THE CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY
ALUMNI COUNCIL QUARTERLY MEETING
CSU, Sacramento
January 21, 2006

MINUTES

Voting Members Present: Bob Linscheid, (Alumni Trustee), Shannon Hill (Bakersfield), Marty de los Cobos (Channel Islands), Tania Garcia (Channel Islands), Yvette Bocz (Channel Islands), Sheila Butts (Dominguez Hills), John Prosk (Dominguez Hills), Kate Shaheed (East Bay), Jacqui Glasener (Fresno), Valerie Vuicich (Fresno), Carlos Leija (Fullerton), Kristin Crellin (Fullerton), Dean Hart (Humboldt), Gay Arakawa (Long Beach), Guy Heston (Long Beach), Captain Lynn Korwatch (Maritime), Stephanie Regevig (Monterey Bay), Farah Hussain (Proxy Monterey Bay), Gray Mounger (Northridge), Francine Oschin (Northridge), Dawniela Hightower (Sacramento), Jeanie Esajian (Sacramento), Dia Poole (San Bernardino), Ash Hayes (San Diego), Nancy Gonzalez (San Francisco), Derrick Morgan (San Jose), Patricia Smith (San Jose), Kim Rutledge Gannon (San Luis Obispo), Ken Stone (San Luis Obispo), Charles Guthrie (San Marcos)

Voting Members Absent: Bryan Burrow (Bakersfield), Sue Anderson (Chico), Jane Dolan (Chico), Charles Fisher (East Bay), Pete Mathiesen (Humboldt), Randi Moore (LA), Barry Gordon (LA), Thomas Dunworth (Maritime), Melissa Riordan (Pomona), Jon Lundstrom (Pomona), Pamela Langford (San Bernardino), Jim Herrick (San Diego), Jack Burke (San Marcos), Kate McClintock (Sonoma), David Putney (Sonoma), Jami Westervelt (Stanislaus), Gary McKinsey (Stanislaus)

CSU Chancellor's Office Staff Present: Karen Zamarripa, Assistant Vice Chancellor, Advocacy and Institutional Relations; Gary Davis, Program Director, Institutional Relations; Michele Perrault, Program Analyst, Institutional Relations, Marge Grey, Director of Communications.

1. Call to Order

Trustee Linscheid called the meeting to order at 9:10 a.m.

2. Roll Call

Secretary Jacqui Glasener called the roll and confirmed that a quorum was present.

3. Approval of Minutes
   Motion/Second/Carried that the minutes of the September 17, 2005 business meeting be approved as submitted.

4. Officers Reports
   
   1. President
      President Bezerra not present for meeting.
   2. President-Elect
      CJ Klug not present for meeting.
   3. Treasurer
      Ken Stone provided a brief overview of the status of the 2005/06 budget. Essentially, our spending is very much in line with the budget and we are financially sound.

5. Liaisons Reports
   
   1. Alumni Trustee
      Trustee Bob Linscheid shared that he is continuing to spend time getting out to visit campuses. In addition, he informed the Council that he will be out of the country at the end of February through the beginning of March on some personal business.
   2. Alumni Directors' Rep
      Sheila Butts shared that the Alumni Director's discussed several key topics at their meeting including the implementation of SB 569, the upcoming Legislative Days and reception being hosted by the campus alumni associations. The Director's are exploring a liability insurance policy for the Board and hopes to have resolution before the next meeting on this issue. The Directors' are also working on putting together an annual calendar of events that each campus can contribute to that would allow other campuses to gain ideas and be kept abreast of local events being held at each campus (i.e. Tennis tournaments, "Dodgers Days," Day at the Races, CSU at the Pond, etc.).
   3. Academic Senate
      Christy Jensen shared that the Senate was focusing its attention on facilitating graduation and improving the graduation rate. To facilitate this goal they are focused on visiting campuses to look for best practices and paying specific attention to the EAP programs available. In addition, the need for a better link between education and math & science teachers is a focus for the Senate. Retention of junior faculty remains a top issue with 50% of their faculty hired in 6-8 years and are hoping the ability to offer more doctoral education degrees will help with this issue. In light of the passage of the doctoral education degree legislation they are looking at the quality parameters surrounding this. They continue to have ongoing concerns of the national effort to initiate an academic student bill of rights and the politics it would introduce with regards to censoring of textbooks, and further curriculum regulations. They want to support the students view at the same time balance the over regulations of classes.
   4. Student Representative
      Khouloud Elmasri reported that the CSSA is currently in the process of recruiting a new Trustee for 2006. She reported that CSSA is continuing to pursue two bills including AB 700 which would extend the Cal Grant financial aid program and a new proposal which seeks to balance the parking fees for on campus parking so that both faculty and students pay the same fees for parking. In addition, it was reported that the CSSA was focusing on its upcoming CHESS conference and quarterly meeting in San Diego.
   5. Vice Presidents of Advancement Report
      Marty de los Cobos reported on behalf of the VP's of Advancement stating that they were focused on a 3-year plan for advancement and would be measuring productivity and RIE on resources. They are also looking at ways to fund the principles of campaigns and advancement programs and are trying to find ways in which alumni would be beneficial to this effort.
   6. System Office Report
      Karen shared that the system and more specifically the Chancellor's Office is focusing on selecting and naming an Academic Affairs Vice Chancellor to serve on the Board by March. She also gave an overview of what Sacramento looks like in 2006 with 30 Assembly members and 12 Senators are termed out and that on average 1/4 - 1/3 of state representatives are turning over every two years. While most seats remain safe and very few become competitive. Karen reviewed the four sponsored bills the Board of Trustees will be pursuing this session including a bill to enhance the system's revenue bonds, a joint sponsored financial aid bill with CSSA on the Cal Grant B program and two technical bills (an omnibus and a technical clean-up bill). In addition, the office will be looking into a future bond campaign that would seek $5 billion over a five year time period split equally amongst all higher education segments. This proposal may be embedded into the Governor's infrastructure bond bill.

      Karen stated that the Council should be receiving in the near future a white paper that describes in more detail the system wide "Communications & Advocacy Plan." Including its role in increasing the image of the CSU to bring more backing to the university that in turn would influence policymakers. The plan also seeks to turn segments of the university community into spokespersons for the system.

      Michele Perrault reminded the Council of the upcoming Regional Trainings and Legislative Day in March and encouraged the Council to bring their teams and volunteers out to both. In addition, she discussed the need for continued alumni outreach and shared that in order to provide better communication with the Council that the CSU Legislative Report would be undergoing a new look in the coming months.

6. Committee Reports
   1. Finance and Development
      Ken Stone shared that the committee recommended meeting with the Executive Committee on where they see the Alumni Council going as far as programs. In addition, with regards to the Council's financial assistance with this year's Legislative Days, the committee would like to ask each campus to look at their membership program grids on regular and statewide sponsors and email that information to Michele Perrault to assist in looking at possible future sponsor opportunities for future Legislative Days. The committee would like to see this type of approach in order to have sponsorships become part of the support to the CSU for Legislative Days.
   2. Government Relations
      Dia shared that the committee is continuing to work on the goals it laid out in its annual work plan. She encouraged each campus to host a Sacramento event at least once a year. She also reported that the committee continues to work on identifying system wide spokepersons as part of the Communications and Advocacy plan and that the committee anticipates continuing to work closely with the PIO's, Vice Presidents of Advancement and Legislative Liaisons to continue to advance the CSU's image.
   3. Programs
      Carlos Leija shared the committee's desire to continue moving forward with a "value-added" programs plan for the year. The committee is proposing a June program that would address engaging alumni in the student recruitment process and reminded the Council that the program for September is still set to be "Voluntary Recruitment & Retention." Carlos also reported that Stephanie Regevig from Monterey Bay has volunteered to finalize the Planning Guidelines. The committee is also recommending that the Friday meetings be on campus with the Saturday meetings at the hotel.

7. Old Business
   There was none.

8. New Business
   1. President Vacancy
      Motion/Second/Carried that CJ Klug will move into the President position in light of Dana Bezerra's resignation from the position. Dana will move into the Immediate Past President's position.
   2. Ratify Executive Committee Action - Executive Committee Quarterly Meetings to Conference Calls
      Motion/Second/Carried that the Executive Committee will meet on a regular quarterly basis by via conference call and schedule calls prior to the Alumni Council quarterly meetings.
   3. Ratify Executive Committee Action - Adopt the Alumni Council Sponsorship Package
      Motion/Second/Carried to adopt the sponsorship packaged as proposed by the Finance & Development committee for future Council meetings.
   4. Ratify Government Relations Committee Action - Senators Scott & Torlakson as 2006 Legislators of the Year
      Motion/Second/Carried to have Senators Jack Scott and Tom Torlakson to be the CSU's 2006 Legislators of the Year.
   5. Ratify Executive Committee Action - Legislative Day Reception Grants
      Motion/Second/Amended/Carried after being modified to give the campuses a total of $2,000 to help with the cost of the Legislative Day reception. Original motion was to grant 10 grants of up to $200 to campuses that did not budget for the reception.

9. Public Comment
   There was none.

10. Adjournment
    1. Next Meeting: March 19th at the Hyatt Regency Sacramento.
    2. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 11:30 a.m.