Report of the Chair

I'd like to welcome two familiar faces and one new one that have joined the CSU. First, I'd like to welcome back Don Kassing, who has graciously agreed to serve as interim president of San Jose State University for the next several months. You may remember that Don retired in 2008 and has been living in Arizona close to his family. We appreciate that he and his wife Amy were willing to return to San Jose, and know that the campus was very happy to see both of them.

Second, I'd like to welcome Robert Glidden who will serve as interim president of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo following Warren Baker's retirement at the end of this month. Bob is an experienced university administrator and is president emeritus of Ohio University. Thank you Bob for joining us at the CSU.

I'd also like to congratulate Ephraim Smith, who has been named as executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer at the CSU system office. Ephraim was most recently vice president for academic affairs at Cal State Fullerton where he held a variety of positions since 1998, and we are happy to keep him within the CSU family.

We have our new CSSA executive committee members here today who started their official duties July 1. Chris Chavez, who is a student at Cal State Long Beach, is the new CSSA president. Chris, would you like to introduce the other CSSA members that are here today?

This is the time of the year where under Trustee policy, the Board Chair approves and reports on the annual operating budget for the State University House. I approve an operating budget of $73,625 for 2010-2011 with provisions for supplies and services, insurance and utilities.

The funding, all of which is non-state money, is derived from the proceeds of the sale of the previous State University House in Bel-Air. The trust fund is restricted to supporting the operation, furnishing, and maintenance of the State University House. When the trust was established in 1991, two spending rules were instituted to protect the structure and ensure there are sufficient interest earnings in the future to cover operational and maintenance costs without using General Fund dollars. We have held true to this commitment. Do any Board members have questions?

Finally, I'd like to congratulate a number of our campuses who were included in Diverse Issues in Higher Education list of top 100 rankings of institutions that confer the most degrees to minority students. The list includes campuses that rank high for total degrees conferred to all minorities, and also for specific disciplines. The CSU is one of the most diverse public institutions of higher education in the country, and we should be very proud of the fact that so many of our students are students of color.

That concludes my report.