As you know, the Academic Senate Retreat will take place on Friday, October 17th 2008 at the Pointe. This year’s theme, “Community, Sustainability, University (CSU),” is an especially timely and compelling one, given the importance of sustainability issues at the local, state, and national levels. It also is intended to highlight the value we place on enhancing our community partnerships for the benefit of our region and our campus community. I am especially pleased to note that this year’s event includes an opportunity for academic units, individual faculty members, students, and staff to showcase the connections they have established with the community on sustainability initiatives. I hope that many of you will be able to participate.
As outlined in my Convocation remarks, this fall I have been engaged in a series of conversations with college advisory councils and chairs, the Chair’s Advisory Council, the Senate Executive Committee, members of the Faculty Personnel Policies Council (FPPC), and the deans and associate deans regarding our Scholarly and Creative Activities Committee (SCAC) program. In particular, we have been discussing ways in which we can streamline the current SCAC application and review process for academic year assigned time by decentralizing the review process to the college committees and deans. Discussion items include a possible two-year review and assignment cycle for academic year assigned time. I plan to complete this series of campus-wide discussions by early November and report to the FPPC, the Senate Executive Committee, and the University SCAC Committee on the feedback received and the plan for implementing a more streamlined process.
In September, the Legislature finally enacted a state budget, later than ever. The end result was less dire that the January 2008 proposal. However, as you know, we received no funding for mandatory increases for compensation awarded to faculty and staff through collective bargaining, health benefit increases, and utility increases. The net result for the academic year translates to a 1 percent reduction to the academic division and the colleges. This reduction is less than we had planned for, and a reduction we can effectively manage while protecting the integrity of our programs. Students will have access to essential classes and critical services will be met. However, the state fiscal outlook remains troubling. The California legislature has not resolved the state’s budget problems, mid-year cuts remain a possibility, and next year’s budget for the CSU is unclear. Despite these uncertainties, the University is well prepared to handle our budgetary challenges and protect the integrity of our academic programs.