Our recommendation is to have 6 employee categories:

• Academic Staff: non-faculty employees of the university whose primary purpose is associated with supporting the mission of the university by providing professional and operational services. The definition of this category will change to accommodate a broader range of employees.  Therefore, the Academic Staff Assembly may want to consider developing a mechanism to gather feedback from groups of employees with shared interest (e.g. instructional staff, research staff, administrative staff, operational staff) to allow the desired voice and governance for all members of the category. This category would include both salaried and hourly employees as classified employees would be moved to the category of academic staff.
• Executive-At-Will: employees acting on behalf of the university in directly formulating, interpreting, monitoring and directing the implementation of policies and/or major programs or the administrative officer with whom such policies and/or program directions originate; leading the development of the organization’s long-term needs, strategy and direction; steering the organization with strategic visioning and definition; employees serve at the discretion of the appointment authority.
• Faculty: positions with instructional, research and service responsibilities, either tenured or on the tenure track, and titled professor, associate professor, assistant professor, or instructor.
• Post Degree Training: individuals whose primary purpose is additional training beyond completion of a degree in preparation for further education or entering a profession.
• Student Hourly: individuals whose primary purpose is education, including undergraduate and graduate and who provide part-time and/or temporary administrative, clerical, laborer, technical or other general support to UW-Madison faculty and staff.
• Student Assistants: Graduate students who: hold a fellowship, scholarship or traineeship (e.g. Fellow); hold an appointment which is intended primarily to further the education and training of the student (e.g. Research Assistant); are employed to assist with research, training or other academic programs or projects (e.g. Teaching Assistant, Program/Project Assistant); and/or have been assigned teaching responsibilities in an instructional department under the supervision of a faculty member. In addition, Student Assistant titles (Undergraduate Assistant) are available to undergraduate students when: no qualified graduate student is available to perform a function that would normally be assigned to graduate Student Assistants; or when the terms of a supporting grant or contract preclude the use of other normally appropriate titles.

The category of Faculty was left unchanged since it was out of the scope of this work team. The categories of Limited and Employee-in-Training were re-titled (Executive at Will and Post-Degree Training, respectively) to what we believe are more descriptive titles, but the definition remained the same since there was perceived uniqueness to each of these groups. The categories of Students and Student Assistants were also maintained, since these categories reflect individuals who have a different primary purpose — that of education.