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Featured Question:

What percentage of the University’s budget comes from the State general fund?

For the 2009-10 academic year, the University received $128.7 million in general fund support out of a total budget of just over $270 million; approximately 48 percent of University support comes from the State’s general fund. The remainder comes from student fees, gifts, grants and contracts. This represents a dramatic decrease in state support in one year.

Contact

E-mail: upac@sfsu.edu

Last Update: 10-18-2010_nm

Proposal #52

Proposal Title:     Reorganization

Anticipated Savings/Revenue:  Perhaps $1 million or more

Units affected:  Several

Impacted Degrees/Courses: Many

Brief Description of Proposal:

Administrative reorganization:

Give serious thought to reducing the number of colleges and departments by combining similar units.  Look to other public urban universities for possible approaches.  In the following list, I’ve not included colleges of medicine, law, or other areas where CSU campuses are not permitted to offer programs.

City College, CUNY, seems to have five units comparable to our colleges:  Education, Engineering, Humanities and Arts, Social Sciences, Sciences. 

Cleveland State University has six colleges:  Business Administration, Education and Human Services, Engineering, Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, Science, Urban Affairs.

University of Maryland, Baltimore County has three colleges:  Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences; Engineering and Information Technology; Natural and Mathematical Sciences; and two schools:  Aging Services and Social Work.

Portland State has two colleges, Engineering and Computer Sciences and Liberal Arts and Sciences, plus five schools, Business Administration, Education (graduate studies only), Fine and Performing Arts, Social Work, and Urban and Public Affairs. 

Queens College, CUNY, has four divisions:  Arts and Humanities, Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Sciences, Education. 

University of Texas Arlington (Dallas-Fort Worth) has six colleges:  Business, Education and Health Professions, Engineering, Liberal Arts, Nursing, and Science plus schools of architecture, social work, and urban and public affairs. 

Wayne State University has five colleges:  Education, Engineering, Fine Performing and Communication Arts, Liberal Arts and Sciences, Nursing; and two schools:  Business Administration and Social Work.


What possibilities can we draw from such examples? 

A College of Arts and Letters, bringing together what is now Humanities, BSS, some units in Creative Arts (e.g., Art History), and perhaps Ethnic Studies (if the faculty wants to join).  This could save 1-2 dean’s salaries and 1-2 associate dean’s salaries and perhaps some staff positions, for a total of $350-700,000 or more.

A college combining education, human services, and applied health programs. 

Not everything needs to have college status -- some programs can be schools. 

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Note: Proposals are posted as submitted, without editing other than to remove the submitter's contact information.