ACADEMIC SENATE MEETING

MINUTES

TUESDAY, October 7, 2008

SEVEN HILLS CONFERENCE CENTER, NOB HILL ROOM

2:00 – 5:00 p.m.

CALL TO ORDER: 2:13 p.m.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1. A call for proposals for the 2009 SF State Faculty and Staff Development Retreat, to be held on Thursday, January 22, 2009, at the SF State Downtown Center, was announced in the October 6, 2008, edition of Campus Memo. Information is available online at http://www.sfsu.edu/~senate/retreat/

2. The CSU’s Office of International Programs has announced openings for 2010-2011 International Programs Resident Director assignments in China, France, Italy, Japan, and Spain. These positions are open to tenured or tenure-track CSU faculty in full-time teaching or administrative positions. Contact the Academic Senate office or visit www.calstate.edu/ip for more information.

3. Faculty interested in being nominated for the CSU Faculty Trustee position must submit a completed application to the Academic Senate office no later than Monday, November 17, 2008.

AGENDA ITEM #1—Approval of the Agenda for October 7, 2008

The agenda was approved by acclamation.

AGENDA ITEM #2—Approval of the Minutes for the September 23, 2008, meeting of the 2008-2009 Senate

The minutes were approved by acclamation.

AGENDA ITEM #3— Report from Chief Kirk Gaston and Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Gayle Orr-Smith of the University Police Department: Emergency Preparedness Week, October 20-24, 2008

The Senate heard a report from Chief Kirk Gaston on Emergency Preparedness Week. Planned activities include a week-long blood drive; a university-wide shelter-in-place drill, which includes a test the mass-notification system and staff response to the notification, but will not require any action by faculty or students; neighborhood emergency response team training; and expanded emergency first-aid and CPR training.

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

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

Discussion points included:

• Academic Resources informed APC that there is not enough time to implement a new, ten-week session in Summer 2009.
• APC heard a preliminary report from Linda Buckley, AVP for Academic Planning & Educational Effectiveness, on the efficacy of the five-week sessions. The preliminary conclusion is that students who complete a course in a short session perform the same in a “follow-on” course as students who completed the initial course in a regular session.
• The efficacy of five-week courses may be highly dependent upon the subject, instructional methods, and student projects.
• Responsibility is placed on the department chair to determine which courses can be effectively taught in the summer session.
• Faculty who believe a ten-week session is necessary should be given the opportunity offer courses on that time scale.
• The staggered start of the eight-week session can create advising problems for students, because R2 starts too late for students to drop R1 courses.
• What is the purpose of summer sessions? Are they primarily to help SF State students make progress towards graduation, or to enable external students to enroll in SF STATE courses? The start date of the R2 session accommodates the second purpose.
• The desired ten-week session should not replace the eight-week session.
• Major classroom maintenance and refurbishment must be scheduled during the summer; the ten-week session would impinge on these activities more than the other three sessions.
• APC will develop a perpetual summer calendar policy. Once approved, the policy will eliminate annual debate and enable long-range planning.

AGENDA ITEM #5— Recommendation from the Curriculum Review and Approval Committee: Proposed Degree Name Change, B.S. in Industrial Design with Concentrations in Industrial Technology and Product Design & Development, and B.S. in Visual Communication Design, First Reading—Proposal to be heard no later than 3:15 p.m.

Senator Shrivastava, on behalf of the Curriculum Review and Approval Committee, moved that the Senate approve name changes of degrees offered by the Department of Design and Industry.

Senator Holzman moved that the motion be moved to second reading. The motion failed.

Senator Shrivastava reminded the Senate that it approved, in May 2008, a revision of the Design and Industry Department’s degree curricula and a consolidation of its degree programs into a Bachelor of Science in Design, Concentration in Industrial Technology; Bachelor of Science in Design, Concentration in Product Design & Development; and Bachelor of Science in Design, Concentration in Visual Communication Design. Unfortunately, those degrees are not included in the CSU Higher Education General Information Survey codes (HEGIS). The CSU Chancellor’s Office suggested several alternative degree names. The current motion seeks only to change the names of the degrees; the curriculum remains as approved in May 2008. The new degree titles are Bachelor of Science in Industrial Design, Concentration in Industrial Technology; Bachelor of Science in Industrial Design, Concentration in Product Design & Development; and Bachelor of Science in Visual Communication Design.

Senator Levy moved that the motion be moved to second reading. The motion passed by voice vote.

The main motion, now in second reading, was approved by voice vote.

AGENDA ITEM #6—Recommendation from the Curriculum Review and Approval Committee: Proposed Revisions to the Masters Degree in Public Health, First Reading—Proposal to be heard no later than 3:30p.m.

Senator Shrivastava, on behalf of the Curriculum Review and Approval Committee, moved that the Senate approve a revised Master of Public Health degree program.

Senator Salama moved that the motion be moved to second reading. The motion passed by voice vote.

The main motion, now in second reading, was approved by voice vote.

AGENDA ITEM #7—Adjournment—no later than 5:00 p.m.

Senator Salama moved that the meeting be adjourned. The motion passed by voice vote. Chair Whalen declared the meeting adjourned at 3:26 p.m.