ACADEMIC SENATE MEETING

MINUTES

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2008

SEVEN HILLS CONFERENCE CENTER, NOB HILL ROOM

2:00 – 5:00 p.m.

ATTENDANCE:
Avani, Nathan	Gonzales, Dan	Robertson, Bruce
Behrooz, Maziar	Hayes, Nancy	Saffold, Penny
Bloom, Gilda	Kohn, Jim	Salama, Mohammad
Bollapragada, Ramesh	Levine, Josh	Shapiro, Jerald
Boyle, Andrea	Linder, Martin	Sheldon, James
Chattopadhyay, Sudip	Luna, Debra	Smith, Alastair
Chelberg, Gene	Mahan, Dianne	Steier, Saul
Cheung, Yitwah	McCracken, Bridget	Stowers, Genie
Collins, Robert	Meredith, David	Taylor, Don
Corrigan, Robert	Minami, Masahiko	Trautman, Ray
Dariotis, Wei Ming	Modirzadeh, Hafez	Ulasewicz, Connie
Davis, Harvey (Skip)	Moody, Laura	Van Dam, Mary Ann
DuVal, Derethia	Neely, Francis	Yang, Nini
Fielden, Ned	Quita, Isabel
Gomes, Ricardo	Rehling, Lu

Absences: Armenta, Isidro (abs); Chou, Fangyu (abs); Danner, Don (exc);
Fuentes, Enrique (abs); Gemello, John (exc); Hood, Pamela (abs); Hubbard, Donna (abs);
Jaimes-Guerrero, A.J.(abs); Jones, Terry (abs); Landry, Lynette (exc); Morishita, Leroy (abs); Rothman, Barry (abs); Shrivastava, Vinay (abs), Suzuki, Dean (exc); Whalen, Shawn (exc); Yee, Darlene (exc).
Guests: Bob Cherny; Helen Goldsmith; Patty Bartscher; Elise Wormuth; Maxine Chernoff; Ann Hallum; Roy Conboy;

CALL TO ORDER: 2:12 p.m.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Chair Kohn described visits he made with President Corrigan and the leaders of two campus unions, Ramón Castellblanch (California Faculty Association) and Russell Kilday-Hicks (CSU Employees Union), to the district offices of three local legislators: Mark Leno, Fiona Ma and Gene Mullins, to discuss the budget crisis and University funding.

AGENDA ITEM #1—Approval of the Agenda for February 26, 2008

The agenda was approved by unanimous voice.

AGENDA ITEM #2—Approval of the Minutes for the February 12, 2007

The minutes were approved by unanimous voice.

AGENDA ITEM #3—Report from Linda Buckley, AVP of Academic Planning and Educational Effectiveness—CUSP Committee Reports Graduate Programs—report to be heard no later than 2:15 p.m.

Dr. Buckley reported on the results of two task forces on CUSP goals: one on graduate programs and one on equity and social justice. Copies of the task force reports will soon be available on the Academic Senate website. Dr. Buckley described the campus focus on equity and social justice as the "signature value" of San Francisco State. She said that four recommendations from the Post Baccalaureate Progress Report and five recommendations from the Social Justice and Equity Progress Report had been approved by the President's Cabinet for implementation.

From the report of the Task Force on Post Baccalaureate Education:

1. Seek financial support for graduate students, including fee waivers, subsidized housing and child care, and increase the number of available scholarships and fellowships. (This effort has begun with the newly formed provost's scholarships for graduate students. Work in this area will continue with involvement from ORSP and Advancement.)

2.        Increase outreach efforts to attract and retain students from underrepresented groups. (The Division of Graduate Studies has increased its recruitment efforts and has revised its website to function more as an outreach tool.)

3.        Conduct a study of the student support services needed by graduate students. (The Division of Graduate Studies is conducting and on-line survey to assess the needs of graduate students.)

4.        Work to ensure the use of the sixth cycle of program review to affirm the quality and sustainability of SF State graduate programs. (The Office of Academic Planning and Educational Effectiveness will be responsible for gathering and publicizing 6th cycle data on program quality.)

From the report of the Task Force on Assessment of CUSP II Goal 1, Social Justice and Equity:

1.        A task force should be formed to determine how to bring together and coordinate the various campus functions and activities regarding social justice and equity. (The President referred this back to the Social Justice committee and asked them to come forward with a recommendation.)

2.        An academic requirement should be instituted that would prepare students to analyze and understand issues of equity and social justice. (This recommendation has been referred to the Graduation Requirements Task Force.)

3.        An event hosted by Academic Affairs should be staged each (such as a mini-conference or symposium) in which faculty can showcase research and projects that are related to issues of social justice. (This recommendation will be referred to the office or person that is the outcome from recommendation #1 above.)

Announcement from President Corrigan

President Corrigan announced a Town Hall meeting on the budget that will be held on March 17, 12:00-1:30 in Knuth Hall jointly sponsored by the administration and CFA and CSUEU. Campus administrators will discuss the current situation, and methods for lobbying government officials will be presented.

AGENDA ITEM #4—Recommendation from the Executive Committee: Proposed Revision to Academic Senate Bylaws, Section IIC, 1^st Reading

The recommendation was moved by Senator Meredith. After a short discussion, Senator Steier moved to consider the item in second reading. The Secretary failed to note who seconded Senator Steier's motion. The motion to move to second reading passed on a unanimous voice vote.

Senator Fielden then moved three changes:

on line 7, add a comma after "occur"
on line 8 change "goes" to "go"
on line 11 change "to either declaration by any member" to "by any member to either declaration"

The motion was seconded by Senator Salama and passed by unanimous voice vote.

Senator Sheldon moved to add the phrase "with any concerns from the body" to line 13 following "Executive Committee". The motion failed to attract a second.

The main motion then passed by unanimous voice vote.

AGENDA ITEM #5—Recommendation from the Faculty Affairs Committee: Proposed Revisions to the Syllabus Policy, 1^st Reading

The proposal was moved by Senator Ulasewicz for the Faculty Affairs Committee. After some discussion, Senator Chelberg moved the item to second reading, with a second by Senator Van Dam. The move to second reading passed on a unanimous voice vote.

Discussion then paused for item 7, which had reached its time certain.

AGENDA ITEM #7—Recommendation from the Curriculum Review and Approval Committee: Proposed Revisions to the MFA Degree Requirements for Creative Writing, 1^st Reading—proposal to be heard no later than 3:00p.m.

Senator Linder moved this item for the Curriculum Review and Approval Committee. Professor Chernoff (Creative Writing) and Professor Conboy (Theatre Arts) made presentations in support of the proposal. Senator Steier moved the item to second reading, with a second from Senator Ulasewicz. The move to second reading passed on unanimous voice vote, after which the main motion passed on unanimous voice vote.

AGENDA ITEM #8—Recommendation from the Curriculum Review and Approval Committee: Proposed Name Change of the MS Degree in Applied Geosciences, 1^st Reading—proposal to be heard no later than 3:15p.m.

Senator Linder moved this item for the Curriculum Review and Approval Committee. Professor Grove (Geosciences) made a presentation in support of the proposal. Senator Chelberg moved the item to second reading, with a second from Senator Steier. The move to second reading passed on unanimous voice vote, after which the main motion passed on unanimous voice vote.

AGENDA ITEM #5—Recommendation from the Faculty Affairs Committee: Proposed Revisions to the Syllabus Policy, (Continued)

The Senate continued discussion in second reading. Senator Sheldon moved to amend line 5 by adding the phrase: "office hours, "after "office number,". Senator Van Dam seconded. The amendment passed by voice vote.

The discussion of the proposal was vigorous, and an attempt by Senator Chelberg to call the question failed 20-11. A later call of the question by Senator Bloom passed 28-3. The policy then passed on a voice vote with one abstention.

AGENDA ITEM #6—Recommendation from the Executive Committee: Proposed Academic Senate 2008-2009 Meeting Schedule—Proposal to be heard no later than 3:45 p.m. 1^st Reading

Chair Kohn asked if the body wished to consider this item in second reading, as there was some urgency in starting the selection of next year's new Senators. The move to second reading passed on a unanimous voice vote. The meeting schedule then passed by a unanimous voice vote.

AGENDA ITEM #9—Adjournment—3:46