented for Spring. The fee will be shared with departments that deliver the online instruction.
   
   In the area of curriculum expansion, Dean Meadows noted that the College is about to submit its implementation plan for a new Communication Ph.D. We have received approval for an entitlement to develop a Ph.D. in Africology. We also have been given permission to reactivate the Geosciences Ph.D.
   
   The dean briefly discussed round 2 of the RGI process. In the first round, there were 44 proposals approved, including 30 from L&S. The largest number of awards went to natural science faculty members, although the proposals from the humanities had the highest percentage of funded proposals (11 submitted, 4 funded). For the social and natural sciences, 15-20% were funded. RGI was discussed at the recent new faculty luncheons. There were seven individuals at the luncheons for the natural sciences; all seven individuals indicated that they planned to apply for RGI funding.
   
   Dean Meadows briefly described the Wisconsin Institute for Biological and Health Technology (WIBHT). Five schools (including the Medical College of Wisconsin) in the Milwaukee area are involved. Physics is the L&S department most directly involved, but there is great potential for Biological Sciences, Mathematics, and Chemistry & Biochemistry. WIBHT focuses on medical imaging, bioinformatics, and health technology. Funding of $1 million in base is available to fund tech-related projects. Work will begin with a nucleus of three people, but there is great potential for growth.
   
   Michael Liston asked if the DIN was connected with WIBHT. The dean responded that the DIN does talk about WIBHT; medical imaging was used as an example in the DIN proposal, but the DIN is not restricted to that area. The campus says we must invest more in science and engineering. Dean Meadows noted that RGI has resulted in changes to how 101-4 funding is used on campus, changes that have implications especially for Centers. We are trying to figure out ways to keep the Centers going without requiring that they be 100% self-supporting. RGI is not useful for Centers; it is aimed more at individual principal investigators. Peter Geissinger stated that some centers already have lost their entire funding and asked if they would be eligible for reinstatement of that funding. Dean Meadows noted that Mark Harris is working on a plan. It is likely that more indirect funding will come back to Centers. Currently, the College gets only ten percent. The hope is that most of the increased funding will come out of the campus' share, but the Provost points out that there are huge demands placed on the indirect budget (e.g., Chancellor's awards for TAs). L&S especially has problems with being competitive for graduate students.
   
   The Dean then asked committee members about their concerns. Several committee members said that the major problem is that students don't read and write well. Eduardo Douglas also noted that class sizes were a problem. Dean Meadows indicated that his online class has a lot of students who write well. He acknowledged, however, that this is a problem and asked how we could fix it. The subject needs much more discussion. Joyce Kirk stated that students do not get introduced to research papers early enough; we need to get students into the library. She suggested look at what is working in different departments. Dean Meadows said that he gets frequent requests for more funding for the Writing Center. Currently, the College funds 100% of the Center's expenses, but the entire campus uses it. The past year, the Center had 850 visits by 450 students. Faculty members also have consulted individuals at the Center. Eduardo Douglas said we also need to look at individual classes to see which need to be small in order to allow students to work one-on-one with instructors. We also need more TA help. Dean Meadows said he would like to get a group together to discuss this issue more.
   
   The Dean then thanked committee members for allowing him to meet with them, and he left the meeting.
   
   
3. Procedural Matters
   1. Election of Co-Chair for 2006-2007 -- A new policy was proposed whereby the APGC chair is elected from the group of committee members starting their second year; in the following year, for continuity and consistency, that individual automatically becomes co-chair. The policy was moved, seconded, and approved. Under the new policy, David Heathcote, last year's committee chair, became this year's co-chair. As such, David will be responsible for conducting the business of the committee in the absence of the chair.
   2. Recommend Parliamentarian to the Dean - The Committee wishes to recommend David Mulroy to serve as parliamentarian for Faculty meetings. Connie Jo will contact him to ask if he is willing to serve in that position.
   3. Meeting Schedule - Members agreed to schedule meetings every five weeks. Subsequent meetings would be on November 2 and December 7 at 10:00 a.m. If there is no business pending, the meeting will be cancelled.
   4. Review Committee's Charter - The Committee's charter was briefly reviewed. It was noted that the charter gives the committee broad leeway to advise the Dean. Members voiced concern about the proposal solicitation from the Sloan Foundation that was brought to their attention by Dean Meadows. They wondered, specifically, what the Sloan Foundation proposal guidelines looked like; whether the solicitation for proposals had been as broadly distributed as it should have been; and whether the proposal written by Tom O'Bryan should be reviewed by the APGC or some other faculty group. The members agreed that these concerns should be communicated to the Dean. Connie Jo and Glen Fredlund will prepare a draft of a memo to the Dean and distribute the draft via email to committee members. The committee asked Connie to find out if proposal guidelines are available and, if so, to send them to members via e-mail. Members also had a long discussion on how to get students to write better. Connie Jo mentioned that the College has tried numerous solutions over the years with varying degrees of success. The Committee members wondered how much writing support could be offered via distance learning; they expressed an interest in having someone from the Writing Center and from the Department of English to come to the next meeting to discuss problems with students' writing skills. There was some additional discussion of the administration's proposal to the Sloan Foundation, particularly whether the resulting disruption would be worth the money. Connie Jo was asked to invite Tom O'Bryan to the next meeting to answer questions about the proposal.
      
      
4. Automatic Consent
   1. Approval of Minutes #7 (June 2, 2006) - There were no corrections to the minutes; they stand approved.
   2. Approval of Annual Report, 2005-2006 - There were no corrections to the annual report; it stands approved.
      
      
5. Old Business
   1. 2007-2008 Faculty Recruitment - postponed
   2. Dave Heathcote announced that he and Kathy Dolan will meet with the University Committee to discuss the AP&GC's distinguished professors proposal.
      
      
6. New Business
   1. Recommendation to Revise the L&S Approval Matrix - The Committee reviewed a recommendation for editorial revisions to the L&S approval matrix to update the matrix with current L&S committee names. It was moved, seconded, and approved to forward the recommendation to the L&S Faculty.
   2. Recommendations to Serve on Sabbatical Review Groups (5 from each division) - The following individuals will be recommended to the associate deans to review sabbatical proposals:
      Humanities: Kathy Wheatley, Julius Sensat, Mark Netzloff, James Hazard, Carla Bagnoli;
      Natural Sciences: Reinhold Hutz, Dennis Bennett, Carol Hirschmugl, Bruce Wade, Tim Grundl
      Social Sciences: Jeff Merrick, Merry Wiesner-Hanks, Judith Kenny, Pat Gray, Shale Horowitz
   3. Possible Faculty Meeting Dates: October 26 and March 29 - The Committee approved these meeting dates.
   4. Faculty Meeting Agenda Items - After reordering the items on the draft agenda, the Committee approved it.
   5. Nominations Process -- The committee ran out of time but set a new meeting date of Thursday, October 12, 10:00 a.m. to discuss the nominations process, the Sloan Foundation proposal, and writing instruction.
      
      
7. Adjournment - The meeting was adjourned at 12:03 p.m.
   
   
   

Respectfully submitted,

Connie Jo, Assistant Dean
Secretary to the L&S Faculty

Distribution: Dean G. Richard Meadows
Associate Deans Gajdardziska-Josifovska, O'Bryan, Schuster, Swain
Assistant Deans Horstman, Jo
Secretary of the University

Minutes #1, 2006-07.apgc