COLLEGE OF NATURAL SCIENCES & MATHEMATICS
ACADEMIC COUNCIL
Meeting Minutes
Academic Council Minutes
September 23, 2008
Council Chair called the meeting to order at 9:04 a.m. in room 336 Sequoia Hall.
Present: Juanita Barrena, Susan Crawford, Robin Datel, Dave Evans, Laurel Heffernan,
Roger Leezer, Linda Roberts, Gary Shoemaker, Christina Steuart, Jill Trainer, and Heidi
Yamazaki
Staff Present: Carlyn Pollock and Laurice Young
Absent: Brian Hausback, Lisa Hammersley and Vassili Sergan
Approval of Agenda: Agenda Item added: Discussion of Vice President Steve Garcia
memo re: Building hours & closures as well as charging entities for use of campus rooms.
Approved as amended.
Approval of Minutes: Approved with out objection or changes.
Announcements:
Chair Shoemaker:
 Gary extended a welcome to Christina Steuart, the ASI NSM Director, who has
adjusted her schedule to be able to attend the meetings. All present introduced
themselves.
Dean Trainer: None
Associate Dean Heffernan:
 Associate Dean Heffernan passed out an enrollment report with data through the
third week of instruction. The orange column is Fall 08 and the green column is
Fall 2007. The report compares the FTE and enrollment. The college total FTE
is currently 2,756.5 with the projected enrollment at census at 2,607. Our
enrollment is down 4% comparing this fall to last fall. The university is on track
to make target. All of the other college's enrollment is up with the exception of
NSM and Education, with Ed where it was. It was requested that all departments
add students before next Monday, September 29th, census date.
Last April our target was set by the university for 2,700 but in May the target was
lowered to 2,635. The targets are based on history from previous years. We are
on target, but a lower target means a lower budget. Because we are not below our
target, money will not be taken away from us. The college FTE in spring is
usually 94% of the fall FTE. If that continues to be true this spring, we will miss
our target for the year. The Dean and Associate Dean will work with the
departments to hit the overall target for the year by hitting the spring target.
A/AS Young: None
ASI Director Steuart: None
Appointment of Committee for Open House and Summer Camp/Recruitment
Committee: The following people were nominated to sit on this committee by their
department: Chris Sullivan – Biology, Tom Savage – Chemistry, Robin Datel –
Geography, Lisa Hammersley – Geology, Kimberly Elce – Mathematics, Vera
Margoniner – Physics. The nominees were approved without objection.
Computer Committee:
The following people were nominated to sit on this committee by their department: Adam
Rechs – Biology, Ben Gherman – Chemistry, Michael Schmandt – Geography, Brian
Hausback – Geology, David Zeigler – Mathematics, Hossein Partovi – Physics. The
nominees were approved without objection.
The Dean will work on developing a charge. The council had no additional input in to the
charge.
Collections Policy:
Dave looked over the Biology policy and determined that it would be hard to make it
applicable to the other departments. The following motion was presented: It should be
the policy of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics that all faculty, staff,
students and other parties acting on behalf of the College shall be held to the code of
ethics and collections policies that is adopted by the Department of Biological Sciences.
It was the intention of the Council that if Biology should change the policy in the future
that the college would be held to that amended policy. It was requested that the Dean or
the Council Chair write a memo to the Chair of Biology stating that any amendments to
the policy be sent forward to the Council in order to keep the them informed of the
changes.
It was also requested that the policy and other information be sent out to the entire
college so that everyone is aware of the policy that has been set. The motion was
approved without objection.
NSM Mission Statement:
During the discussion at the previous Council meeting, Juanita was asked to amend the
fifth point on the list passed out. She noted the following changes to be made:
There needs to be a comma after California State University, Sacramento.
Point 1: To promote scientific literacy for all students and the greater community.
Point 2: To provide excellent science and math education for the regional workforce.
Point 3: To inspire and prepare students to explore scientific frontiers and meet society’s
challenges.
Point 4: No changes
Point 5: To broaden participation and foster inclusion in diverse prospective in Sciences
and Mathematics.
It was asked that Dean Trainer incorporate the changes suggested today and send them
out to the departments as a draft for discussion before the next meeting. The amended
draft was approved without objection.
Steve Garcia memo regarding building hours:
A copy of this memo was passed out. Laurice reported that she spoke with Kem
Gravenberg in Administration and Business Affairs, and was informed that this memo is
not necessarily sent out annually but due to budgetary issues they are enforcing the rules
that have been in place. As stated in the memo, the policy doesn't necessarily speak to
students having access to the building but that it is related to event use in buildings.
It was noted that it states in the memo that charges and building hours do not apply to
study hours and student use.
Physics noted a concern that there are extra charges related to events that they have
hosted. The charges are for custodial work and for additional use of the air
conditioning/heating after hours. The amounts charged are much higher than necessary,
but can be negotiated down.
Parking has become a problem for events and visitors to the campus. The departments
have had trouble getting permits for maintenance workers and have been charged for
requested permits. The departments would like to request an allocation of permits per
year or semester.
A motion was made that the Dean raise this issue with the Dean’s Council and that action
be taken to provide a limited number of permits to each department for business use. A
second was not received.
Laurice reported that the college currently gets an allocation of 25 permits which are
given to the departments when requested. As these permits get used, a new set is issued.
There is a log associated with each permit and they have to be tracked accordingly or the
use of these permits could be taken away by the parking office.
It was suggested that perhaps the Dean could write a memo to the departments and
programs noting that there are permits available and if they have a need for a permit they
should request it. The Dean's Office will work out a policy to disseminate the permits to
the departments. Discussion was closed on the memo.
Other Business:
This Saturday, September 27th is Preview Day. Associate Dean Heffernan has asked for
representatives from each department to be at the event with handouts, information and
demos to catch people's attention. The Dean's office will check with the departments to
find out who will be there from the College. The visitors have been broken up into
groups to avoid the large rush of people that was received last year. It was suggested that
if enough of the departments have been featured in STEM videos, that they could be
shown.
The advising table that was in the lobby of Sequoia Hall the first two weeks of classes
was a success. It was very busy Tuesday-Friday the first week and the second week was
slower. The Deans and Associate Deans across campus noted that the first week was
useful but the second was not. The help given was primarily general advising and
information. It was suggested that having two people at the table would be good because
then two students can be helped at the same time. The Deans anticipate being asked to
continue the tables for future semesters. The perception received by those that sat at the
table was that many of these students would not have gone out of their way to get
advising, but still had questions. It was noted that an information center in each building
would be nice for students so they don't have to go out of their way. Christina noted that
we should go to the students because they won't come to you.
Adjourn: 9:52 am