Dear Faculty and Staff,

Welcome back to campus for Spring Semester 2009 after a cold and snowy winter break. This will be a bittersweet semester for us all as President Schwartz heads toward his return to the faculty in July. Several events are being planned to commemorate his outstanding leadership and service to CSU, which you will be hearing more about soon. There will be a campus-wide event the first week in May so that all faculty, staff and students will get a chance to say thanks and wish Mike and Joanne well.

As the economy tumbles both statewide and nationally, the Governor and Chancellor have protected the Higher Education System from drastic cuts. I am especially pleased that we have been able to continue the faculty searches that were authorized for fall 09 because of strategic budgeting decisions (unlike many universities across the country). I urge you to be very active in both the faculty and Dean searches underway. The faculty hired today will shape the institution into the future and it is very important that we recruit the best that we can.

However, as we head into the next fiscal biennium it is a certainty that we will face some funding reduction from the state. We will do our best to both protect our core mission and to keep CSU as affordable as we can. As you all know, enrolling and retaining our students is essential not only for the health of the University but for the region we serve. I call upon all of you to continue your fine work with our students to ensure that they achieve their Bachelor, Master or Ph.D. degree in a timely manner.

CSU has always served returning adults and this is a population that the Chancellor is especially interested in reaching. We have three degrees that are especially pertinent to this goal: the BA in Liberal Studies, BS in Health Sciences and the new BA in Organizational Leadership. I’ve asked Vice Provost Kaul and the new Faculty Coordinator of Off Campus Programs, Dr. Norb Delatte to work with the Directors of these programs to ensure that they are both designed appropriately and marketed to this important audience. Our Project SERV for returning veterans under the direction of Dr. John Schupp continues to be a national model and very successful. If you would like to see coverage of this program on the Pentagon Channel go to http://www.pentagonchannel.mil/. Select from the left hand column, "The American Veteran" and then select the January Edition. The CSU clip starts 15 minutes into the program.

Two initial CSU Centers of Excellence are shaping up and the proposed focus areas were presented by Board member Mr. Robert Rawson, to the full Board on January 9th for discussion. A summary of the discussion of the Higher Learning Alliance Roundtable on Centers of Excellence that was held in fall semester is also available on the Provost’s home page. The next step is a discussion with the Chancellor by the Board. After that takes place, I’ve asked the Vice President for Research Rick Steiner to identify faculty co-chairs and get Advisory Boards up and running this semester. Please feel free to contact Rick if you are interested in participating.

Chancellor Eric Fingerhut will be on campus late afternoon Feb 5th and the morning of February 6th. His visit will be a whirlwind tour of campus with the opportunity to talk with at least one faculty member and student group from each college. All faculty are invited to a Q and A session in Main Classroom room 105 at 4:15 for about 30 minutes on Feb.5th. We want the Chancellor to understand CSU better and this is a great opportunity to highlight our extraordinary engaged learning programs.

Our national accreditation process is moving along well and we expect to have a first draft of our self study completed by the end of Spring Semester. Many thanks to all of you who are working diligently on this project.

Please join me in welcoming Dr. Peter Meiksins as Director of the Honors Program and Dr. Norb Delatte as Faculty Coordinator of Off Campus Programs. These are both critical areas for the future of CSU and I’m so pleased that these talented faculty members will lead them.

Have a wonderful and fulfilling Spring Semester!

Sincerely,

Mary Jane Saunders
Provost