CampusMemo: May 21, 2007

Volume 54, Number 34 May 21, 2007

Faculty lineup
for Commencement
Faculty members participating in the Saturday, May 26, Commencement ceremony should line up by 12:15 p.m. next to the Student Services building (the north side of the Centennial Village roadway). This will guarantee a seat in the staging area.

For details, contact Norma Urcuyo-Siani at siani@sfsu.edu or ext. 8-6141.

CampusMemo schedule
This is the final CampusMemo of the spring semester. Summer issues of CampusMemo will be published June 18 and July 16. CampusMemo resumes weekly publication Aug. 20. Items should be submitted to pubnews@sfsu.edu by 5 p.m. of the Tuesday preceding publication.

For details, call Public Affairs & Publications at ext. 8-1665.

Mail Services updates
New postage rates went into effect May 14. The first class letter rate is now $0.41. The rates for additional ounces have gone down for letters; however, new shape-based rates will increase the cost of mailing pieces that exceed certain dimensional criteria. Mail services is working with USPS and Pitney Bowes to prepare a guide to the new rate structure with tips for avoiding unnecessary mailing costs.

In addition, effective July 1, the SF State One Card will be the only payment method for transactions at the public window in the Corporation Yard Mail Room. Cash will no longer be accepted. A value transfer station has been installed in the Mail Room lobby to enable customers to load value onto the One Card. Temporary cards will be available for customers who do not have a One Card.

Summer iLearn workshops
Academic Technology invites faculty and staff to summer workshops on iLearn, SF State's official online learning management system, and on other topics such as designing digital images and dynamic instructional Web sites using Dreamweaver, CSS, PHP and MySQL.

Blackboard will no longer be available after June 30 so this is a chance to convert courses to the iLearn environment.

Both weeklong and shorter workshops are available. Registration is required, but all workshops are free.

To register, visit: power.sfsu.edu

For details, contact Academic Technology at workshop@sfsu.edu or ext. 5-3536.

Summer and
fall textbooks
The SFSU Bookstore is processing orders for the summer and fall semesters and would like to remind teaching faculty to turn in textbook orders and reader requests as soon as possible. The earlier a book order is turned in, the better chance the Bookstore has of buying books from students at the end of the semester. Buyback is going on now and continues through May 25.

Submit your textbook order online at: facultytext.sfsubookstore.com

For details, contact the Bookstore's Textbook Department at textbook@sfsu.edu or ext. 8-7377.

Fee-waiver program
Fall fee-waiver information is now available. Eligible, continuing or newly admitted employees should submit completed fee-waiver applications and fees to the Cashier's/Bursar's Office (room 155 of the Administration building) two weeks prior to their registration date.

Dependent fee-waiver participants should also complete the appropriate application and submit the application and fees to Human Resources, room 252 of the Administration building.

For details, including fees, visit the Human Resources Web site: www.sfsu.edu/~hrwww/

For specific questions, contact Jackie Bender at jbender@sfsu.edu or ext. 8-2678.

Summer fitness options
FitnessPlus, the faculty and staff fitness and wellness program, is offering seven-week summer programs beginning Monday, June 18. Classes include weight training, yoga, group exercise, Feldenkrais Method body work, and more. Register online at www.sfsu.edu/~fitplus or contact FitnessPlus at fitplus@sfsu.edu or ext. 8-7572.

In addition, the Village Fitness Center invites faculty and staff to take advantage of its summer fitness program. Special rates are available through June 15 and include full access to the Village Fitness Center on campus, Club One at the Fillmore Center in San Francisco, as well as all other Club One Fitness Clubs.

For details, contact the Village Fitness Center at (415) 452-1010.

Summer youth
basketball camps
The SF State basketball coaches will conduct two one-week day camps at the Gymnasium for boys and girls aged 7-14. The camps run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, June 25-29 and July 16-20. Registration is $125 per session.

For further information, contact Bill Treseler, men's basketball coach, at treseler@sfsu.edu or ext. 8-1729.

Honoring retiring faculty Tuesday
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., Tuesday, May 22, in the Nob Hill Room of Seven Hills Conference Center.

A list of retiring faculty (MS Word format) is available at:

academic.sfsu.edu/CMS_uploads/files/27faff-242.doc

Alumnus of the year: Filmmaker Arthur Dong
Photo of Arthur Dong

Award-winning producer/director Arthur Dong has been named SF State's 2007 Alumnus of the Year. Dong, who received a bachelor's degree in film in 1982, is the recipient of numerous awards for his work and for public service. His documentary films have explored such subjects as homosexuality and America's culture wars and Asian American nightclub performers in the 1940s. "Sewing Woman," a documentary about his mother's immigration to America from China, was nominated for an Academy Award in 1984.

Among Dong's other films are "Forbidden City, U.S.A.," a musical tribute to the plight of Asian American nightclub performers in the 1940s, and "Lotus," a half-hour drama about the foot-binding of Chinese women. He recently completed a new feature documentary, "Hollywood Chinese," a visual and cultural history of the Chinese in Hollywood feature films, from the early 1900s up to present day. It will be released this fall.

Dong has also received a George Foster Peabody Award, three Sundance Film Festival awards, and five Emmy nominations. He has been named a Guggenheim Fellow in Film and a Rockefeller Fellow in Media. Dong served as a governor of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and currently represents the Academy on the National Film Preservation Board.

Dong said that his experience at SF State was one where he was given the freedom to express his ideas and grow as an artist. "A lot of the education was hands-off," he said. "I was left alone but I also knew that my professors were always there when I needed advice."

For more on Dong, read the SF State News story: www.sfsu.edu/~news/2007/spring/39.htm

Three tapped for Alumni Hall of Fame
A San Francisco leader in education, a corporate and civil rights attorney and a radio and television personality will be inducted into the San Francisco State Alumni Hall of Fame at a campus reception on May 25.

The inductees are:

Gwen Chan (B.A., Chinese, '66; M.A., Education, '92), interim superintendent of schools, San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), and former deputy superintendent, is the first Chinese American to serve in each capacity. An educator for more than 39 years, Chan has been recognized as the SFUSD School Master of the Year (1996), and an Outstanding Woman of the Year by the Chinese Consolidated Women's Association (2006). In 1998 she was named to the World Journal's Top Ten Asians list.

Robert L. Harris (B.A., Sociology, '65), retired vice president of environmental, health, safety, technical and land services at Pacific Gas and Electric Co. is the first and only lawyer in the company's history to argue and win a case in the United States Supreme Court. As a civil rights activist, he has received the NAACP's highest legal honor, the William Robert Ming Award for litigating civil rights issues. His commitment to civic affairs also earned him Kappa Alpha Psi's highest honor, the Laurel Wreath. He has been named one of Ebony Magazine's 100 Most Influential Blacks in America on five different occasions.

Jan Wahl (B.A., Radio/Television, '75), is film critic at KRON-TV and culture and entertainment reporter for KCBS Radio. In Los Angeles Wahl was a documentary producer, stage manager and director of ABC TV shows including "Rona Barrett's Hollywood," "The Lawrence Welk Show," "Good Morning, America" and such specials as the Oscar and Grammy telecasts. She won Emmy Awards for producing and writing "They Still Say I Do," a humorous documentary on the palimony case of Lee and Michelle Triola Marvin and a KRON 4 special titled "A Filmgoer's Bill of Rights."

The San Francisco State University Alumni Hall of Fame recognizes alumni who have earned the respect of their peers through professional, cultural and civic achievements.

Search committee for dean of undergraduate studies
Nominations are still needed to fill three positions on the search committee for dean of undergraduate studies. The previous search was not successful. Nominees should be tenured or tenure-track teaching faculty or full-time lecturers.

Nominations can be made on the Academic Senate Web site at: www.sfsu.edu/~senate/nominate

For details, contact the Academic Senate office at senate@sfsu.edu or ext. 8-1264.

OIP director candidates
Two remaining candidates for the director of the Office of International Programs position will present on campus.

James Coffman, U.S. representative for International Student Advisors Inc., Tokyo, Japan, will present from 2:30 to 4 p.m. Thursday, May 24, in room 460 of the Administration building.

Elizabeth Lowe, associate director and scholar at the Center for Latin American Studies, University of Florida, will present from 2:30 to 4 p.m. Wednesday, June 13, in the NEC Room, room 560 of the Administration building.

This month's Newsmakers include Dean Manders, lecturer of social science, on his new book on common sense; Grace Yoo, associate professor of Asian studies, and her Koreans in America course; Robert C. Chope, professor of counseling, on family and careers; a study on gender nonconforming children by Caitlyn Ryan, director of adolescent health initiatives at the Cesar Chavez Institute; Whitney Chadwick, professor of art, on Picasso and American art; and Joe Tuman, professor of communication studies, on U.S. presidential candidates and MySpace.

Read Newsmakers: www.sfsu.edu/~news/cmemo/spring07/may21news.htm

Friday
CTFD open house
The Center for Teaching and Faculty Development invites faculty and staff to an open house from noon to 3 p.m. Friday in room 435 of the Library. Sweet and savory Mediterranean delights will be served.

Coming Up
Health literacy forum
A health literacy forum on "Language, Literacy & Immigrant Health Care: Opportunities for Partnership" will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, June 1, on the sixth floor of the SF State Downtown Campus, 835 Market St., San Francisco.

For details, see: http://www.sfsu.edu/~forum/

Yehudi Menuhin festival
The Yehudi Menuhin Chamber Music Seminar and Festival takes place June 1-3 in Knuth Hall of the Creative Arts building. The festival features three public concerts and seven master classes. For tickets and further details, visit www.sffcm.org or call (415) 820-1530.

The festival also includes the final Morrison Artists' Series concert of the season, a recital by the Daedalus String Quartet at 3 p.m. Sunday, June 3, in McKenna Theatre of the Creative Arts building. The quartet will perform works by Haydn, Horne and Debussy. Admission is free.

The event is sponsored by the San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music and SF State's School of Music and Dance.

At its final meeting of the 2006-07 academic year, the Academic Senate …

Heard a report from Genie Stowers, chair of the Academic Program Review Committee, on the Fifth Cycle of Academic Program Review;
Approved a charge for the University Tenure and Promotion Committee;
Approved revisions to the upper division writing requirements;
Approved a change to the bylaws, eliminating the Academic Program Review Committee and establishing a Strategic Issues Committee;
Approved, by standing ovation, a resolution in commendation of David Meredith for his leadership as Academic Senate Chair; and
Approved, by acclamation, a resolution thanking and commending departing senators.

At its first meeting of the 2007-08 academic year, the Academic Senate ...

Elected, by acclamation, the following officers: James Kohn, chair, Academic Senate; Shawn Whalen, vice chair, Academic Senate; and David Meredith, secretary, Academic Senate
Elected the following at-large executive committee members: Josh Levine and Gene Chelberg;
Elected the following individuals (by their respective standing committees): Ray Trautman, chair, Academic Policies Committee; Connie Ulasewicz, chair, Faculty Affairs Committee; Martin Linder, chair, Curriculum Review and Approval Committee; Bridget McCracken, chair, Student Affairs Committee; and Bruce Robertson and Genie Stowers, co-Chairs, Strategic Issues Committee; and
Approved a resolution on the summer senate

Read the full Academic Senate meeting report: www.sfsu.edu/~senate/

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Last modified May 21, 2007, by the Office of Public Affairs & Publications