You can use your district to find other people who may have similar interests and concerns.  You can also communicate with your district representative about any issues or concerns.  Because districts represent people with similar job titles, it is likely that others in your district share your concerns and interests, which provides a unified voice.  Find your district here.

Representatives use the email address listed in the campus directory to communicate with their members.  You can change your email address in the campus directory through your payroll office.

Find your representative using the “Find Your District” tab.  Use the UW-Madison directory search to find their email address.

Sometimes representative seats are vacant due to turnover or lack of interest.  If you are interested in filling a vacant representative or alternate seat, contact the Secretary of the Academic Staff (soas@soas.wisc.edu).

If your district is already represented, you may submit your interest near the end of the current rep’s term. The SOAS Office will send out a call for interest to all district members, typically in April or May. Representatives and alternates for odd-numbered districts are elected in odd-numbered years, and even-numbered districts in even-numbered years. The SOAS Office will provide information on elections/appointments to interested parties.

If your district is not currently represented and you are interested in serving as a representative or an alternate, please inform the SOAS Office of your interest by sending an email to  soas@soas.wisc.edu.

The best way to send a message to your fellow district members is to contact your representatives and ask them to forward your message.  If you don’t have a representative, you can contact the Secretary of the Academic Staff (soas@soas.wisc.edu).

With the implementation of the Title and Total Compensation Project, the districting logic needed to change to reflect the redesigned job titles. The project reduced over 1800 job titles to just over 1300, including around 800 redesigned job titles specific to academic staff.

Yes!  You can change districts if you feel another district better represents you. Contact the Secretary of the Academic Staff (soas@soas.wisc.edu). The Secretary of the Academic Staff Office will forward the request to the Districting and Representation Committee for consideration.

Districts are determined primarily by job title, then by division/unit, to meet the requirement to represent “the diversity of professional interests within the academic staff” (ASPP, Ch 13.02.C.2) .  Districts also must conform to size requirements relative to the number of Academic Staff on campus.  You can read more about districting requirements in the Academic Staff Policies and Procedures, Chapter 13.

Districts are created and maintained by the Academic Staff Districting and Representation Committee (DRC), a standing committee of the Academic Staff Assembly (ASA). The DRC consists of 6 members elected by the ASA. The DRC’s responsibilities include districting all Academic staff and reviewing election and districting processes and rules to ensure that the academic staff members may exercise their institutional governance rights in the most effective, equitable, and efficient manner. More information about the DRC can be found on the Academic Staff Assembly website.