May 12, 2003
Volume 50, No. 32
News
Announcements
This Week
About CampusMemo
Announcements
'Rites of Passage"
Faculty and staff are invited to honor retiring faculty at the annual "Rites of Passage" celebration to be held from 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 21, in the University Club.
The event will be hosted by President Robert Corrigan and Vice President John Gemello. Faculty are invited to attend either as an emeritus honoree or to congratulate and celebrate with colleagues and friends. Please see the
page that accompanies this week's issue of CampusMemo for a list of 2003 emeriti faculty.
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Faculty at Commencement
The University's Commencement ceremony will take place Saturday, May 24, in Cox Stadium. Faculty members participating in the ceremony should line up no later than 12:15 p.m. next to the Student Services building to guarantee a seat on the staging area.
For details, contact Norma Urcuyo-Siani at ext. 8-6141.
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Summer camp for faculty
The Center for the Enhancement of Teaching invites faculty members to sign up for one of its weeklong June workshops. Topics include: "Digital Cameras: From Snap to Finish," "Creating an Instructional Web Site," "Online Teaching with Blackboard" and "Using Video to Enhance Teaching and Learning."
For details or to register, visit http://cet.sfsu.edu/summer, e-mail cetregis@sfsu.edu, or call ext. 5-3537.
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Campus cats need weekend care
The Campus Cat Committee, which cares for the campus feral cat population, seeks staff, faculty or students to help feed the cats on the weekends. Cat food is provided. The commitment requires providing water and putting out food once a month on a Saturday or Sunday.
To volunteer, contact Brigid Duffy at ext. 8-1493 or bduffy@sfsu.edu or Irene Donner at ext. 8-2763.
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CEL offers summer learning adventures
The College of Extended Learning's summer bulletin is now available, offering more than 300 classes for academic credit, noncredit and continuing education.
Among the new programs introduced this summer are a certificate program in Clinical Trials Design & Management, new classes for visual artists, creative professionals and recording industry enthusiasts and classes that combine learning with outdoor adventure.
The learning/adventure offerings are appropriate for both college students who want to earn academic credit and faculty, staff and the general public who seek a learning vacation. They include six days at sea aboard a traditionally rigged tall ship, exploring oceanography and marine conservation in the Channel Islands, or seven days learning about wildlife, land use and water quality along the Yampa River in Colorado's Dinosaur National Monument.
For details, see www.cel.sfsu.edu. For specifics on adventure classes/vacations, contact Richard Kay at ext. 5-7772 or rkay@sfsu.edu.
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CampusMemo News
CampusMemo is changing its format. Starting with the June 9 edition, Public Affairs and the Division of Information Technology will e-mail each issue to faculty and staff. The e-mail will contain links to the Web version of CampusMemo, which will include longer versions of some items.
The deadline and methods of submitting items to CampusMemo will remain the same.
For details, contact Public Affairs at extension 8-1665 or pubcom@sfsu.edu.
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This Week
Tuesday
Final Senate meeting of academic year
The Academic Senate will meet for the final time this academic year from 2 to 5 p.m. Tuesday in the Nob Hill Room of the Seven Hills Conference Center.
Agenda items include: a report from Denise Fox, director of human resources, on the University's compliance with regulations for the protection of whistleblowers; a report from Cece Iandoli on results from the University calendar survey; a report from Oswaldo Garcia about the Academic Program Review Committee; elections to General Education Segment II committees; a proposed policy on creating the University Historical Archives and establishing a University Historical Archives Advisory Committee; a proposed resolution on the CSU Common Management System; a proposed resolution on civil liberties; proposed guidelines on instructional technology; a proposed change in University policy regarding TOEFL; a resolution thanking and commending departing senators; adjournment of the 2002-03 session and call to order of the 2003-04 session; election of Senate officers for 2003-04; a proposed calendar of Senate meetings for fall 2003; and a proposed resolution on a summer Senate.
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Wednesday
The 'Illustrious Koran'
Carel Bertram, professor of humanities, will speak on "Illuminating the Illustrious Koran: How the Spiritual Message of Islam Became a Work of Art" at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday in the de Bellis Collection on the sixth floor of the J. Paul Leonard Library. A reception follows the lecture.
The event is sponsored by the Friends of the Library. Members of the Friends of the Library will meet at 3 p.m. for a business meeting including the election of board members.
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Planetarium explores how we measure the universe
Planetarium explores how we measure the universe
The student-produced planetarium show "Measuring the Universe" will be presented from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Charles Hagar Planetarium, room 422 of Thornton Hall. The event is open to the public.
The show will be repeated from 12:10 to 1 p.m. Thursday, May 22. For details, contact Mark Ciotola at ciotola@sfsu.edu.
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Thursday
Themes on travel
The Department of Speech and Communication Studies presents "Baggage Claim and Customs" from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday in room 133 of the Humanities building. The show, presented by undergraduate and graduate students, explores themes related to travel, identity, and peace. It is directed by Lee Jenkins, professor of speech and communication studies.
The performance will be repeated from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, May 22.
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News
Ben Fong-Torres named Alumnus of Year
Ben Fong-Torres, a Bay Area media personality who has dedicated his life to rock 'n' roll and words, has been named SFSU's 2003 Alumnus of the Year
by the Alumni Association.
Fong-Torres, who earned a bachelor of arts degree in radio-television-film in 1966, will receive the award at the University's 102nd annual
Commencement exercises at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, May 24, in Cox Stadium.
From Ray Charles to Paul McCartney and Elton John to the Grateful Dead, Fong-Torres has interviewed hundreds of world-famous musicians and actors
and written stories for Rolling Stone and other magazines and newspapers during the last 35 years. His time wasn't only spent punching out stories on
a typewriter, as his voice was also heard on Bay Area radio stations KSAN and KQED and his face appeared on television programs in the late 1970s.
Today, he continues to write and
emcee community events.
"I've had a pretty incredible career and I owe it all to having attended San Francisco State. When I first registered in the summer of 1962 and
plunked down the $48 tuition, I thought about the things I wanted to learn and to do in writing and in broadcasting but I also saw them as long-shot
fantasies," said Fong-Torres, 58. "But I was at the right school at the right time. Here at San Francisco State there were no closed doors, no
well-meaning little chats about how I might want to consider other lines of work … where Asians have done well."
Fong-Torres found work that melded his love of music with journalism. As Billboard Magazine recently exclaimed, "You couldn't hope for a more
upbeat, sane and dryly revealing observer of popular music's halcyon era."
In addition to his Alumnus of the Year honor, Fong-Torres will be one of four inductees into the SFSU Hall of Fame during a ceremony on Friday,
May 23.
"It gives me and this entire University great pleasure to honor Ben Fong-Torres for his extraordinary work as a journalist, author and
broadcaster," President Robert A. Corrigan said. "San Francisco State University was his training ground for a successful career in newspapers,
radio and television. We are proud to call him one of our own and we look forward to welcoming him back to campus to present this award."
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Four tapped for Alumni Hall of Fame
Artist Roy De Forest, San Francisco Poet Laureate devorah major, writer and rock journalist Ben Fong-Torres and bebe boutique founder
Manny Mashouf will be inducted into the SFSU Alumni Hall of Fame for 2003.
The group will be honored at a campus reception Friday, May 23. Each year the SFSU alumni association selects new inductees, whose pictures will
hang on the Hall of Fame wall in the first floor of the J. Paul Leonard Library.
Now a professor emeritus at UC Davis, De Forest, who received a bachelor's degree in art in 1953 and master's degree in art in 1958, was a member
of San Francisco's "Funk Art" movement of the 1960s. His paintings evolved into vividly patterned landscapes packed with animal and human figures.
He's been in more than three dozen one-man exhibits, and his print "Country Dog Gentlemen," was part of a recent exhibition at the San Francisco
Museum of Modern Art.
major, a 1975 graduate with a bachelor's degree in black studies, is an essayist, novelist and poet. Her latest work, "With More Than Tongue,"
will be published this month. A San Francisco resident since childhood, major captured the essence of the Fillmore District in her 2002 novel
"Brown Glass Windows."
Mashouf, who earned a bachelor's degree in political science in 1966, started his career as a manager for rock impresario Bill Graham. His
stay in the music business was short as he moved to women's apparel. He opened the first bebe boutique on Polk Street in 1976. Now with 178
shops in the United States and Canada, bebe is a cutting-edge retailer and its apparel is featured on "The Practice" among other television
shows. Mashouf also serves on the College of Business's Advisory Council.
For biography on Fong-Torres see story above.
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In Memoriam: Griffith G. Richards
Griffith G. Richards, emeritus professor of speech and communication studies, died Jan. 31, 2003. He was 75.
Richards joined SFSU in 1969. A licensed speech pathologist, he earned a Ph.D. in speech and hearing sciences from Stanford in 1970.
Richards taught courses in the Speech and Communication Studies Department, including anatomy and physiology of speech and voice production,
voice and articulation improvement, public speaking and group discussion.
In the '60s and '70s, Richards' research in speech science led to several innovations. He worked on speech control of machines with Lockheed
Inc. and aided in developing the voice identification tests that are used to verify the accuracy of courtroom testimony.
He served on various University committees throughout his career. A founding member of the Liberal Studies Council, he served as chair 1987-90.
He also served as Speech and Communication Studies Department chair, summer sessions coordinator and president of the University Club.
Richards was also known as a careful and caring student advisor. To honor his contributions to SFSU, make a donation to the Speech and
Communication Studies Department's Emerti Faculty Scholarship Fund. For details, contact Nancy Pappas at ext. 8-7398.
A memorial service will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. Friday at the University Club. R.S.V.P. to Victoria Chen at kumquat@sfsu.edu.
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CSU Trustees to meet about student fee increase
UPDATE: Due to the impending release of the Governor's budget "May Revise," the CSU Trustees will postpone their vote on possible student
fee increases. For more, see the Web story.
The CSU Trustees will meet this Wednesday to review the latest information on the state budget and to vote on a 25 percent fee increase for
undergraduate students and a 20 percent increase for graduate students.
Both items will be part of the agenda of the Committee on Finance meeting, which will meet at 9:15 a.m. Wednesday in Long Beach. The fee
increase will then be discussed and voted on during the Trustees plenary session, which takes place an hour later at 10:15 a.m.
The fee increase was recommended by Gov. Gray Davis in his January budget proposal as a way to mitigate the effects of a $447.7 million
reduction in the CSU's budget. Even with the proposed fee increase, undergraduate fees would still be lower than the lowest fees of the CSU's
comparison institutions.
There are also indications that the May Revise of the Governor's budget proposal may impose deeper cuts on the CSU. If that is the case, an
additional mid-year fee increase may be necessary or the CSU system will be forced to reduce enrollment for thousands of students and lay off
personnel.
The meeting agenda can be found at: www.calstate.edu/BOT/Agendas/index.shtml.
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About CampusMemo
CampusMemo provides news, information and on-campus events listings
to the faculty and staff of SFSU.
CampusMemo is published weekly during the school year by the Office
of Public Affairs. This publication is available in alternative formats upon
request. Contact Public Affairs at the number listed below. Submissions are
welcome. Deadline for submissions is 5 p.m. Tuesday the week preceding publication.
Items may be sent via e-mail: pubnews@sfsu.edu,
faxed to ext. 8-1498, or sent through campus mail to: CampusMemo, Office
of Public Affairs, Lakeview Center 110. Please direct any questions to the
e-mail address above, or call ext. 8-1665.
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