Alcohol and Other Drug Taskforce - 12/04/09 Meeting - Alcohol and Drinking Symposium

The Alcohol and Other Drug Taskforce met Friday December 4th. Primarily, our focus was on the presentation for the symposium titled "Examining Our Student Drinking Culture: A Look at the Culture Now and Ways We Can Improve It". Summarizing the two-day program scheduled for April 27th and 28th of 2010 (Tuesday and Wednesday) is as follows.

Night 1: Our Drinking Culture: A New Age Look at Alcohol Consumption

This night will examine the current drinking culture of this university and this city. It is important that we know where we are with alcohol as a community, not five or ten years ago, but today. We will learn about the effects of toxic drinking and the new studies being done that will help us determine the climate of our drinking culture. This night will also emphasize the importance of alcohol education. The goal of this night is to better understand where we are today so that we may improve our culture into the future.

Night 2: Chaning the Drinking Culture: Where to go from here?

This night will concentrate on current alcohol policy and discuss ideas for improving the drinking cuture in the future. We will get a physiological background on alcohol before we discuss the effects of the drinking age. The rest of the night will be panel-led discussion on city alcohol policy, and a comparative student look into the drinking cultures of our Big Ten and system neighbors. The goal of this night is to give us insight into the direction alcohol policy must take in light of current policy already in place, within the city and the university.

Some of the concerns brought up in discussion were consistency of student attendance, the venue it would be held at, and the equality of representation. Chances are it will be in a dormitory or somewhere like Grainger. Another related topic was food costs. Advertising and food were going to be the key ways to attract and maintain students. Lastly was equal representation. The issue was on our second day, we would have a returning guest, Dr. Kevin Strang, and a presentation from the The Amethyst Initiative Choose Responsibility group. Dr. Strang would give a physiological perspective on drinking and common misconceptions and one of the main points of the second guest is reasons to lower the drinking age. Some of the members of the AODT want to see a different speaker instead of Dr. Strang to fairly contrast the view of the Amethyst Initiative. A link for the schedule thus far will be added to this blog ASAP.

Office of the Registrar Advisory Board Meeting - December 4, 2009

The Office of the Registrar Student Advisory Board met on Friday, December 4, 2009. This is a new committee for the 2009-2010 academic year. The purpose of the committee is to meet with representatives from the Registrar's office and discuss ways in which to improve the Registrar's services, as well as increase student awareness of existing services.
At this meeting, we discussed Student Center, the web-based program in which students can register for classes, update addresses, and view financial aid information. The Advisory Board provided input on changes that could make Student Center more accessible and easier to understand for students. For example, we discussed making "help" options more visible on various pages of Student Center; noted that sometimes there is confusion about whether or not a class has been actually added to a schedule or if it still remains on the Wish List; and also noted that it is frustrating when the search defaults to the fall term instead of spring. We also discussed how the process of running and reading a DARS is somewhat confusing, and how students do not receive education about DARS reports and their purpose in any formal manner. Board members suggested that it may be helpful to have students go through online tutorials/demos of enrollment and DARS before they come to SOAR, so that they are more prepared for first semester enrollment.
Other Shared Governance members are encouraged to comment below or contact an Advisory Board member if they have input on services from the Registrar's office, including posting of deadlines, Student Center, enrollment information, DARS, and Course Guide.
-Kendra Gurnee

Campus Diversity and Climate Committee Meeting, December 1, 2009

With the conclusion of Plan 2008 and the campus community abuzz with talk about "inclusive excellence" (the framework for diversity and climate adopted by the UW, systemwide), the CDCC has begun to re-examine its purpose in relation to diversity initiatives. At this past meeting, the group discussed the question, "What does the university community need the CDCC to do and to be in order to accomplish the broad goal of inclusive excellence?" Several students from the ASM Diversity Committee were in attendance as guests, and they participated in the conversation as well.

Some key topics of the conversation included:

* the CDCC as a "the conscience" of the university around diversity and climate

* what sorts of incentives can be provided to enhance diversity initiatives across campus

* increasing student involvement in the committee

* broadening membership to include groups not normally brought in to diversity conversations

* creating clear plans for activating goals

* involving the chancellor and provost in future work of the committee

* being able to work simultaneously on programmatic action steps and big picture system thinking

* increased accountability structures

* incorporation of divisions and units

* translating ideas into action

This was just a brainstorming session, to be followed by some more intensive conversations throughout the spring about the charge of CDCC. Several times people noted the presence of students as a positive force, and people are reminded that the committee's meetings are open to the public and that guests are welcome.

The schedule for spring 2010 meetings is being revised, so any posted meeting times are subject to change.

--Frank Honts

Campus Planning Committee: Meeting of November 19, 2009

With neither welcome, nor introduction, the Campus Planning Committee (CPC) commenced its November 19, 2009 meeting. There were four items on the agenda:

1) Approval of the November 12, 2009 Minutes.

2) Irwin Goldman, Interim Dean of CALS, gave the presentation on replacement of the existing Seeds Facility. The wooden structure was built in the late 1940's. The reasons for this request is the proposed expansion of the Meat Science and Muscle Facility and the inability to preserve seeds. For example, under normal conditions, seeds should last at least 25 years, but in the current facility, it is only 5 years.

3) Al Fish, FP&M, gave the presentation on the improvement of the lakeshore area that is north adjacent to Memorial Union and the Evelyn White building. The scope of work includes repair of the concrete piers, improvement of the walking areas, and the development of a park between the Red Gym and the Memorial Union. The goal is the prevention of lakeshore erosion and the connections of a pedestrian walkway from the lake shore to 21 North Park Street/Smith Hall.

4) Teresa Adams, FP&M, presented a proposed scheme for the Capital Projects requests for the 2011-13 biennium. The requests originate from the projects reviewed this semester. After some deliberation, the ranking of General Fund Supported Bonds are as follows:

1. Nursing Science Building
2. Utility Projects
3. Walnut Street Greenhouses
4. Seeds Facility replacement.

The ranking of Program Revenue Supported Borrowing is as follows:

1. University Houses
2. Natatorium Renovation (pending student vote)
3. Lakeshore Improvement/Alumni Park

The Chemistry request has been placed in the 2013-15 biennum for further discussion/analysis.


With that, the meeting adjourned.

dr-m

Campus Planning Committee: Meeting of November 12, 2009

With neither welcome, nor introduction, the Campus Planning Committee (CPC) commenced its November 12, 2009 meeting. There were three items on the agenda:

1) Kathryn May, Dean of the School of Nursing, gave a presentation for the construction of a new School of Nursing building to be located at Parking Lot 85. Currently the school is ranked 20th in the nation and 18th in funds from the NIH. Current enrollment is nearly 500 students, but because of low student teacher ratios, the School of Nursing has to turn down qualified students because of lack of facility space. In addition, the new building will allow the school to incorporate POD, SCALE and Human Patient Simulators as part of the curriculum.

2) Paul Evans, Director of Housing, gave a presentation regarding the renovation of the University Houses. These are graduate housing facilities that are south adjacent to Eagle Heights and abuts the Village of Shorewood. These wooden apartment facilities were built in the late 1940's as post WWII faculty housing required for the large number of returning veteran students. An earlier proposal advised that these buildings be removed, however, that proved expensive. Housing derives its funding from its residents and a demolish/rebuild would have seriously increased rental rates. As proposed as a phased renovation, the rental increase will only be $50 per month for University House residents.

3) John Herrod, FP&M, gave a presentation that outlines more utility projects for the campus. They will be located near the Cogeneration Plant and Central Campus. In addition, one project will improve stormwater reduction within existing retention ponds.

With that, the meeting adjourned.

dr-m

Campus Planning Committee: Meeting of Oct 29, 2009

After a brief welcome and introduction, the Campus Planning Committee (CPC) commenced its October 29, 2009 meeting. Provost DeLuca chaired the meeting an gave an address regarding the process and functions of the committee. There were three items on the agenda:

1) Approval of the October 22, 2009 Minutes.

2) Robert Hammers, Chair - Dept. of Chemistry, made a presentation that demonstrated that the current chemistry building does not meet the current demand for students of organic and applied chemistry. The current building has out-of-date fume hoods, lack of storage, and limited lecture discussion facilities. He stated that Chemistry courses serve 41% of CALS students, 33% of Engineering students, and 48% of Med/Nursing students. However, he was not able to determine if this were students with single, double, or triple majors. Unfortunately, their proposal did not contain a minimum square footage or any costs, but suggested a 6 story structure.

3) Bill Tracy, Chair - Dept of Agronomy, gave a presentation that outlines the need for new and updated greenhouses that are north of the Cogeneration Plant. Within the next few years, another phase of construction at the Cogerneration Plant will place the existing greenhouses under shade. The proposal is construct 5 new state-of-the-art greenhouses so that the current facility square foot capacity is not reduced. Within the past 3 years, the facility has upgraded its utilities and therefore, the site is fully capable to support the construction. An alternative plan, using a West Madison (Junction Road & Mineral Point) was discussed. The disadvantages of this location is the distance and the required infrastructure.

With that, the meeting adjourned.

dr-m

Campus Planning Committee: Meeting of Oct 22, 2009

After a brief welcome and introduction, the Campus Planning Committee (CPC) commenced its October 22, 2009 meeting. Provost DeLuca chaired the meeting an gave an address regarding the process and functions of the committee. There were four items on the agenda:

1) Approval of the September 24, 2009 Minutes.

2) Hank Walter, of Food Services, gave an overview of the food service locations that exist on and are planned. His main points were that food service must turn a profit, therefore new food service requests (i.e. ICU Deli) should have a quantifiable demand. If the demand is not met, then the requesting organization must pay into an operational subsidy. Over the summer an ad-hoc subcommittee made recommendations for the implementation of future food service requests: a) Housing Services or the Wisconsin Union have first right of refusal of any request. b) Outside vendors (i.e. Starbucks, Taco Bell, etc.) can then submit an rfp. The ad-hoc committee 'recommended' that living wages would be used by outside vendors, but did not make any statements regarding corporate ethics or responsibility.

3) Faramarz Vakili, of FP&M, gave an update on the We Conserve program. The guiding principles are Efficient Systems, Informed People, Realistic Expectations, and Responsipble Action. Currently, the campus' utility bill is $50M per year--3x the maintenence budget. The increases in fuel and electricity costs are the drivers of this amount. The biggest demanders of energy are HVAC systems and as a result, they use 65% of a daily energy use. The program was commenced on Earth Day 2006 and will terminate in 2010, unless support (finanical and adminsitrative) is found.

4) Al Fish, of FP&M, gave an update on 2 NIH grants and 1 NSF proposal.

With that, the meeting adjourned.

dr-m

Letters and Science Curriculum Committee

These are some of the issues which were discussed on the October 26, 2009 meeting in South Hall 101.

• Aiming for consistency between Elementary/Intermediate listings with course numbering (300 level elementary course) in Hebrew/Semitic Studies. Course approved, letter advising department to use numbers to distinguish levels of courses sent.
• Ensuring prerequisite of QR-A is enforced prior to students taking QR-B – class violating this currently in School of Human Ecology
• Course Overlaps cntd –
o Sending inquisitor memo to departments inviting discussion regarding course overlaps, providing initial questions so far as what the issue is and what can be done to resolve it
o What happens to the exceptions to the rule?
o Multiple overlapping introductory sequences raise many questions.
o Departmental or college level problem? What happens when Math must determine which Physics courses do/do not count?

Health Care Advisory Committee (HCAC)

The committee met on October 15, 2009.

After a brief introduction of all committee members and attendees, the UHS annual report was distributed and comments and questions were raised.

One concern brought up was the impact on student health insurance under proposed health care reforms that include a group/employer-based model and an individual model; student health insurance would not fall under either model. UHS and others around country are concerned about making sure student health insurance plans are taken into consideration in the reform process.

Another question brought up was the impact UHS has on campus nutrition (e.g., quality of food offered in residence halls, etc.). UHS does not currently provide input, but the proposed WiscFit campus-wide wellness initiative for students, faculty and staff has a nutrition component.

The following points were addressed:

• Fall activity update: Visits were up 20% as of the end of September. Part of increase is related to H1N1, but 10-15% increases began as soon as UHS moved. Resources are stretched thin; costs are going up.
• 
  
• Director Searches: Prevention Services: Susan Crowley left. There is November 15 application deadline for her position. Counseling Services: Position description is being developed and should be posted by mid-November. Interviews will be in February.
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• Budget Timeline: HCAC reviews UHS budget and recommends that it be forwarded to Student Services Finance Committee (SSFC). SSFC meets in mid-February and makes recommendations to the Chancellor. Although UHS budget is included in the non-allocable portion of student segregated fees, recommendations made to the Chancellor are important. HCAC will begin discussing UHS budget in December. We will review the budget at the January meeting, the week after the Martin Luther King holiday. Copies of the proposed budget will be distributed for review prior to the January meeting.UHS is also doing a study to evaluate costs and new revenue sources which HCAC will review at the November meeting.
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• H1N1 Update: There were 1,300 H1N1 calls in September. Students are interested in H1H1 vaccine. Seasonal vaccines are also up. UHS was given 2,500 doses of H1N1 vaccine so far. First priority will be to health care workers. There will be a large clinic on November 3 to distribute vaccines. Michael Rosenblum at UW Hospital will be contacting all UW students who have been hospital volunteers. People with chronic health issues are prioritized but not in the top priority, per CDC guidelines; there will be enough vaccines to vaccinate all remaining students at the same time. UHS is working with UW Communications and their own communications department to get information out and alleviate fears based on myths about the safety of the vaccine. H1N1 will probably be part of the seasonal flu vaccine next year. People who think they already were sick with H1N1 but were never tested are still being encouraged to get the vaccine. People can receive both the seasonal and H1N1 vaccine at the same time, provided both are not the nasal spray type. All campus units have Continuity of Operations Plans (COOP) to help them prepare for things like pandemics, natural disasters, etc. Academic units do continuity of instruction plans. Other individual units focus on how they would continue to provide their services with decreased staff, compromised buildings, etc. UHS is involved in overall campus pandemic planning.

Comments are desired. What do you think? Should UHS be involved in improving campus nutrition, such as residence halls and unions menus?

Union Council Minutes - May, 2009

There seems to be a bit of confusion over Union Council's May 2009 action in regards to the building project's Design Committee. Since Union Council meeting agendas and minutes are not accessible online, the section of minutes relating to that action is listed below.

To provide context, Union Council was incorrectly informed in May 2009 that the furniture design needed to be completed by the end of summer 2009 - Union council is now not review these designs until December. Thus, in an effort to meet the stipulated summer deadline for completing the furniture design, an interim Design Committee process was developed that would fulfill the obligations established by the 2006 referendum authorizing the expenditure of nearly $100 million of student fees for the Union project. This summer process would convene an interim, but still student-majority, Design Committee of to review furniture design decisions.

In July 2009, an email from Union administration thanked participants for their time and informed them that the process was being "streamlined" to expedite the furniture design process. The interim process was thereby "postponed" without plans to restart it.

These minutes also stipulate that a report with recommendations for the Design Committee's future be presented at the first meeting of the fall semester. That report has yet to be given, even though planning and visioning for the Memorial Union phase of the project has already begun.

------------------

[earlier portion of meeting minutes are omitted]

Mr. Cornelius reported that he, Mr. Guthier, Mr. Walter, and Mr. Broadhead wrote a recommendation for the design committee structure in the future. A copy of the proposal/description/recommendation is on file with the minutes. Mr. Walter clarified that a summer design committee will be needed to review furniture specifications, provide a way for students to provide input, and perhaps provide a more flexible, temporary structure.



Mr. Guthier said he he’d like 2-3 students on subgroups during the summer. Ms. Boegel said she felt the current design committee members should continue to receive communications.





Mr. Weinschenck MOVED and Mr. Cornelius SECONDED to approve the following:



Design Committees for the Building Project

The Wisconsin Union expresses its deep appreciation for the work of the Design Committee during Phase I of the Union’s Building Project. Over the course of the last three years, hundreds of hours have been dedicated by countless students to the design of the New South Campus Union, all under the direction of the committee and led by its commendable students. As the formal structural, exterior, and interior design of the building comes to a close in May, 2009 Union Council extends its gratitude to the members of the committee and looks forward to the next chapter in the design process for the Union’s overall building project.



Design committee members are: Ade Afolayan, Angela Pakes Ahlman, Jon Augelli, Andrea Bill, Bruce Kieffer, Bradley Molzahn, Paul Broadhead, Carl Korz, Dan Erdman Stephanie Dar, Paul Davidsaver, Dan Cornelius, Drew Lake, Gwen Drury, Hank Walter, John Sharpless, Julie Grove, Jacklyn John, Jeremy Chapman, Josh Clements, Jeff Rolling John Sinclair, Kyle Olsen, Kaitlin Koehler, Katey Smith, Mike Lasecki, Lynn Stathas, Melissa Mamayek, Mark Guthier, Matt Colvin, Marc Kennedy, Margaret Tennessen, Michael Nemmetz, Liz Novy, Patrick Tilley, Jamie Schroeter, Shayna Hetzel, Susan Dibbell, Shira Weiner, Charles Johann Sung, Tim Gloeckler, Lea Zeise, and Xiangyun Zhang. They will be kept updated on all aspects of the building project.



To that end, the Council requests that every effort be made to fully engage students over the course of the summer in 2009 as a bridge to the next iteration of a Design Committee for Phase II of the Union’s Building Project. It is expected that final furniture, fixtures, and equipment (along with other items) will be determined during the summer months and it is Council’s intent that students have an influential voice in those decisions. A fully developed summer plan that includes an interim Design Committee structure and defined student leadership roles should be presented by the Vice President for Project Management to the 2009-10 Union Council Executive Committee at its May 18, 2009 meeting for approval.



In preparation for Phase II of the Building Project, Union Council requests that the Vice President for Project Management present a recommendation for the constitution and responsibilities of a Design Committee for its consideration at the first meeting of the Council in the fall semester of 2009-10.



There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:20 pm

Campus Planning Committee: Meeting of Sept 24, 2009

After a brief welcome and introduction, the Campus Planning Committee (CPC) commenced its September 24, 2009 meeting. Provost DeLuca chaired the meeting an gave an address regarding the process and functions of the committee. There were three items on the agenda:

1) Approval of the May 14, 2009 Minutes--at this session the committee discussed --at length--the process of ranking projects. The CPC had intended to meet over the summer, but due to the pending appointment of incoming Provost, Alan Fish advised that the CPC suspend these discussions until fall.

2) David Miller, of UW System, gave an overview of the capital ranking process from the UW System point of view. In essence, he addressed whether or not any one UW campus disporpotionately benefits from the process. In short, campuses, such as UW-Madison, that are able to supplement their proposals with Gifts & Grants are more successful.

3) Alan Fish, of FP&M, gave a presentation on the UW-Madison 2011-17 Capital Budget and explained Madison's process of developing construction proposals. At his conclusion, the CPC voted on the proposals that we will hear during the Fall 2009. In addition, the CPC questioned the two-tier system and has marked the December 3rd meeting for a larger discussion on projects that lack Gifts and Grants.

With that, the meeting adjourned.

dr-m

Central BID Board

The Central BID (Business Improvement District) Board has its monthly meeting from 12-1:30 on Thursday October 1st at the Madison Chamber of Commerce Building, 615 East Washington Ave. Meetings are typically the first Thursday of the month at this location.

The upcoming annual review of the Alcohol License Density Plan received a fair amount of attention, particularly following a borderline contentious exchange with City of Madison Alcohol Coordinator Katherine Plominski. The exchange was largely centered on the depth of detail and analysis the review requires. Specifically, multiple Board members expressed concern that use of statistical evidence should attempt to take other factors into account. For instance, does a decrease in house party reflect changing police enforcement priorities? Also, do total arrests and calls for service account for events such as the Mifflin Street Block party where total citations were down 200-300 or more this year?

The Board also received updates on planning for the Downtown Madison Family Trick or Treat that will take place on State Street and the Capitol Square from 11am-6pm on Friday, October 30th; possible streetscape improvements to the Capitol Square next summer (most notably replacing the old style benches new ones on Main Street); the status of the Peace Park project, which continues to move through the approval and public outreach processes.

Advisory Committee to the Offices of the Dean of Students

The committee met Thursday October 1 at 225 Hiram Smith Hall. The meeting was chaired by Professor Jacqueline Hitchon

After introductions of new and former members Dean Berquam asked the committee to review different proposal for the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates. Among the proposals and proponents were:

• Expansion of the Wisconsin Experience Seminar course. The proposal would create more sections for this course.
• GUTS Greater University Tutoring Service.
• McBurney Disability Resource Center
• MSC
• and others

(Copies of the proposals were returned to Dean Berquam)

Each member of the committee was handed out copies of each proposal and briefly read them. Dean Berquam introduced each one of the proposals and all members of the committee had the opportunity to comment on each proposal. Dean Berquam took note of all comments and opinions about each proposal. This process took most of the meeting's time.

An H1N1 flu update was given by Dean Berquam. The number of cases have been decreasing but it cannot be predicted what will happen in the future. Some members of the committee mentioned that pandemic plans were already in place in their departments while in others departments they were yet to be developed.

With that, the meeting adjourned.

Peace Park Neighborhood Meeting, Sept. 29th

There will be a neighborhood meeting focused on the Peace Park redevelopment next Tuesday, September 29th at 7:00 at the Wisconsin Lutheran Temple, 220 W. Gilman St.

Peace Park, located across from Hawk's Bar and Grill on State Street, is scheduled for a large-scale makeover intended to turn the space into a more thriving community space. Here's a rendering of the current plan:

Applications and ASM Kickoff!

There are over 65 student seats still available on Shared Governance committees! Check out the ASM Shared Governance website for a list of open seats and to download an applications: http://www.asm.wisc.edu/shared-governance.html!

Send all applications to melissa.dee.hanley@gmail.com by September 23rd at 5:00PM!


Also, the ASM Kickoff is Wednesday, September 16th at 7:00PM in the Student Activity Center! Come see what ASM is all about and the learn more about the goals of the other ASM committees this year! :)


Any questions can be directed to Shared Governance Chair, Melissa Hanley at melissa.dee.hanley@gmail.com.

Campus Planning Committee: Meeting of April 23, 2009

After a brief welcome and introduction, the Campus Planning Committee (CPC) commenced its April 23, 2009 meeting. Interim Provost Julie Underwood chaired the meeting. Chancellor Martin was also in attendance an addressed the committee. There were five items on the agenda:

1) Approval of the March 26, 2009 Minutes.

2) Gary Brown, of FP&M, gave an on the Campus Master Plan. Highlights include that we currently have 13 projects under construction. Mr. Brown currently represent the University on the City of Madison's Zoning Code Update Committee. Currently, their is a proposal that would create a new sub-district for the University. This would allow the University to bypass certain commission during the approval of construction projects--as long as the proposed projects were in compliance with the Campus Master Plan.

3) Dan Okoli, of FP&M, gave a presentation on the role of the Design Review Board. Currently the board is charged with design review of upcoming projects as long as the review does not hinder production of add addition costs. A current issue is the maintenance of green space that is not associated with a construction project.

4) Al Fish, of FP&M, gave an update of projects proposed for the NIH portion of the Federal stimulus bill.

5) Al Fish, of FP&M, gave an update on the 2009-11 Capital Budget.

With that, the meeting adjourned.

dr-m

Reaccreditation

What is reaccreditation and why should I care about it?
Reaccreditation is like a giant peer review of the entire university that makes sure the university is actually doing what it is supposed to do, educating students. It's sort of like quality control in manufacturing. You should care because it is our chance to show other universities and the government how awesome we are, and in a broader sense that we should continue to exist.

Student meeting with the reaccreditation team: Monday, April 27th, 3PM, Pyle 309

Wikipedia article on what accreditation is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_accreditation

The University's self-study: "For Wisconsin and the World: A Great Public University"
http://www.greatu.wisc.edu/

Article on the future of accreditation: "More Meaningful Accreditation"
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/04/22/accredit

Library Committee Update

The library committee met today and largely discussed budgets and resource sharing services, such as inter-library loan (ILL) and document delivery services like Library Express.

The overall library budget has not been cut as much as we thought it might. It is only 1% rather than the anticipated 5% or more. While this is good, projects such as the preservation facility will not be funded in this year's state budget. This means that libraries will continue to be short on space for storage and student use. Some libraries with separate budgets, such as Ebling, are still looking at large cuts and the library system is looking at ways to consolidate services with them.

ILL has seen a massive increase in use. There has been an overall 141% increase in demand since 2001. The trend is increasingly towards articles, rather than returnable items such as books. Grad students and faculty have the highest proportional use, but undergrads dominate through sheer numbers. Turnaround time for Library Express services has decreased by about half as software and staffing have improved performance. There is some discussion about possibly capping the amount materials that can be requested because of expense. Discussion on this topic has been tabled until the next meeting.

What I would like to know from other students is how they feel about the library system not promoting this service. Because of the limited budget there is concern that promoting it would swamp the service. While this may be true, my concern is that there is a divide between those who know about the service and those who don't. I think this might be an issue because Library Express is an incredible service that many student may be missing out on simply because they don't know it exists. What do you think? Find out more about Library Express here if you haven't heard about it.

Other items brought up:

• College Library is hosting an event with American Indian leaders on campus tonight (5:30) to compliment the PBS "We Shall Remain" series, the first episode aired last night.
• Past American Library Association President Loriene Roy will present on indigenous libraries in the School of Library and Information Studies Commons (4th floor Helen C. White) on Wednesday, April 22, at 4:30PM.
• MERIT library (formerly CIMC) is letting people have "Read" posters made with their own pictures on them in celebration of National Library Week.
  

Madison Initiative for Undergraduates

Hopefully you've heard of the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates. If you haven't, get out from under your rock and check out http://madisoninitiative.wisc.edu/. Basically, the initiative is being proposed as a way to improve student services, provide more need-based financial aid, and hire more faculty through a tuition differential that will increase in-state tuition by $250 per year and out-of-state tuition $750 per year over the next four years.

Obviously this is a big deal, for students and the institution.

This Initiative could be very positive for students and the reputation of the University of Wisconsin. However, it will need a lot of oversight to work, most likely through a shared governance committee.

How do you see this oversight process working? What would you like the committee to be charged with? Who should be sitting at the table? Should there be a separate student subcommittee to evaluate student services proposals? How can students be engaged, active participants in this process, putting their tuition dollars to work in the most effective ways?

Comment on this post with your thoughts!

Student Policies and Non Academic Program Committee Updates (Feb 24th,2009)

The SPNAPC had its 2nd meeting of the semester on Feb 24th, 2009.

The following is the agenda:

A. The offices of the Dean of Students Unit Overview

a. there are now 8 units under ODOS: ASM,ISS,LGBT, Mcburney Disability Center, Multi-culture Student Center, center for the first year experience, student advocacy and judicial affairs and the student organization office.

b. Each unit gave an short introduction of their function and problem.

B. ODOS Budget

a. Overview of the Budget: the division spent 93% of the budget for salaries.

b.7% is for Center for the First Year Experience (partial), Central Admin, ISS, Mcburney Disability Resource Center, MSC, Student Advocacy and Judicial Affairs, and Student Organization Office.

c. the budget does not include: ASM, LGBT and GUTS because of different funding streams

d. Strategies Employed:

1. Each unit identified their potential cuts at 8%

2. Discussed with constituents the impact

3. Met with stakeholders and asked for feedback

4. Awaiting final amounts from budget office

5. CLT will determine the cuts from each unit with their recommendations

e. Impact

1. No Special Assistant to help DOS

2. Reduce web position and student presence at SOAR tables and in hiring

3. Eliminate voicemail, copying, office supply purchases

Memorial Library Committee Meeting 4/9

The MLC committee will have a meeting on 4/9. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Thanks!

Campus Planning Committee: Meeting of March 23, 2009

After a brief welcome and introduction, the Campus Planning Committee (CPC) commenced its March 23, 2009 meeting. Interim Provost Julie Underwood chaired the meeting. There were four items on the agenda:

1) Approval of the November 13, 2008 Minutes. During that meeting, the Dean of CALS reviewed the Wisconsin Bioenergy Initiative and Director of FP&M presented an update on Campus Facilities Communications.

2) Al Fish, of FP&M, gave an update on funding from the WI office of Recovery and Reinvestment. Because the actual congressional bill that authorizes funding was just passed in February 2009, the WI office is still sorting through the details and parameters. In essence, their are about 74 new competetive grants that are being reviewed and most of those are sponsored by the NIH, NSF and DOE. Further information on Wisconsin's efforts can be found at http://www.recovery.wi.gov/. Further information on the Federal effort can be found at http://www.recovery.gov/.

3) William Mellon, Associate Dean for Research Policy,. Graduate School, presented a presentation that demonstrates how the Graduate School intends to apply for Federal Stimulus Recovery Funds. The actual process began last fall and will occur in three phases. The targeted agencies are NIH, NASA, DOE and NSF.

4) Al Fish and Teresa Adam, of FP&M, presented an update of the SBC Higher Education Subcommittee. In Fall 2007, the CPC recommended five projects to UW System for a system wide competition of UW System construction. The five projects were:

1. 21 North Park Street Purchase, $38.60 million
2. Utilities, $31.71 million
3. Integrated Dairy, Phase III, $2.76 million
4. Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research Middle Tower, $67 million
5. High Density Remote Shelving Facility, $9.7 million

The Integrated Dairy and the High Density Remote Shelving Facility were not funded in the 09-11 budget request, however, the University is still exploring other options for those projects.

With that, the meeting adjourned.

dr-m

CURAFA - March, 2009

John Bechtol, from the Office of Veteran's Affairs and Services here on campus, talked to the Committee on Undergraduate Recruitment, Admissions, and Financial Aid about the steps he has been taking to help vets attending UW as well as his plans for future improvement.

Because of the new federal GI Bill (aka the Post 9/11 GI Bill), it is expected that universities will have an influx of vets in the next couple of years; John is doing his best to help UW prepare for this. He is working to improve UW's system of identifying veterans as well as guiding them through the process of receiving the higher education benefits.

During the final meetings of the semester, the committee will be compiling all of the information brought before the committee throughout the year in order to formulate recommendations to the Faculty Senate.

If anyone is looking for more information on what CURAFA has done this year or wants to give input on any issue this committee deals with, let me know.

Do we learn anything outside the classroom?

Do you personally learn stuff outside of the classroom?
What do you learn outside of class? Is it the same stuff you learn in class?
When do you learn (internships, work study, daily life, student groups)?
How would you measure how much you learn?
How would you compare what you learn to what someone else learns?

Please brainstorm and share your ideas about/answers to the questions above!

The cutting edge of assessment is figuring out how to measure how and what students learn outside of the classroom, in the co-curricular, and then using that information to show government officials, alumni, prospective students, and other schools how awesome (or not) this school is compared to others.

This question comes from the University Assessment Council meeting yesterday. We discussed reaccreditation for much of the meeting, but we also broke into small groups to discuss the future of assessment at the UW.

University Academic Planning Council recaps

The UAPC meets monthly, but thus far this year we’ve canceled as many meetings as we’ve had. The September meeting was canceled, so our first meeting was October. November was canceled, we met briefly in December, and January was canceled again. February was our first real meeting in a long time.

I’ll recap the December meeting quickly, which won't be hard because it was very short. It was the Thursday of finals week, and the big blizzard was right on our doorstep, so we were probably ready to move quick and get out of there. The item that’s of most interest to students was authorizing the implementation of a new BS in Personal Finance. We’ve always had a personal finance curriculum, as a track in the Consumer Science major. The current option covers all of the courses necessary for a graduate to obtain Certified Financial Planner status from the Fin. Planning professional society. The new major uses the same curriculum, but as an actual major will be easier for students to find, and be easier to explain to potential employers.

We closed the meeting with a commendation for Pat Farrell, as this was his last meeting as Provost and chair of the committee. We adopted the following: “The members of the UAPC greatly appreciate the leadership and dedication provided by Provost Patrick Farrell during his 2.5 years as Provost of the University of Wisconsin –Madison. Under Provost Farrell, the University of Wisconsin continued to excel as a world-class university, and Provost Farrell brought both integrity and vision to our University.”

We next met in February, with Julie Underwood, dean of the School of Education and now interim Provost as chair. Her meeting pace was a little quicker than we’ve been used to, but she’s very funny to match it and I have no doubt she’ll be a good chair for however long her tenure as interim provost runs.

We approved two items that of note to students. First, we agreed to a request to rename the Department of Rural Sociology to Community and Environmental Sociology. The name Rural Sociology didn’t cover much of what the department did, and the current students in the department are enthusiastic about the name change. The UW is one of just two universities to still use the name Rural Sociology. The department believes that the new name will help them attract more students to their program. (The Faculty Senate still has to sign off on the name change)

We also approved a new Certificate in German. Surprisingly, we don’t have many certificates in languages. With all of the emphasis in internationalization, language study is an important complimentary component to other majors, but short of getting a second major in the language, there are few options for getting recognition of those efforts. The hope is that by offering a certificate in German, we can help students who want to take more German than what was required to get retro-credits for high school German work, but don’t have the time or desire to get a full German major. This may take some pressure off the German major, because some students can opt for just the certificate. Other language departments will be watching to see how this works, and could potentially start to offer their own certificates.

One of the lessons I’ve learned is that we are not a speedy committee, and in February we took up a discussion of the makeup of the committee, which was an idea from October. We don’t have final approval over our makeup, but we have recommended to the University Committee (which is the executive committee of the Faculty Senate) that they amend our charter to make the student member a voting member of the committee. The UC may make a recommendation to the Faculty Senate, who may or may not take it up, but I’m hopeful and think that future student appointees will have a vote. I will obviously keep following this.

Finally, we discussed potential agenda items for upcoming meetings. At our March meeting, we’ll be discussing clinical/professional PhDs, and the distinctions between these degrees and the more traditional research PhDs. I’m also concerned about time-to-degree for PhD students, but we may not have the right data for that discussion until next year when the Council of Graduate Schools study finishes up. I want to keep on this, because I think we can make progress before we need that data. I also hope that we will be discussing transfer credit agreements and the processes involved in approving those yet this year.

In the past week or so, there has been a fair amount of news coverage about multiple majors and the implications they have on the University. This is something that is within the scope of the UAPC to discuss. It is not on our agenda for March, but I will get a sense if this is a discussion that is coming for a future meeting. Look for a post about multiple majors, hopefully near the end of spring break.

Union Council Meeting 3/3/09

This meeting was dedicated to interviewing and selecting the Union/WUD officers for the '09-'10 school year. Those voted into position include:

President - Xiangyun Zhang
VP Public Relations - Kaitlin Koehler
VP Program Administration - Ade Afolayan

VP Project Management - Rebecca Gilsdorf

Their positions officially begin on May 7th, but their training begins as early as this week.

Applications for the 2009-2010 academic year are now available!

The application for standing committee seats for the 2009-2010 academic year has just been posted online! Application guidelines have also been updated and posted. The application will be due on April 3, 2009, and interviews will take place in the middle of April.

As a reminder, Shared Governance Committee seats are a one-year appointment - every seat is open for you to apply for! If you have any questions reply to this post and I'll write back, otherwise email me!

Check out the application here!

Library and Childcare Committees

University Libraries Committee:
The main issue highlighted at this month's University Library Committee meeting was anticipated budget cuts coming down the road. There is still some question about what form these will take. Nonetheless, the ULC is being proactive in looking at where the libraries can increase efficiency while maintaining services and what could be eliminated if need be. The anticipated cuts are somewhere in the range of 5-10% of the overall budget. What the numbers are will not be entirely clear until everything is worked out with the revised State budget and what impact the federal stimulus package will have. What the directors of the General Library System have committed themselves to, however, is to maintain innovation to meet the university's information needs. While the library system will have to slim down in some places, the overall attitude remains positive and hopeful for the future.

University Child Care Committee:
At the University Child Care Committee meeting we discussed broad array of issues, but perhaps the most prominent one was the problem of a lack of available child care on campus. There are many great programs at this university, such as the Child Care Tuition Assistance Program which makes it possible for parent students to better focus on their studies, but clearly more could be done. One of the concerns I raised with the committee was the difficulty of using the current after care program for students. After care is a service for parents who need to take evening classes, and it is something that may need more attention as graduate programs increasingly migrate their classes to evening timeslots to accommodate students who work full time. The facilities used for the after care program are excellent (the Little Chicks Daycare on Whitney Way and University), but they are also inconveniently located far from much of the campus. We discussed the possibility of finding another daycare east of campus that could provide services for students who live in that part of town. Ultimately, however, many agreed that there is a glaring need for modern daycare facilities located near the heart of the campus. When new buildings are drawn-up for campus the feasibility of having a daycare located in them is supposed to be explored. It seems, however, that increased pressure on decision-makers would help move this forward, since there are no solid prospects at this point. If UW-Madison wishes to continue to attract a diverse array of students they will have to invest more in child care infrastructure.

Perhaps this is an issue the Campus Planning Committee could be willing to take up?

Athletic Board Meeting- February 20th, 2009

Hello fellow SGers,

We recently had an athletic board meeting and touched on many important things. The meeting began with an approval of the agenda and previous minutes from the January meeting. After this the new Men's Track & Cross Country coach Mick Byrne, spoke to the board about his journey to becoming the new UW coach and also his plans while coaching at UW.

Chair, Walter Dickey, presented information about the recent Big Ten Conference and noted that the main topics discussed all focused on the economy and how to save money in this tough economic climate. Later in the meeting, the board revised and discussed the proposed budget. Some things to note in the budget are that the support department cut their budget by 5%, capital projects were cut by 53%, operational sports budgets were reduced, salary increase requests were put on hold, and at the same time there were no ticket price increases. An interesting item of note is that of the 11 schools in the big ten, UW football ticket prices are third cheapest.

The AD, Barry Alvarez noted that the college game day here at UW for the Saturday night Ohio State game went extremely well. The staff at ESPN was thoroughly impressed with our fans behavior and cooperation. It also was important to host game day because the set and crew were broadcasting and reporting throughout the day from the center of the Kohl Center.

The itmes of most importance from this meeting are that on March 31st, there will be a public meeting to discuss the NCAA Self-Study Certification. This was the review of the operations of the UW athletic department. This meeting will allow for the public to voice concerns and ask questions about the certification process and results.

Finally, on March 9th at 5pm, in the Nicholas Suites at the Kohl Center we will be having a student focus group to discuss football ticket policies. It is extremely important that you show up and voice your opinions about the issues. On top of this it will be very informative to hear about the previous policies, current proposed policies, and why things are the way they are. Adam will send out an email and if you plan on attending you will need to RSVP to Megan Lee. Thats all folks see you soon.

Jake McGhee, Athletic Board Rep.

Union Design Committee 2-23-2009

The Union Design Committee met Monday to discuss decorating themes in the club, meeting rooms, WUD area, Badger Hall, the theater, student activity center, and the information technology center. Also, last week the Building Commission approved construction on the new South Campus Union, and construction has officially begun.

In the basement club area, ideas were presented of a vintage themed room with old badger memorabilia and pictures. Color schemes include chocolate browns, deep reds, and gold.

Color scheme ideas for the following rooms included:
- Meeting Rooms: Cool colors such as greens and blues
- WUD area: Cooler colors accented with chocolate brown
- Student Activity Center: Funky colors; possibly purple

Badger Hall is set to have wood floors, detailed light fixtures, and wood-paneled dividing walls. The walls separating Badger Hall and the pre-function area may be designed to lift into the ceiling to open the area between the pre-function space and Badger Hall. Currently, the pre-function space is set to have a lightly patterned carpet of a color yet to be determined.

The theater will consist of a darker color palette including badger red seats, concrete floors beneath the seats, dark grey acoustic walls, and soft seating with cup holders. It is set to hold more than 350 people.

Because of the rapid rate at which technology is changing, not much time was spent discussing the information technology center. Group study areas with large LCD screens, as well as a computer bar were among the ideas that were brought up, along with relaxed cool colors and soft seating along the windows. Sustainable materials were brought up to be used for the desk counter top.

Any questions or comments would be greatly appreciated as this information can then be relayed back to the committee. Thanks!

University Assessment Council

The Assessment Council met last Tuesday, we discussed the mission of the committee, not much to report.

Last semester I remember discussing use of clickers in classrooms, here is an interesting article on the issue. http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/02/24/bruff

PACE Coalition 2/17/09

The PACE Coalition met on Tuesday, February 17th. Several issues were discussed:

The Recovery Foundation, an organization that funds treatment for financially needy people suffering from alcohol and other drug addiction, is hosting Jam Fest next Friday, February 27th at 6pm at the Loft. This fundraiser will feature a raffle and performances by several bands. Tickets are $10 and there is a $5 student discount.

The Wisconsin Union Directorate funds a grant supporting late-night events on campus, with the goal of providing fun alternatives to drinking. However, a recent survey of funding recipients revealed that most of these events end before midnight. WUD members hope to determine why this pattern has arisen and what can be done to encourage alcohol-free events that run later into the night.

After hosting a successful campus symposium this past fall, the Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Taskforce is planning another symposium to be held at the Pyle Center in September. This event will be open to the public.

Revisions are being made to the annual College Health Behaviors survey, which addresses binge-drinking on campus. The survey will be pared down to encourage more participation and questions are being formulated to determine how much students spend on alcohol, as available data on this subject is extremely outdated.

University police have already begun a dialogue with students and Mifflin Street residents concerning the annual Mifflin Street block party. Issues discussed at the first meeting include whether to have a band, whether to pursue sponsorships, and what the police role should be.

University Honors Committee 2/19/09

The University Honors Committee met on Thursday, February 19th. Several issues were discussed:

Applications for the undergraduate research symposium are due TODAY. Participants will present their research at the Memorial Union on Thursday, April 16th. An additional poster session will be held at the Capitol on Wednesday, April 22nd, where several students will be selected to represent the University at a system-wide event.

The Churchill Scholarship funds one year of post-baccalaureate research in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics at the University of Cambridge. A UW-Madison student has not received the award since the 1980s, due in part to the fact that most eligible students already have plans to attend graduate school and regard a year-long research hiatus as a break they cannot afford to take. These recruitment problems have caused the Churchill Foundation to consider revoking UW-Madison's invitation to nominate students for the award. A representative from the foundation is visiting campus on Thursday, March 5th to gauge the situation and will hopefully jump-start some interest in the program. An information session will be held for students, and the foundation representative will visit various campus laboratories that host undergraduate researchers. The ultimate goal is to find new ways to enhance our recruitment efforts and ensure that this awesome opportunity is not lost to students.

About 500 students have responded to the first of three online surveys addressing the Honors experience at UW-Madison (about a 25% response rate, which is fairly high considering that no incentive was offered for completing the survey). This is part of an Honors Program assessment that seeks to determine how the Honors experience aligns with student expectations. Subsequent surveys will be targeted towards incoming students and alumni.

A proposal for a campus-wide Honors commencement reception was drafted. Such a reception would offer greater recognition for the achievements of Honors graduates and would provide an opportunity to create good will among a population of prospective donors to the University. The next steps will be to find funding sources and to coordinate a workable time for all of the programs involved. We hope to organize the first Honors reception for fall commencement in December.

The Pathways Scholars Program is an 8-week intensive summer research program for upper-level undergraduates. Applications are due by Friday, March 13th. For more information, contact Amy Sloane at alsloane@wisc.edu or visit the program website: http://www.lssaa.wisc.edu/psp/

Letters and Science Curriculum Committee

The L&S Curriculum Committee met last Monday to discuss new, deleted and modified courses in addition to a discussion about possibly limiting the number of majors a student can have.
Recently, due to tight budget constraints and mounting administrative work, Dean Sandefur and the rest of the college staff have begun discussing the options available to them to in terms of limiting majors. The number of double, triple and four majors has been increasing every year with Spanish being the most common double major. There are many different aspects to this conversation including the fact that recently students who have one major seem to think that two, three and four make them that much more marketable after college. As of our last meeting there were no decisions made, Dean Sandefur just wanted feedback so he work further on this problem.

It would be helpful, to get more student feedback so I can bring it back to the committee next Monday. If you want anymore information on the topic you can posts those requests here too and I'll check back soon. Thanks.

Campus Safety Committee: 2/11/2009

The Campus Safety Committee met on Wednesday February 11th to discuss newspaper collaboration efforts, false alarms, and Wisc Alerts.

During the last meeting of the fall semester 2008, the idea arose to contact the campus newspapers about possibly posting a weekly column with the most prevalent three to five crimes each week, along with preventative safety tips and ideas. The idea of is to inform students what and where crime trends are taking place.

False fire alarms are often pulled in large apartment buildings near campus. This was brought to the committee’s attention, where the idea of having landlords give student’s names to the University who have pulled a false alarm, and allowing the University to take disciplinary actions. Another idea discussed was talking to the landlords of these apartment buildings about installing security cameras and taking other preventative measures.

Currently students who have signed up for WiscAlerts will receive a text message when an unsafe, widespread event has taken place on or near the campus that puts students in direct danger. The latest WiscAlert was sent out earlier this semester regarding a gas main break. WiscAlerts only informs students of major events on campus that may cause harm to students.

Any feedback, ideas, or sentiments that anyone has regarding the usefulness of the collaboration with the news papers, disciplinary and preventative measures with false fire alarms, and WiscAlerts would be great appreciated for our next meeting on March 11th.

During this meeting I will make sure to bring up the campus safe services and the student desire to have them expanded.

Union Design Committee Meeting: 2/9/2009

The Union Design Committee met on Monday February 9th to discuss additional first floor revisions and the percent for art program.

First floor revisions included having a single fireplace facing the coffee shop area while having the coffee shop seating on a raised platform. The height of the platform has yet to be determined. Revisions also included moving the hotel desk from the east wall to a more centralized location along the main walkway.

Percent for Art is a program created during the 1980’s to include artwork in public buildings for the purpose of improve the aesthetic and beautify the building. Two-Tenths of one percent (.2%) of the total funding of the project is set aside for artwork in highly-trafficked public buildings.

Jill Sebastian was the artist chosen for the artwork in the new South Campus Union. At this meeting, brainstorming was done to determine on which level the artwork should be placed, what it should incorporate, ideas for materials, etc.

If there are any ideas, comments, or concerns, please bring these to my attention so that I can inform the committee at our next meeting, all input and ideas are useful!

Union Design Committee Meeting: 2/2/2009

The Union Design Committee met on Monday February 2nd to discuss revisions of the first floor designs.

On the first floor near the entrance facing engineering hall, the coffee shop seating was expanded, while two fireplaces and soft seating were placed on either side of the main walkway running through the building. Seating in the Sun Garden (Formally known as the Winter Garden) was reduced, while the restaurants were moved from a kiosk feel to a more restaurant style feel.

Please respond with any questions, comments, concerns, or general feelings.

Committee on Undergraduate Recruitment, Admissions, and Financial Aid - January Meeting

Our committee has been accumulating information in order to make recommendations to the Office of Admissions by the end of this semester. Each meeting is meant to gather information about the various aspects of this committee (recruitment, admissions, financial aid) through talking with people knowledgeable in each area. Here is a summary of the January meeting:


Kathy Cramer Walsh, Political Science - How Wisconsinites View UW-Madison

• Wisconsinites are proud of our sports, marching band, and research


• They are not happy with admissions, cost, and partying.


• Many Wisconsinites view UW faculty as lazy, liberal, and elitist.


• Kathy found that not as many rural students apply to UW but those who apply do very well in both admissions to UW and perform equal to others in grades once here.

I'm hoping some of you reading this will have suggestions as to how we can better reach out to the rest of Wisconsin...

As of Monday, February 2, the Office of Admissions and the Office of Visitor & Information Programs have been combined into 1 office, headed by the Director of the Office of Visitor & Information Programs.

Student Policies and Non Academic Program Committee

Hello,

The SPNAPC met on 01/22/2008. In this meeting we went over the Mission and Vision Statement for the Office of the Dean of Students, the proposed changes to Misconduct codes 17 and 18, update on safety issues, and the impact of recession on students.

As some or all of you may know, Misconduct codes 17 and 18 -dealing with behavior in University lands- (dating from the 1970's) are being currently reviewed for changes. Some of the critical points include:

• Language needed to be updated. (e.g: Internet and E-mail were not present during 1970's)
• Off campus jurisdiction
• Definition of "Matter of substantial University interest"
• Role of attorney.
• Language to ban unaffiliated persons from campus.
• Proposal: sanction between reprimand and probation. Currently there is nothing in between.

As of now, the school is waiting on the Regents and the legislature, however it hasn't heard any progress.

Safety issues were also discussed during this meeting:

• How do you get info to students? Other than WiscAlerts, other options mentioned were: Students teaching other students, weekly column on safety and happening on campus, and facebook.

Regarding the economic downturn and its effects on the student population, it was said in the meeting that Crisis Loans (loans from the university of max. $500 and payable within a year) are increasing and that this trend is expected to continue.
Also, it was mentioned the importance of students contacting the Financial Aid office in case of change of economic status to reevaluate their aid package. However, there is no promise of additional aid.

The committee agreed to to address the following points next meeting:

• Undergraduate students survey
• New name for the committee
• Budget
  
• 5 min. presentations of different offices associated with the Office of the Dean of Students.
  

Memorial Library Committee Meeting 12/12/08

Hi All,

Here is a summary of the MLC meeting on 12/12/08. Please note the student concerns, I would especially love to hear opinions about food in the library. Do students think there is a need to have a place to eat in the library? Or are food concerns not an issue with students? I would also like to hear opinions about cell phone use and if it should be permitted in certain areas. Our next meeting is 1/30/09 so if I could get some opinions (anything concerning the library) before then that would be great! Thanks everyone and I hope you all had a great break!

MLC Meeting 12/12/08

1) Minutes Approved from last meeting

2) Student Concerns:
- Memorial Library Suggestion box is located on the first floor near the circulation desk. Would an online suggestion box, through ASM website or Memorial Lib website be more helpful for students?
- Sinage follow-up from last meeting: new way finding floor signs now lead to Rms 412 & 212 & basement. Are these helpful & working?
- Request for extended weekday hours during the end of the semester.

3) Announcements:
- Chancellor Martin would like to coordinate the "Common Book" project. A project where a large number of students all read the same book. Specifics sill not clear. Any suggestions, would students like this?

4) Faculty Concerns:
- Food in the library is an issue for faculty. What do students think? Should there be areas for students to eat? What can be done to keep students from eating and making a mess in the library?
- Might need to get rid of fourth floor pay phone, sending mixed signals about cell phone use?
- Google digitization and Hathi Trust digitization of books still continues.

5) Discussion Topic:
- Budget concerns
- "Core mission"
a) electronic resources available
b) access to collections online and in print
c) library instruction program (about copyright issues)
d) instruction and reference support
e) prioritizing preservation
f) library loan services

Space and Remodeling Committee 12/16

The Space and Remodeling Committee meet on 12/16. In this meeting we went over the allocation of different funds the committee looks over and approves. Many of the funds went towards minor remodeling projects which were mostly used to improve classroom space. The major topic that was discussed was the five year campus fume hood program. This project's goal was to replace the fume hoods on campus that did not meet the ventilation standards. The project was called successful by the committee because 98.9% of the fume hoods meet the ventilation standards. The replacement of the bad fume hoods also created significant energy savings which helped the goal of reaching 20% energy reduction by 2010. The SPRC approved the request of the physical plant for an additional five years for the fume hood program. This money would be spend to research and improve the flow of air to reduce the energy cost of ventilation in the buildings.