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Chapter Topics: [ I. Administration & Governance] [ II. Funding, Budget and Operations] [ III. Personnel ] [ IV. Other Personnel Policies ] [ V. Curriculum and Related Policies ] [ VI. Student Academic Affairs ] [ VII. College Relations ] [ VIII. Resources & Services ] [ Glossary of L&S Terms ]

 

For those folks who are less familiar with the cacophony of L&S and UW-Madison acronyms, we offer a key to the some of the more common terms in heard in the "L&S Lingo".

Acronym Unscramblers

UW-Madison Business Services list of acronyms often used in business processes: http://www.bussvc.wisc.edu/acronym/acronym.html

Glossary

101- State tax, Federal indirect cost, and tuition funding allocated for the purpose of education and related programs.

104- Funding from UW-Extension used for off campus credit and non-credit activities.

128- Cost recovery funding used by units selling goods or services, both externally and internally.

233- Non-federal gift and grant funding.

144- Federal grants and contract funding.

136- Cost recovery outreach funding mechanism.

150- Federal indirect cost reimbursement used for special allocations.

161- University administered trust funds.

402- Minority and disadvantaged programs.

3270- Campus main-frame administrative computing for personnel, payroll, and budget which was part of DoIT. Although appointment data are still found in 33270, student information is now found in ISIS, and financial information is now found in WISDM.

"A basis"- salary computed on an annual, fiscal year (July 1- June 30) basis.  (See also "C basis".)

AAP- Academic Advancement Program.

Academic Staff Appointments:

RH - Rolling Horizon.
FTT - Fixed Term Terminal.
FTR - Fixed Term Renewable.
I - Indefinite.

ACTIVITY 2- Used with funding numbers, this activity represents "instruction."

ACTIVITY 4- Used with funding numbers, this activity represents "research."

ACTIVITY 5 - Used with with funding numbers, this activity represents "outreach activities," including editorships.

ACTIVITY 6- Used with funding numbers, this activity represents academic support and library/media.

ACTIVITY 9 - Financial Aid.

ADA- Americans with Disabilities Act.

APC (L&S) - Academic Planning Council. Chaired by the Dean of L&S. Key governance committee for the College; there is also an Academic Planning Council for the campus (the UAPC, or University Academic Planning Council).

AOF - Advanced Opportunity Fellowship (graduate).

APO- Academic Personnel Office (campus). Main campus office for unclassified human resources, personnel, and related activities.

ASPP- Academic Staff Policies and Procedures (formerly ASA).

ATR- (Request for) Authorization to Recruit (for unclassified staff, chiefly faculty).  The official acronym is "RAR." 

Blue Book-  The State of Wisconsin publishes this exhaustive guide to the state and its government.  Statistics, biographies, and a host of information is available online at http://www.legis.state.wi.us/lrb/bb/.  

BOR - Board of Regents, the governing board for the UW System

"C basis"- salary rate computed on a nine-month, academic year, basis.

CASI - Committee on Academic Staff Issues; these committees have been established in each school and college to advise Deans on policies and procedures, promotional opportunities, participation in department governance, and performance recognition for academic staff.

CCAS- Cross College Advising Service. Campus advising service for freshmen and sophomores; it is administered through L&S for the campus.

Comm A- First level General Education Communication Requirement.

Comm B- Second level General Education Communication Requirement.

CPO- Classified Personnel Office.

CSIC - Classified Staff Issues Committee. Similar to the L&S CASI, the Dean has established this committee to advise him on policies and procedures, promotional opportunities, participation in department governance, and performance recognition for classified staff.

DARS- Degree Audit Reporting System. Used to track student progress toward an undergraduate degree.

DCS- Division of Continuing Studies.

DETF - (or, ETF) Department of Employee Trust Funds

DIR- Department Instructional Report. Prepared each semester and summer sessions by departments and the TACS Office. Shows course sections with enrollments and instructor names.

DoIT- Division of Information Technology. Handles instructional technology, administrative data processing, and other related activities for the campus.

EAO - (or, EA) Employee Assistance Office

EASI- Extended Access to Student Information. Terminal program that allows students access to various components of their academic records.

ECBS - Employee Compensation and Benefits Services

ESR - Ethnic Studies Requirement (part of the undergraduate university-wide General Education Requirements)

ET- Emergency Transaction (Business Services).

ETF - (or, DETF) Department of Employee Trust Funds

FORM 2A - Budget document containing salary detail for staff (e.g., unclassified, classified).

FPP- Faculty Policies and Procedures. Chief faculty governance policy document.

FTE- Full time equivalent. Way of counting the number of staff or positions. Also referred to as staff "lines" at some universities. Students are sometimes counted in FTE.

FY- Fiscal Year; each fiscal year runs from July 1-June 30.

GPR- General Purpose Revenue, main type of funding the university receives from the State of Wisconsin.

I-9 Form- Proof of employment eligibility that must be completed by all new employees.

IADS- Integrated Appointment Data System. System and forms for processing appointments and payroll.

ICI - Income Continuation Insurance

Infoaccess - A service offered by DoIT to provide access to the university's "data warehouse" to authorized users

IS - Information Systems

ISIS- Integrated Student Information System; campus computer system for Timetable/Schedule of Classes, registration, and student records.

IT - Information Technology  

L/I - Location/Institution. Used instead of a "visiting" title to designate the appointment of a faculty member from another UW System campus.

LOA- Leave of absence.

LSUAS- Letters & Science Undergraduate Academic Services.

LSDAN- Letters and Science Department Administrator Network.

LSS- Learning Support Services.

LTE- Limited Term Employee; this is a classified staff title for a temporary employee. (NOTE: this term no longer has any meaning when applied to teaching assistantships.)

MDS - Materials Distribution Services

MSN - Madison

OBPA-Office of Budget Planning and Analysis. Handles budget preparation and financial/staffing analyses for the campus.

OED - Office for Equity and Diversity

OHR - Office of Human Resources, 174 Bascom Hall

OHRD - Office of Human Resource Development

OISP- Office of International Studies and Programs.

OPID- Office of Professional and Instructional Development. Formerly known as UTIC, this is a UW System-level group that (among other things) administers the Undergraduate Teaching and Learning Grants (UTLG), formerly known as the UTIG, or Undergraduate Teaching Improvement, Grants.  See http://www.uwsa.edu/opid/ for more information. 

OSER - Office of State Employment Relations

PA- Project Assistant; a graduate assistant title.

PAR- Personnel Activity Report. OBSOLETE. See the Effort Reporting information at http://www.rsp.wisc.edu/effort/index.html

PeopleSoft- Commercial vendor which produces ISIS.

PI- Principal Investigator.

PIR- Payment to Individual Report.

PVL- Position Vacancy Listing. This is the primary form for initiating open recruitment of an unclassified staff position.

QR-A- First level General Education Quantitative Reasoning Requirement.

QR-B- Second level General Education Quantitative Reasoning Requirement.

RA- Research Assistant; a graduate assistant title.

RAR- Request for Authorization to Recruit Form that must be completed when recruiting for a position with a salary above a set level.

Red Book - The University of Wisconsin budget books (published with red covers).  The UW-Madison volumes are available to the public in most libraries; copies are also on file in the Office of Academic Planning and Analysis.  The books are divided into a summary (by UDDS) and a staff detail (by department and unit).  

REP- Recruitment Efforts Plan. Form that must be filed in recruitment of faculty and academic staff.

Reqs - (pronounced "recks") short form of "requisitions"

SAA- Student Academic Affairs--academic advising office for the College.

SCE- Summer Collegiate Experience Program.

SECC- State Employees Combined Campaign. State-wide and campus-wide charitable fund-raising drive conducted each fall.

SFS - Shared Financial System

SPEAK- The SPEAK test is a test of English proficiency; many departments require this test of prospective non-native English speaking teaching assistants as part of their required plan for assessing the English proficiency of non-native English speaking TAs.

SMO - Space Management Office.

STS- State Telephone System; used for making long-distance telephone calls.

STS- Short-term staffing (instructional; term used within L&S).

T-Form - Extramural Support Transmittal Form.

TA- Teaching Assistant. A graduate assistant title.

TAA- Teaching Assistants' Association. Collective bargaining unit for teaching and project assistants.

TACS- Timetable and Classroom Scheduling Office (formerly ISO, the Instructional Space Office). Now known as "Curricular Services"

TER- Travel Expense Report.

TP Form- Teleprocessing Form. Used to request and receive authorization for 3270 transactions.

UAPC - University Academic Planning Council (Chaired by the Provost)

UDDS- Unit/Division/Department/Sub-department: alpha code for unit; numerical code for division, department, and sub-department.  This code is used for budget accounting and related transactions.

UGEC - University General Education Committee

UIR- University-Industry Relations Program, replaced by the Office of Corporate Relations.

UWM - UW-Milwaukee (although often mistaken for UW-Madison)

UWPC - UW Payroll Processing Center

UWS- Usually stands for "University of Wisconsin System."

VAP- Visiting Assistant/Associate Professor.

WAA- Wisconsin Alumni Association.

WAC- Writing Across the Curriculum.

WARF- Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.

WDGF-Wisconsin Distinguished Graduate Fellowship.

WI- Writing Intensive.

WISDM - Shared Financial System Web Inquiry System. (Has replaced the old 3270 financial system.)

WisWeek or Wisconsin Week -  UW-Madison's campus newspaper for faculty and staff, published weekly during the academic year

WRS- Wisconsin Retirement System.

 


It is the nature of this document to be a work in progress.

The L&S Handbook is produced and hosted by the UW-Madison College of Letters and Science.
South Hall, 1055 Bascom Mall, Madison WI  53706
This document is updated annually each summer; however, significant additions may be made at any time. Departments
will be alerted to these when they are made. Annual updates are underway as of August 1, 2008.
Contact:  Elaine M. Klein, Webmaster/Editor, L&S Online Handbook
klein@ls.admin.wisc.edu or (608) 265-8484
©2000-2008 UW System Board of Regents