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September 10, 2001

Banking on China	Increase in foreign students	Communication Breakdown	Funky trees
Community knowledge	The examined life

Banking on China

The front page of the Aug. 13 San Francisco Chronicle featured a story on a new program run by SFSU that will help China prepare for membership in the World Trade Organization. Throughout the fall, SFSU finance faculty will instruct 10,000 Chine se bank employees on Western methods of customer service, risk analysis and development and marketing of emerging products and services. "The Chinese banking community is not looking for theory. They are looking for practical solutions and techniques," said Jeff Munks, assistant dean and executive director of the Downtown Center for the College of Extended Learning, which will run the program. Offering another reason SFSU is well-suited for the task, finance Professor Yea-Mow Chen said, "In o ur finance department, more than 50 percent of the faculty can speak Mandarin. We have expertise in management as well as the Pacific Rim background."

The San Francisco Chronicle reported on Aug. 20 that the number of international students at SFSU reached an all-time high this year at 2,005. This represents a 9 percent increase over last year's foreign student enrollment and nearly double the national rate of growth. In the past few years, SFSU has increased recruiting of international students and boosted services and advising. However, the most effective way to attract international students is more old-fashioned. "The best way to get students is through word of mouth," said Yenbo Wu, director of international programs. "They hear good things about us through alumni or their friends or family members who live in the Bay Area."

An article in the June 21 issue of the Los Angeles Times focused on the controversy surrounding the suspension of Rachel Stone, the first deaf superintendent of the California School for the Deaf. Stone was suspended for enforcing a policy that made American Sign Language the primary form of communication at the school. "The debate has gotten completely out of hand. Children are being sacrificed for philosophy," said Barbara Franklin, special education professor and former coordinator for SFSU's Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program. "I think there should be a choice. I don't think that hard-of-hearing children should be forced to live a life as a deaf child."

The June 15 Travel section of USA Today featured a story on the Bonfante theme park and the Circus Trees in Gilroy. The park's 29 trees have been contorted into creative designs of woven baskets, hearts and other unusual shapes. It looks stunning, but does it threaten the lives of these trees? "There's no danger to the tree so long as you see leaves sprouting out so it can photosynthesize," said biology Professor Dennis Desjardin . "With skills, you could take a healthy tree and spell your name out in script."

The June 17 issue of the Los Angeles Times reported that more community colleges are starting to offer bachelor's, master's and doctoral degree programs through partnerships with universities. The story featured a partnership between SFSU and Redwood City's Ca-ada College that allows students to earn teaching credentials and undergraduate electrical engineering degrees at Ca-ada. President Robert Corrigan said he sees no problem lending the SFSU name to a community college. "It wasn't a stretch for us," he said. "We hope to become the model for other Cal States and community colleges."

The May 5 San Jose Mercury News contained an article on "Socrates in the City," a weekly discussion group piloted by SFSU for formerly homeless veterans. Analyzing such books as Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman and The Trial of Socrates, the Presidio-based program exercises the intellectual strength and spirit within challenging lives. "Nobody addresses the intellect, the mind, the spirit," English Professor Jo Keroes said of the group's potential recruits. "Because, quite understandably, they're addressing practical, pragmatic things" that are therapeutic or skills-based.

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