Minutes: October 21st, 2008

ACADEMIC SENATE MEETING

MINUTES

TUESDAY, October 21, 2008

SEVEN HILLS CONFERENCE CENTER, NOB
HILL ROOM

2:00 - 5:00 p.m.

ATTENDANCE:

Avani, Nathan

Hussain, Mahmood

Noble, Nancy

Behrooz, Maziar

Kohn, Jim

Rehling, Lu

Boyle, Andrea

Landry, Lynette

Rothman, Barry

Bugayong, Arlene

Lau, Jenny

Shapiro, Jerald

Burke, Adam

LePage, Pamela

Sherwin, Paul

Chen, Yu-Charn

Levy, Eileen

Shrivastava, Vinay

Cheung, Yitwah

Li, Wen-Chao

Sinha, Dipendra

Danner, Don

Luna, Debra

Sveinsdottir, Asta

Dariotis, Wei Ming

Mahan, Dianne

Taylor, Don

Gomes, Ricardo

McCarthy, Chris

Trautman, Ray

Gubeladze, Joseph

McCracken, Bridget

Ulasewicz, Connie

Hellenga, Kate

Minami, Masahiko

van Dam, Mary Ann

Hellman, David

Modirzadeh, Hafez

Whalen, Shawn

Holzman, Barbara

Moody, Laura

Wingard, Leah

Hom, Marlon

Neely, Francis

Yee, Darlene

Absences: Robertson,
Bruce (on leave Fall 08); Morishita, Leroy (exc); Chou, Fang-yu (exc);
Sheldon, James (exc); Salama, Mohammad (exc); Gemello, John (exc); Fuentes,
Enrique (exc); Corrigan, Robert (exc); Chelberg, Gene (exc); Bartscher,
Patricia (exc); Flatt, Sylvia (abs);
DuVal, Derethia (abs); Jin,
Leigh (abs); Rosegard, Erik (abs)

Guests: Gail Evans, Gail Whitaker, Wanda Lee, Cyrus
Ginwala, Nancy Hayes, Helen Goldsmith, Anna Rendall, Gerianne Merrigan, Linda
Buckley

CALL TO ORDER: 2:13 p.m.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1. Friday, October 31, 2008, is the deadline for submitting
proposals for the 2009 SF State Faculty and Staff Development Retreat.
Information is available online at http://www.sfsu.edu/~senate/retreat/

2. November 17, 2008, is the deadline for submitting
applications for the 2009-2011 Faculty Trustee position of the 25-member California
State University Board of Trustees. Craig R.
Smith, Professor and Chair of Film and Electronic Arts, Cal State Long Beach,
the current CSU Faculty Trustee, will not be seeking nomination for another
term as the Faculty Trustee.

3. The Willie L. Brown, Jr. Leadership Center can provide
well-paid internship positions to qualified seniors. This program places
selected SF State students in paid internships within the City and County of
San Francisco’s government agencies and departments. The post-internship
job-placement rate is extremely high. Application packets must be completed and
returned by Monday, November 17, 2008. Further information is available at http://www.sfsu.edu/~wbcenter/internships.html.

AGENDA ITEM #1—Approval of the Agenda for October 21,
2008

The agenda was approved by acclamation.

AGENDA ITEM #2—Approval of the Minutes for the October
7, 2008, meeting of the 2008-2009 Senate

The minutes were approved by acclamation.

AGENDA ITEM #3— Report from Susan Shimanoff, Chair,
Graduation Requirements Task Force

The Senate heard a report from Susan Shimanoff, Professor of
Communication Studies and Chair of the Graduation Requirements Task Force.

In 2006, the Academic Senate (F05-237) charged the
Graduation Requirements Task Force (GRTF) with “developing a plan for implementing
changes to the current university-wide baccalaureate degree requirements.” In
this third report to the Senate, Professor Shimanoff focused on the GRTF’s
proposed revisions to SF State’s upper-division general education requirements.
The GRTF will circulate the proposal and a questionnaire to all faculty, staff,
and students by e-mail in the near future. Everyone is encouraged to
participate in the GRTF survey.

AGENDA ITEM #4— Recommendation from the Academic
Policies Committee: Proposed Academic Calendar for Summer 2009, Second Reading

Senator Dariotis, on behalf of the Academic Policies
Committee, moved that the Senate approve the Summer 2009 academic calendar.

Senator Trautman moved to amend the proposed summer
calendar, to add a fourth session. The new session, to be called R4, would
begin on the same day as session R1 begins, and end on the same day as session
R3 ends; it would be a ten-week session.

The motion to amend the summer calendar passed by voice
vote.

The main motion, as amended, passed by voice vote.

AGENDA ITEM #5— Recommendation from the Faculty
Affairs Committee: Proposed Revisions to the Retention, Tenure, & Promotion
Policy, First Reading

Senator Levy, on behalf of the Faculty Affairs Committee,
moved that the Senate approve revisions to the Retention, Tenure, and Promotion
(RTP) Policy (#S07-241).

Discussion points included:

  • Adding department/program RTP criteria to the list of
    required documents in a candidate’s working personal action file (WPAF),
    suggested by the University Tenure and Promotion Committee (UTPC), makes
    perfect sense.
  • Adding reports and rebuttals, if any, from prior
    substantive reviews to the current WPAF, suggested by UTPC, makes perfect
    sense.
  • Although UTPC recommended an increase in its
    membership from five to nine, FAC is recommending an increase to just
    seven members, to ensure that UTPC retains a university-wide perspective.
  • Instead of increasing the membership, additional
    released time for five members might solve the workload problem and ensure
    consistency in reviews.
  • Perhaps the size of UTPC could vary from year to
    year, in response to the anticipated number of tenure and promotion
    candidates.

AGENDA ITEM #6—Adjournment—no later than 5:00 p.m.

Senator Ulasewicz moved that the meeting be adjourned. The
motion passed by voice vote. Chair Whalen declared the meeting adjourned at
3:44 p.m.

Meeting Date (Archive)