ACADEMIC SENATE

MINUTES

November 29, 2007

11:30 A.M. - 1:00 P.M. ACADEMIC SENATE CHAMBERS

Members Present: Altar, Alva, Arnold, Bhattacharya, Bruschke, Buck, Bullock, Carroll, Dabirian, Drezner, Fidalgo, Fromson, Gass, Gordon, Green, Grewal, Guerin, Hickok, Jarvis, Junn, Kanal, Kantardjieff, Klassen, Liverpool, McConnell, McMahan, Mead, Nyaggah, Oliver, Palmer, Pasternack, Randall, Rhoten, Richter, Shapiro, Smith, Spitzer, Stang, Stein, Taylor, Walicki and Williams

Absent: Bedell, Burgtorf, Hewitt, Sage

I. CALL TO ORDER

Chair Guerin called the meeting to order at 11:32 a.m.

II. URGENT BUSINESS

None.

III. ANNOUNCEMENTS

3.1 Chair Guerin announced the passing of founding faculty member of the Department of Chemistry, Dr. Andy Montana on Thanksgiving Day. A moment of silence was observed.

3.2 Senators were encouraged to sign get-well card for Tiffany Gibson who is recovering well from surgery.

3.3 Senator Spitzer drew attention to the hand-out announcement entitled “Deliberative Polling® at CSUF Coming Spring 2008”. This collaborative project is sponsored by the VP-Academic Affairs. Faculty are encouraged to get the word out on this scienfically-run public opinion poll for CSUF students by putting into their Spring syllabi, making class announcements, giving students extra credit, etc. For more information and/or questions, contact Senator Scott Spitzer or Dr. Pam Fiber-Ostow.

3.4 Senator (VP-AA) Smith reiterated Senator Spitzer’s announcement regarding the Deliberative Polling Project, headquartered at Stanford University. CSUF was one of 14 comprehensive universities nationally to be selected to participate in this project.

3.5 Senator Drezner gave the 2006-07 (ASD 07-176) Academic Senate Treasurer’s report for monies in three accounts through Cal State Fullerton Philanthropic Foundation: (1) Faculty Fund #93400; (2) Scholarship Fund #97042; (3) Collegiality Fund #97007.

IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

4.1 M/S/P [Rhoten/Nyaggah] to approve ASD 07-158, A.S. Minutes 9-27-07, as submitted.

V. CONSENT CALENDAR

M/S/P [Drezner/Pasternack] to approve the consent calendar.

5.1 ASD 07-177 Revised UPS 300.019 Academic Responsibility for Missed Instruction Due to University Sponsored Activity [Suggestions from President Gordon]

5.2 ASD 07-178 Revised UPS 410.170 Joint Doctoral Programs [Suggestions from President Gordon]

5.3 Nominees to Sub-Committee

PROPOSAL FOR DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL WORK

Nominees: Judy Smith (EDUC); Leslie Grier (HHD); Hilla Israely (SOC SCI); Pat Keig (EDUC); April Bullock (HUM)

VI. STATEWIDE ACADEMIC SENATE REPORT

Senator Pasternack announced that the Access to Excellence Steering Committee of the Statewide Senate reviewed comments on the draft. He heard comments very complimentary about the input sent from CSUF Academic Senate. He also encouraged senators to follow the CSU Statewide Senate in passing a resolution opposing Prop 92.

VII. CHAIR’S REPORT

Chair Guerin announced that next week’s agenda will be sent out today; however, a revised agenda will be sent next week which will include undergraduate and graduate courses needing approval before the end of Fall 2007 semester. Final committee meetings are scheduled for Friday, 11-30-07, before the Senate’s final meeting 12-6-07.

VIII. TIMES CERTAIN

Time Certain

11:45 a.m.

Subject: Presentation of Gifts from Hebei College of Finance, China

Nancy Fitch, Heping Zhao, Jennifer Cheung

Chair Guerin introduced Nancy Fitch, Heping Zhao and Jennifer Cheung who visited China during summer 2007. Heping Zhao gave an overview of the Fudan Seminars which are in the 15^th year and continuing. Hebei College of Finance is one of our newest partners and presented several gifts which are today being presented to President Gordon. A large bald eagle was painted by the head librarian. The second gift is a sculpture of a bald eagle. A framed note from Hebei College President was also presented to President Gordon thanking CSUF for an overhead projector and many books donated by the English Department to their university, as well as for the friendship between our universities.

President Gordon thanked the guests for the presentation of gifts and reiterated that Fudan is CSUF’s longest term partnership. We were invited to their 100 year celebration a few years ago. Many of our faculty members have enjoyed the ongoing scholarship program.

Time Certain

12:15 p.m.

Subject: Follow-Up to the “State of the University Address” -- Question and Comment Period

President Milton A. Gordon

Senator Shapiro noted that he was disappointed on 11-15-07 when hearing the “State of the University” that it was the usual litany of accomplishments. It was what was not addressed that was of concern. Growth in an unrestrained manner and at any cost was a major emphasis. The impact on quality was not discussed in much detail except trying to maintain the SFR. We currently rank among the worst in the 23 CSU campuses in student-faculty ratio, and shouldn’t we be trying to improve upon that? Senator Shapiro thinks that this should be a key issue over the coming years.

President Gordon stated he regretted Senator Shapiro’s disappointment. The future and planning for it was addressed. A point of disagreement between the two has been ongoing in terms of students going to college. A clear pattern of growth has been established over the past 10-11 years, and now is the time to plan for the future.

Senator Buck commented on growth and excellence. He felt that our slow growth over the years has eroded excellence in many ways. The SFR in the late 80’s and early 90’s was 18.63; it is now 21.13. In 1991-92, there were 664 tenured and tenure-track faculty; now, in spite of our student body growth over the past few years, there are only 698. We are not moving towards excellence if we do not allow the amount of tenure and tenure-track faculty to increase proportionately to the growing student population. Senator Buck asked if there were any plans to stop growing enrollments and suggested slowing growth until we are able to “catch up” in terms of the amount of tenured and tenure-track faculty.

President Gordon responded that CSUF has one of the highest graduation rates of any of the 23 CSU campuses. It is around 49% for freshmen, which is good. He stated that he believes the amount of tenured and tenure-track faculty (698) has been the highest number in the last 15-20 years. We are continuing to increase tenured and tenure-track faculty. Regarding stopping growth, President Gordon responded that our growth has been exceptional over the last 10-12 years, and he feels that it has been a positive aspect. We have maintained a very successful rate of graduation for those students. He mentioned that he was unsure about how big we will eventually get since admissions into the CSU is open to any qualified student in the region. We have seen a significant increase in freshmen application. VP Smith added that there is no correlation between the growth and the SFR. The SFR of the late 80’s was at 18.9 and increased on all CSU campuses in the early 90’s when budget cuts took place. Enrollment decreased to about 22,000 and the SFR increased when we lost enrollment. It was a direct result of budget cuts.

Senator Randall asked President Gordon to comment further on our progress in recent hiring towards diversifying our faculty. President Gordon responded that in one year, two years ago, we hired seven African American tenure-track faculty members, and in the following year, we hired six. In one year, we hired twenty Asian tenure-track faculty members, and twelve the following year. We have hired eleven Hispanic tenure-track faculty members. The male to female ratio of those hired was about 50/50. This is very good progress. This diversity is reflected across all colleges.

Chair Guerin asked if we have received a target for enrollment for next year. President Gordon said that he received it a few days ago. VP Smith stated that it was about 2.4% over this year’s target. President Gordon added that we should keep in mind that a lot of our growth has to do with us having the most successful Summer Session program in the entire CSU. From summer alone, we had an FTES of 1,960.

Chair Guerin also asked President Gordon if he thinks there is limit to the number students that can be served on a campus of our size. President Gordon stated that believed there is, but he did not provide a specific number. He explained that we would have to factor in our available acreage and resources in order to come up with a figure.

Senator Taylor shared concerns about CSUF having one of the worse SFR’s in the country for a large institution. He asked what approach we could take to lower the SFR. President Gordon stated that he is not sure if CSUF is “one of the worse in the country”. We have tried to make sure that the SFR has not gotten in larger. We certainly try to improve it. Additional faculty hiring has helped. However, we have not yet seen the funds that make it easier to lower the SFR. Senator Klassen recalled that when he was hired in 1965, the SFR was 16.4 and he was told that it would never get to 17. He suggested that new hires be told about what has happened in the past. He appreciates the fact that there is an initiative to hire 100, but if we do not fill all 100 positions, we should aim to fill whatever we were unable to fill before in the following year. We ought to aim to hire an additional number of faculty members if the campus enrolls more students. He suggested that this input be taken into consideration during planning for the next years, because this is what the faculty desires and what the campus needs to maintain quality and retain junior faculty. President Gordon responded that attempting to hire 100 faculty members involves a lot of work for various groups of people across the campus. VP Smith commented that departments may not be able to handle conducting over 100 searches. The workload that this would create is an issue.

Senator Hickok inquired about the Hope University property. President Gordon stated that Hope University has been looking to relocate for a number of years. They are trying to move to the same property in Irvine that we are interested in. A professional group has already purchased part of the Hope University property and plans to build apartments for students there. Part of that land used to belong to CSUF, but it was sold in the 1970’s. This land was dormitories for CSUF students. VP Hagan added that Hope University sold six acres, and they have plans to sell the remaining eleven acres in July. They are definitely aware that CSUF wants to purchase the land. We are spending as much time as we can to make this happen.

Senator Nyaggah asked what percentage of minority students have graduated. President Gordon pointed out that we have been quite successful in graduating our Asian student population. While the total Asian student population is about 20-22%, we have seen Asian students make up over a quarter of all the graduates. We have graduated large numbers of Hispanic students, although not the same percentage as the student population base. However, that student population base is increasing significantly every year. It currently makes up 28% of the student population, but of the freshman class, it is 36%. Therefore, the graduation rate for Hispanic students will probably increase in the future. There has been an increase in the number of African American graduates and an increase in the number enrolled. We currently have the over 1,300 (4%), perhaps the largest number of African American students in the history of CSUF.

He also asked when looking at the number of new hires in the last two years and how many faculty we lose due to retirement, resignation, or death per year, what is the number of faculty that we actually gained? President Gordon replied that we hired 93 the first year, and 83 the second year, so that is a total of 176 new hires. We based the number 100 on a six-year study conducted by VP Smith that revealed that we lose an average of 36 faculty members per year. So, with 100 hires, we thought we were attempting to make a significant gain. Senator Dabirian added that there was a net gain of 56 faculty members in 2006 and 45 in 2007.

Senator Richter, ASI representative on the senate, thanked President Gordon for his commitment to growth. He stated that he shares support of the idea that denying students admission to CSUF could possibly deny them a college degree because many students that attend CSUF reside locally and if they are not accepted into this University, they may not attend any college.

Senator Shapiro commented that California has an excellent system of community colleges. Any student can attend Fullerton College, prove himself or herself there and be guaranteed acceptance into CSUF as a transfer student. He disagreed with President Gordon that everyone needs a college degree to be successful. There are trades and vocational programs in which one could become successful. A bachelor’s degree should not be made an entitlement. It has to be something that is earned.

Senator Fromson added that the key comment that Senator Shapiro made was about defining success as earning power. He thinks that there is far more to success than just earnings. We offer students an opportunity to find their passions and to build themselves as human beings. President Gordon concurred, stating that people should not be measured by the amount of money they make. There are other success factors in life. He thanked everyone for their questions and comments.

IX. FIRST READING – RESCISSION ITEMS

9.1 ASD 07-179 Revised UPS 210.012 Guidelines: Pre-Development Plan [FAC]

9.2 ASD 07-180 Revised UPS 210.013 Guidelines: Development Plan [FAC]

Chair Guerin announced that these two items for rescission will be on the 12-6-07 agenda under the Consent Calendar.

X. NEW BUSINESS

10.1 It was M/S (Oliver/Kanel) to approve ASD 07-168 Revised UPS 300.018 Withdrawal Unauthorized – Issuance of WU Grade [ASC].

Senator Oliver explained the simplification of the language in the policy being more forgiving for the first time non-withdrawal from a class.

Senator Kanel explained that transfer students may also not know the policy. The reality is students don’t read the policy.

Senator Pasternack questioned the changes in light of Executive Order 792 pertaining to grade assignments. He questioned the logic of changing a WU to a W in the first semester. What if a student is a senior vs. a freshman or a transfer student? He is concerned about the issue of withdrawal. A Task Force has been formed at the statewide level to tighten up the withdrawal policies.

M/S/P (Alva/Fromson) to approve language to replace first paragraph:

“When a student stops attending a class without dropping the class or without permission to withdraw from the class, and there is no clear indication of the student’s academic performance in the class, the instructor may assign the administrative grade of WU-withdraw unauthorized. By contrast, UPS 300.016 summarizes the campus policy on authorized withdrawals; the administrative grade of W.”

M/S/P (Alva/Oliver) (unanimous) to insert the following language after Paragraph 2, pg 1, after line 28:

“A student can petition to convert a WU to W if there were serious and compelling reasons that affected the student’s ability to attend or participate in a class. Such reasons must be documented by the student, in accordance with UPS 300.016.”

Friendly amendment (Drezner) to insert “or participating in” in the first sentence of Senator Alva’s approved amendment to the first paragraph. It would read:

“When a student stops attending or participating in a class without dropping the class or without permission…”

It was M/S (Pasternack/Randall) to substitute second paragraph with the following language of Executive Order 792:

“The symbol “WU” shall be used where a student, who is enrolled on the census date, does not officially withdraw from a course but fails to complete it. Its most common use is in those instances where a student has not completed sufficient course assignments or participated in sufficient course activity to make it possible, in the opinion of the instructor, to report satisfactory or unsatisfactory completion of the class by use of the letter grade (A-F). The instructor shall report the last known date of attendance by the student. The symbol “WU” shall be identified as a failing grade in the transcript legend and shall be counted as units attempted but not passed in computing the grade point average. In courses which are graded Credit/No Credit, or in cases where the student has elected Credit/No Credit evaluation, use of the symbol “WU” is inappropriate and “NC” shall be used instead.”

Discussion of this item was yielded when the time certain was reached. This motion by Senator Pasternack will be brought back in writing on 12-6-07, and we will begin at this point under unfinished business.

Items 10.2 – 10.4 were not discussed due to lack of time.

10.2 ASD 07-181 Revised UPS 211.100 Appointment of Department Chairs and Vice Chairs [FAC]

10.3 ASD 07-182 Revised UPS 292.000 Faculty Leadership in Collegial Governance Award [FAC]

10.4 ASD 07-183 Revised UPS 103.004 Computing Facilities Use Policy [ITC]

V. ADJOURNMENT

Meeting adjourned at 12:59 p.m.