Report of the Chair

Last month Chancellor Reed, the campus presidents, and Trustee Esparza met with the founder and current executive director of the Parent Institute for Quality Education. This is an organization that works with parents of children from economically challenged communities to learn about the benefits of education and how schools work. I personally know of the activities of PIQE in the San Diego community. The upshot of the discussion was that the Chancellor will provide some financial assistance to each CSU campus to partner with PIQE in outreach. PIQE will raise external funding and Trustee Esparza also made a commitment to help in the financial arena.

I would like to note that the 2005 Legislative Session was a good one for the CSU. Two high profile bills were passed; these were: the bill that authorizes CSU to offer the education doctorate and the bill permitting campuses to have affinity programs for alumni. Yesterday, we had an opportunity to honor Senator Jack Scott who carried the education doctorate bill. It is expected that programs of high quality will be developed. The affinity bill is especially important because it is a revenue generator for the campus alumni associations. I know that Alumni Trustee Bob Linscheid and other associated with the Alumni Council worked hard on this bill. I congratulate Karen Zamarripa, her staff, and Richard West for their terrific work during this legislative session.

Speaking of Richard West, yesterday the Board of Trustees received his three-year evaluation report. Executive Vice Chancellor West does an outstanding job overseeing the departments in business and finance, advancement, capital design and construction, institutional relations and advocacy, and information technology. He is thoughtful and creative and is a helpful resource for the campuses. Many assert that he is the best chief financial officer in higher education in the nation. Congratulations to Mr. West for having a very positive performance evaluation and for your leadership in the CSU.

Many of you have heard reports that there is a shortage of nurses in California. The CSU, however, is playing a role in the solution. Legislation approved this fall provides $1.7 million in one-time expenditures for equipment, facility renovation, curriculum development and faculty recruitment to support master's degree programs in nursing. As a result this infrastructure funding, it is expected that the CSU will increase the enrollment in nursing at the master's level.

As a follow-up to a comment in yesterday's Committee on Finance, I am appointing an ad-hoc group to explore creative alternatives to student fee increases and to campus-based student fees. The group consists of Bill Hauck (chair), trustees Gowgani and Guzman Moore, Richard West, and presidents Milt Gordon and Don Kassing. I ask that the group aim for a report in May 2006.

Hispanic Business magazine published its annual fall list of the 100 Most Influential Hispanics. Among those listed are Ruben Armiñana, president of Sonoma State; Alexander Gonzalez, president of Sacramento State; and Michael Ortiz, president of Cal Poly Pomona. Congratulations to Ruben, Alex and Mike.

Finally, I want to thank the members of this board who have worked very hard in the past few months in lobbying for legislative bills, serving on presidential search committees, making campus visits, and following through on the initiatives developed in the Committee on Educational Policy. Thank you.

That concludes my report.