April 2021 Meeting Minutes | Council of Academic Professionals

April 2021 Monthly CAP Meeting
Date: Thursday, April 1, 2021
Time: 1:15 PM
Zoom Recording

Attendees: Brent West (1), Allie Arp (2), Mindy Spencer (3), Brandi Barnes (4), Lisa Merrifield (6), Doug Gucker (6), Nicole DelMastro-Jeffery (7),Betoel Escobar (7), Brian Brauer (8), William Schlaack (9), Jake Metz (9), Chaya Sandler (10), Lisa Bievenue (10), John Scott (11), Sarah Ashcraft (11)

Absent: Amber Munds (1), John Mahlmeister (2), Tasha Robles (3), Dustin Yocum (4), Suzana Palaska-Nicholson (5), Ann Christine Jones (5), Doug Gucker (6)

Call to Order – Brian Brauer called the meeting to order at 1:15
Guest Speaker: Virtual Tour of the campus Red Oak Rain Garden
- Eliana Brown provided an overview of the Red Oak Rain Garden located just south of Allen Hall on the east side of campus. https://redoakraingarden.org/
Public Comment
1. No public comment
Review and Approval of Minutes
- March 2021 minutes approved
Chair’s Remarks
- No remarks
Announcements
- No announcements
Academic Senator Reports
- Brian provided an overview of the Senate meeting
  - Saliva testing has been extended to families
  - A program will add 15 additional faculty hires
  - Classroom capacities for the fall have been released
  - Revisions to the curriculum were also discussed
Senate Committee Reports
- Admissions: Jeannette Elliott
  - Has not met
- Budget: Kaamilyah Abdullah-Span
  - Updated the by-laws for greater clarity on the role of the by-laws committee
  - Impacts of pandemic on the budget discussed
  - F&A rates discussed
  - A student organization submitted a proposal on divestment from fossil fuels which was heard
  - A transparency survey was sent out on e-week for campus comment
- Elections and Credentials: Brian Farber, Brent West
  - A proposal to change the way the elections for AP senators work when there are more than 2 nominees will be discussed next Tuesday at a committee meeting. If passed by the committee will go to Senate for a vote. If passed, the changes will be enacted next year.
  - A resolution to allow more flexibility on timing of elections has been approved.
  - A resolution to change the AP eligibility is under consideration.
- Equal Opportunity and Inclusion: Kaamilyah Abdullah-Span
- Committee on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (Name Change)
  - The committee endorsed king fisher as the mascot
  - The committee is seeking feedback on a diversity statement
  - Revisions to Provost Communication #9 on promotion and tenure are being discussed
- Faculty and Academic Staff Benefits: Francis Thomas, Brent West
  - No updates
- General University Policy: Melissa Madsen
  - The Senate General University Policy committee discussed several task force report commissioned by the Provost’s Office that are of particular interest to tenure-system faculty: The Task Force on Assessing Teaching Effectiveness, The Task Force on Recognizing Public Engagement, and the Task Force on the Revision of Promotion and Tenure Guidelines. The primary focus of discussion was on the promotion and tenure guidelines. Because faculty going up for promotion and/or tenure are evaluated on research, teaching, and service, with an option to be evaluated on public engagement (if that’s part of their responsibilities), the Promotion guidelines of necessity were to be informed by the engagement and teaching effectiveness reports. The task force also recommended developing standards of integrity and professional conduct to be incorporated into tenure guidelines, and that expectations for conduct be clearly communicated beginning in offer letters and continuing with annual and third year reviews.
- Public Engagement and Outreach: Sarah Christensen, Lisa Bievenue
  - Asset mapping of public engagement resources, staff, etc.. is underway
  - Extension and Public Engagement Connection Center is also doing this
  - If units have assets, they can share with Lisa Bievenue or anyone at the EPECC Center — https://extension.illinois.edu/connection
- Senate Executive Committee (SEC): Brian Brauer & Allie Arp
  - Approved agenda for senate meeting
  - An emergency meeting was held to discuss the 5-year review of the Chancellor. The committee identified that they need more time to gather perspective from other senate members before commenting.
- University Statutes & Senate Procedures (USSP): Brent West & Terri Ciofalo
  - No updates
CAP Committee Reports
- AP Development fund
  - Awards are being made
  - To apply https://specialprograms.research.illinois.edu/Program.aspx?ProgramGuid=D49842E3-61FF-4E20-8FAD-46F3D06E1D00
- Recruitment and Retention: Allie Arp
  - Has not met. Plan to meet with HR and receive AP demography data.
- Ad Hoc SAC/CAP Common Interest Areas: Brent West
  - Meet and worked on a list of differences between APs and Civil Service to make sure there is good understanding of issues.
  - Working with HR who has done a similar exercise.
  - Also plan to interview recently converted employees. If people are interested in participating, contact Brent.
- Ad Hoc Committee on Bylaws: Jayesh Patel
  - In the final stages. Members will have the changes for review soon. Will be discussed at the May meeting.
- Campus HR Staffing Committee Myra Sully
  - No updates
- CAPE Awards Committee: Rich Gegg/Amber Munds
  - Ceremony will be April 15, held virtually, to recognize both 2020 and 2021. Information here https://emails.illinois.edu/newsletter/266535.html
- Communications Committee: Lisa Bievenue
  - Provide feedback on CAP communication here https://surveys.illinois.edu/sec/1972127071
- Grievance Officer: John Scott
  - CAP provided UIC with our grievance procedures as they consider a similar process for their campus
- Ad Hoc Committee on Harassment: Mindy Spencer
  - Update expected for May meeting
- Outreach Committee: Allie Arp
  - Speakers:
    - Humanities Research Institute in May
    - Provost in June
- Officer Nominating Committee: Allie Arp
  - Officers to be elected at next CAP meeting
  - Call for nominations will come shortly
- Procedures and Elections Committee: Allie Arp
  - 1, 4, 6, 7, 10 or 11 will have openings in May
  - 3, 7, 9, 11 have received information on AP Senate Elections
  - Special election will be held for district 8
- Racism and Social Injustice: Gio Guerra Perez
  - Call to Action on Racism and Social Justice program. Two sessions have and will be held about that. The information came out through the list serve.
- University Professional Personnel Advisory Committee: Brian Brauer
  - Benchmarking committee is conducting a review of other campuses to see how our benefits compare to other similar universities
Academic Human Resources Report Senior Associate Chancellor for Human Resources
- Staff voluntary retirement program: 391 applications submitted. About 27% of eligible population applied. 327 employees have signed the agreement. The majority will leave June 30. Some will stay on for a few more months. A higher percentage of civil service employees applied than APs.
  - DIA had a separate plan. Those are not finalized yet.
- Reengaged the return to campus HR committee. Now in 7 smaller committees who are working diligently. Final recommendations to Ellkyn and leadership committee are due later this month. Goal to have recommendations to campus leadership by the end of May.
- Status of project related to equity in pay? Robbie Witt is working on how to proceed. Will have meetings in the next few weeks.
- Regarding vacation and sick leave roll over for August, the President and Chancellors will be restoring the traditional maximums for vacation roll over on August 16 for both AP and Civil Service employees. For AP employees, can start the year with 48 days.
- Civil Service Conversion process – business finance and HR sectors are complete. HR is in the middle of the communication positions review. HR is suspending activity for the summer because of the voluntary retirement plan and restructuring of positions. The functional review of communication positions will begin again in September of this year.
Unfinished Business
- Vaccination Progress: As of next week, everyone over 16 will be eligible to be vaccinated. A vaccine finder tool will be available to help people find vaccines. Additional information will be coming out form the public health district.
New Business
- No requests
Closed Session IS expected.
- Closed session was held
Adjournment

- Rich Gegg will replace Brent West’s, who is resigning in June, for a 3-year term
- Chaya moved from District 10, so that position is open