Minutes: September 11th, 2007

ACADEMIC SENATE MEETING

MINUTES

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2007

SEVEN HILLS CONFERENCE CENTER, NOB HILL ROOM

2:00 - 4:00 p.m.

The meeting was preceded a

performance by the Alexander String Quartet: Zakarias Grafilo, Frederick

Lifsitz, Paul Yarbrough, Sandy Wilson.

CALL TO ORDER: 2:22 p.m.

Chair Kohn

asked for a moment of silence in honor of those who died in the attack on the

World Trade Center 9/11/2001.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. Freshmen

in the class of 2011 were greeted before the start of classes with two Welcome

Days. Participants included 2500 students and 3500 parents and guardians. The

principal organizer was Joey Greenwell, Office of Student Programs and

Leadership.

2. The

Romberg Tiburon Center has completed a remodeling of some of its facilities.

Faculty are reminded that this center can house small conferences and meetings.

3. Student

participation in Senate activities and other forms of shared governance will be

supported by the Center for Institutional Change (CIC) in the College of

Humanities. Participating students may sign up for CIC courses and, upon

completion of appropriate associated academic activities, receive credit for

their participation.

4. The

Senate reminds the campus that, because of the paucity of available Mondays in

the Fall 2007 semester, finals will be held on the first and last Saturday of

finals week.

5. Gene

Chelberg, Director of Disability Programs and Services, has been appointed

Associate Vice President for Student Services. Mr. Chelberg will continue to

supervise Disability Services, and a Director will be hired to manage the

day-to-day activities.

6. Alexandra

Katz has been appointed as Curriculum Coordinator for the campus. She was

introduced to the Senate.

7. The

faculty elected to the Search Committee for the Dean of Undergraduate Studies

were announced: Carmen Domingo (Biology), Deborah van Dommelen (Director,

Learning Assistance Center) and Shawn Whalen (Communications Studies).

8. Maggie Beers has been

appointed Director of Academic Technology. She gave a brief report on her

duties and goals. She will administer four areas: AV and media services, online

teaching and learning including iLearn, instructional media production and

enhanced classrooms. Her position reports to the AVP for Academic Resources.

She has initiated an inventory of all physical and human computing resources

and needs on campus as a preliminary step to developing a vision for the

educational uses of technology at SF State. Dr. Beers pointed out that CSU

expects to devote $180M to academic technology purchases over the next three

years, and campuses need a coherent plan to apply for a share of these funds.

She will work with the Senate through the Strategic Issues Committee to develop

policies regarding on-line courses and teaching.

A description

of the position of Director of Academic Technology was attached to the agenda.

AGENDA ITEM #1—Approval of the Agenda for September

11, 2007

The agenda was

approved by acclamation.

AGENDA ITEM #2—Approval of the Minutes for the last

meeting of 2006-2007 Academic Senate on May 15, 2007

The minutes were

approved by acclamation.

AGENDA ITEM #3—Approval of the Minutes for the first

meeting of the 2007-2008 Academic Senate on May 15, 2007

The minutes were

approved by acclamation.

AGENDA ITEM #4—Election for the Academic Senate

Elections Committee: Three members of the Academic Senate are needed to run

Senate Elections and both oversee and validate University-Wide Elections.

Nominations will be accepted from the floor of the Senate

Six Senators were nominated:

Yitwah Cheung, Sudip Chattopadhyay, Don Danner, Wei Ming Dariotis, Donna

Hubbard, Dianne Mahan and Hafez Modirzadeh. Elected were Sudip Chattopadhyay,

Wei Ming Dariotis and Hafez Modirzadeh.

AGENDA ITEM #5—Report from Provost John Gemello

& Vice President of Administration and Finance, Leroy Morishita: Update on

SF State Budget and Master Plan

Dr. Gemello reported on the

2007-08 university budget, with additional comments from Dr. Morishita. The

most current estimates show that the University's budget has a deficit of

$6.5M, due mostly to shortfalls in non-resident tuition and increased costs of

salaries and benefits. CSU did not fully fund the campus for increased costs

incurred as a result of new contracts with faculty and staff signed last year.

SF State enrollments continue to grow, and the budget situation would be worse

without the funds received to support this growth.

Dr. Morishita reported on the SF

State Master Plan, which may go to the Board of Trustees for approval in

September. Recent changes to the plan have included increased student, faculty

and staff housing and a reduction in the size of the conference center. SF

State continues to negotiate with the City and County of San Francisco over the

effects of the plan as outlined in the Environmental Impact Report.

AGENDA ITEM #6—Report from Ramon Castellblanch,

President, California Faculty Association (CFA)

Dr. Castellblanch addressed the

Senate on the aims and goals of the California Faculty Association, both

locally and statewide. He said that CFA works to protect the quality and

affordability of public higher education in California through campus

activities, systemwide negotiations and political lobbying. They aim to be more

visible on campus and hope to participate in future Fall Convocations. Dr.

Castellblanch reminded the Senate of the need for departments to create a pool

of candidates for Faculty Hearing Panels as required by the contract.

AGENDA ITEM #7—Report from Susan Shimanoff, Chair,

Graduation Requirements Task Force

Dr. Shimanoff reviewed the history of the Task Force and

reported that the Task Force has developed a draft statement of goals for the

SF State baccalaureate degree (which was attached to the agenda). It will be

sent to the campus shortly for comment. The Senate discussed the draft briefly,

and Dr. Shimanoff asked those concerned send their comments in writing to the

Task Force. She emphasized that the Task Force has not begun translating the

vision contained in the draft statement into course and unit requirements.

AGENDA ITEM #8—Report from Helen Goldsmith,

Associate Dean, Undergraduate Studies: New Liberal Studies Faculty

The Liberal Studies Program hired five faculty last year, the

first to report directly to the Liberal Studies Program. The focus of the

Program will continue to be on teacher-training, but changes in state and

federal regulation have provided Liberal Studies with the opportunity to revise

their curriculum. Since they are the first faculty hired by a campus program

not housed in a college, Senate rules will need to be modified to include the

Liberal Studies faculty in shared governance and the structure of the Liberal

Studies Council may have to be modified to take account of their role.

AGENDA ITEM #9—Academic Senate Elections

List of nominees was distributed at the meeting.

1. All-University

Committee on Teacher Education (AUTEC): Robert Williams (Counseling) was

elected by acclamation to a one-year term.

2. Board

of Appeals and Review (BOAR): Karen Johnson Carroll (Consumer/Family Studies

and Dietetics) was elected by acclamation to a one-year term.

3. Enrollment

Management Committee: no nominations were received.

4. Graduate

Council: Pamela Hood (Philosophy) was elected by acclamation to a two-year

term.

5. Statewide

Representative for the Academic Council on International Programs: Laura

Lisy-Wagner (History) was elected by acclamation to the remainder of a

three-year term ending spring semester, 2009.

6. University Budget

Committee: Nathan Avani (Secondary Education) and Nini Yang (International

Business) were elected by acclamation to two-year terms.

AGENDA ITEM #10—Adjournment—4:00 p.m.