March 2023 Meeting Minutes | Council of Academic Professionals

Meeting Info

Date: Thursday, March 3, 2023
Time: 1:15 PM
Location: Alice Campbell Alumni Center & Zoom

Agenda

Call to Order 1:16 pm
Guest Speaker: Provost Bernhard, Interim Provost
- Provost Bernhard thanked APs for our service and opened up the time to questions:
- What is happening with respect to the recent efforts for new faculty hiring?
  - Provided extra funding for units to hire faculty
  - Faculty has not been growing at the same rate as students
  - Cluster hires for cross-disciplinary initiatives
  - Recognition that more faculty requires more support as well
  - Operational excellence initiative to encourage units to look at practices to improve efficiency, less transactional (strategic thinking, improving on the mission). Create an environment where there are opportunities to have a deeper impact with your unit. This is about doing more with what we have but also to make jobs more interesting, rewarding, impactful, and involved with overall unit strategies and mission.
  - HR is looking at how to support promotional pathways for staff, and thinking about how to support/manage hybrid and remote work. Employees are looking for flexibility…how can that be managed equitably.
- Community and public engagement
  - has been emphasized by the Chancellor over the past 7 years.
  - New office of community and public engagement (Wanda Ward), been working on campus-community compact
    - Worked with local schools on college awareness and preparedness
    - Tiny homes initiative, Hope Village, to address homeless issues
    - Expanding access to digital access and broadband
- How can we better partner with and through UI Extension
  - RE: community and local health issues, Extension can help reach more people throughout the state
  - Partnerships around education, college readiness, etc.
  - Grow and retain first-generation students (financial aid, wrap around services, networks, tutoring, etc.)
- Prairie Research Institute
  - Both basic and applied research, with large staff and impact, perhaps an underappreciated gem on campus
  - Opportunities for partnerships
  - Working on new strategic plan for UIUC, Chancellor has asked for task force on climate, resilience and thrivability. One track for what we can do in basic and translational research, and another track around education to organize classroom offerings, certificates to address needs of students and non-traditional learners. PRI is an important part of this mandate.
- Transforming Higher Education is a request from the system to think about how we can serve non-traditional and lifelong learners (re-skilling, career change, etc.).
  - Different ways of thinking about personalized learning
  - Partner with corporations on employee training
  - In process of talking about how campus can best support this
  - Some colleges already making investments (Gies, Grainger, iSchool) but how can campus step in to support
  - How can we do this to scale for non-degree students?
  - Campus will invest in this, and important to do because it’s part of our land grant mission, how to best serve citizens of Illinois.
  - We have faculty buy-in and expanding and socializing it to maintain that support. Want online courses of same quality as courses on campus, so there is a quality control component that will make us unique. Global campus didn’t go anywhere in part because it was a separate part of campus, not integrated.
  - Transforming higher education as a type of online learning, credentialing, badging will not change the residential experience…that is still important and we do it well. Online will not replace residential…it will be in addition to. And it will take support (staffing) to deliver quality online learning.
- How does Academic Affairs help students with mental health concerns?
  - We want high standards and want everyone to succeed, and need to provide support, for mental health, social networks, etc.
  - Partner with student services, McKinley, to support students holistically
Public Comment – none
Review and Approval of February 3, 2023 Minutes
Chair’s Remarks
- CAP Statement to Committee on Committees –regarding ST-83 and balanced membership of committees received
- HR approved changes in CAP by-laws
- Next CAP meeting will be in person with President Killeen
Announcements – none
Illinois Human Resources Report Brian Farber, Chief of Staff, Illinois Human Resources
- APDF – 6 additional applications funded (5 at $500, 1 at $205); $7,076 funded to this point; 2 pending applications, requesting $500 each.
- CSEA – at semi-finalist stage (32 semi-finalists). Reception will be April 25 4:30-6:00
- All staff Expo – tentatively scheduled for fall, October 12, possibly at State Farm Center (working out logistics)
  - IHR and Assoc. Chancellor committed to making this an approved event for staff
  - SAC will reach out soon in the planning for that event
- New position for IHR – Exec director for compensation strategy (part of realignment of HR)
- Faculty staff emergency fund drive begins in April.
- Operational excellence – progress in a number of areas.
  - Rich asked for a budget for CAP give-aways
Academic Senator Reports – none
- Rich shared general interest in having additional Senate seats for APs
Academic Senate Committee Reports
- Campus Operations: Susan Breakenridge
  - Met on February 24
  - Guest speaker, Director of Parking Department
  - Number of car charging ports on campus (current and expecting…significantly increasing)
  - Parking space utilization; less usage due to remote/hybrid work, but people are not giving up parking spaces
  - Charging stations will be metered parking (cost of electricity minimal)
  - Thinking of increasing parking rate overall (parking is self-funded auxiliary and need to find balance of secure parking and cost)
- Faculty and Academic Staff Benefits: Matthew Feely, CAP Rep (OPEN), Richard Gegg*
  - Met, looking at comparison of faculty salaries
  - Should try to do comparison of staff faculty, but very complex
- Senate Executive Committee (SEC): Rich Gegg *
  - Met with Chancellor, CIO, short meeting to set agenda for senate meeting</li
CAP Committee Reports (updates?)
- Procedures and Elections Committee: Lisa Merrifield, Elizabeth Meschewski
  - Nominees for 15 of 16 open seats
  - Currently running elections for districts 3 and 10
  - Candidates selected for districts 1, 8, 9 and 11
  - Still seeking nominees for 2 and 5
  - 6 open senate seats; will run elections in districts 7 and 9, extended nomination deadline for district 5
  - Goal is to complete elections before April meeting
- Public Safety Advisory Committee: *OPEN*
- Special Events Advisory Committee: *OPEN*
- AD HOC CAP Committee on Committees – what is active, what can be closed, who needs members?
Unfinished Business – none
New Business – none
Closed Session – yes
Adjournment 2:40pm