The UW-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences’ Committee on Academic Staff Issues (CASI) represents academic staff across the college, and is an important part of shared governance at UW-Madison. The committee was founded in the late 1990s, after the UW-Madison Academic Staff Executive Committee recommended that CASIs be established at the level of colleges, schools and divisions to solicit ideas and input from academic staff on issues that impact them.
Individuals who wish to share concerns or ideas are encouraged to contact the CASI Chair, Erin Pierce. Please feel free to reach out to anyone on the CASI representatives list.
The CALS CASI is structured so it includes representatives from all of the major groupings of academic staff at the college, with thirteen CASI representatives drawn from the college’s six wards.
CASI representatives, who meet monthly during the academic year, advise the CALS Dean’s Office on the development of policies and procedures that impact academic staff. CASI members also serve on one or more of the following four subcommittees, which carry out other important tasks of the committee. The four subcommittees are:
- Awards and Professional Development
- Communications
- Nominations and Mentoring
- Personnel Procedures, Compensation and Governance
The subcommittee performing the most visible work is the Awards and Professional Development subcommittee, which is responsible for administering the college’s Academic Staff Awards of Excellence program. Information about this program, as well as the UW-Madison Academic Staff Professional Development Grant program, is available here. The responsibilities of the other subcommittees are described here.
For more information about the CALS CASI and how it runs, read the CASI bylaws.