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.