Winter 1998 Meeting
February 5, 1998, CSU San Marcos
Minutes
Attendees:
Jim Ross (Bakersfield); Jon Ebeling (Chico); Nan Chico (Hayward); Jae Emenheiser (Humboldt); Ben Smith (Los Angeles); Frank Gossette (Long Beach); Gene Turner (Northridge); John Korey (Pomona); Randy McIntosh (for Ted Lascher, Sacramento); Jim Gerber (San Diego); Rich Taketa (San Jose); Dick Shaffer (San Luis Obispo); Richard Serpe (San Marcos); Cher Thomas (Chancellor's Office); Ed Nelson (Fresno)
The meeting was called to order at 10:00 am.
Introductions
Council members and guests introduced themselves. Randy McIntosh from Sacramento was representing the campus for Ted Lascher, who was unable to attend. Cher Thomas, Director of Academic Technology Applications, is the new representative from the Chancellor's Office.
Minutes from the Fall, 1997 meeting were approved by unanimous vote of all those members present.
Announcements
Jon Ebeling asked that any Council members who have used survival analysis to contact him.
Jim Ross announced that Charles McCall will be retiring at the end of the 1998-99 academic year.
The SSDBA usage survey is on the SSRIC Website.
Database Review
Ed Nelson discussed the CLRIT subcommittee that was reviewing database subscriptions. The subcommittee consists of William Aguilar, Barry Pasternak, Harold Goldwhite, Floyd LeCureux. Ed, Gene Turner, Bob Clover, Colin Campbell, and Stuart Wugalter met with them to discuss the positive effect that access to databases has on teaching and research. The subcomittee was convinced, but did ask about the availability of other sources for the data. Centralized funding appeared to be the issue, with some subcommittee members espousing a "decentralization is good" philosophy. Others asked about the equity of Social Science and Business "getting soemthing that others don't." Ed and Gene stressed the uniqueness of the Field, Roper, and ICPSR data. 25% may be available in other forms, but much is only available due to funding, such as criminal justice data. The subcommittee is to make a recommendation to CLRIT. They are close to a decision. Richard Serpe indicated that San Marcos may lose their two new hires if data are not available. He indicated that he would communicate this to Harold Goldwhite.
Ed discussed the costs for the databases. The Field data costs the CSU $45,000. Access by individual campuses would be $5000, plus a $20,000 one time fee for access to the poll archives. The Roper data costs the CSU $6500, whereas an individual campus would have to pay $2000. Ed totaled the costs, and reported that the CSU pays $119,293 for the three databases; the cost would be $259,275 if all campuses subscribed individually.
The subcommittee's recommendation is for 1999 and beyond--the 1998-99 academic year has already been committed. Ed asked Council members to lobby the CLRIT members they know.
Ed shared memos from Barry Munitz and Richard West with State Senator Mike Thompson.
Field Committee
Ed Nelson asked for confirmation of the Field Committee membership. The committee consists of Ed, Elliott Barkan, and Richard Serpe (by acclamation). John Korey volunteered to cover for Elliott, who would be out of the country.
ICPSR Summer Program
Jon Ebeling will be sending out the schedule for the 1998 summer program--the announcement will be out soon. We have $3000 available to help defray the costs. CSU attendees are subsidized, paying less than non-CSU attendees.
Richard Serpe asked if adjunct faculty are eligible to attend.
The sense of those present was that we should try to support adjunct faculty. The priority deemed appropriate was tenure and tenure track faculty, then adjunct faculty, and graduate students.
Student Conference
Gene Turner distributed new posters. He will mail Ted Lascher's. Gene talked to Mike Davis about speaking at the conference. The conference will start at 9:00 am on the 2nd Floor of Sierra Hall. Rooms are being scheduled The participant lunch will be held there as well.
Gene has reserved 5 complexes in Student Housing. The rates are $22/person for a double, and $35 for a single. Student Housing offers a breakfast option. The rooms may also be available for SSRIC members. Those interested need to let Gene know.
The Council discussed the possibility of obtaining copies of the winning papers to put on the Web site. No final decision was made.
Academic Opportunity Fund
Ed Nelson discussed the current AOF grant. The program is to provude 25 SPSS-based instructional data sets (including codebooks and exercises). Six will be developed into more complete modules. The materials will be downloadable via the Web; faculty will be invited to contribute. The Web site is in development. Four workshops on the use of the materials are planned: San Diego, Hayward, Fresno, and Pomona. The workshop announcement will be out soon.
Ed also discussed the CLRIT review of AOF. A subcommittee including Ed and Harold Goldwhite was formed to examine the program. The subcommittee hired Sam Wiley (Dominguez Hills) as an outside evaluator reporting to the subcommittee. $236,000 is available from reduced mainframe maintenance, and $350,000 was recommended as an increase in funding. CLRIT has a retreat scheduled, but with no specific business to be discussed. The retreat will look at all funding issues.
Ed went on to discuss AOF for 1998-99. The RFP is scheduled for February 15, with proposals due on April 24 for a May decision. The program should be the same as the 1997-98 program.
Social Science Data Handbook
Randy McIntosh indicated that Ted Lascher would like feedback on the handbook. He asked for any suggestions for additions or improvements. Nan Chico stated that it looked fine.
Chancellor's Office
Cher Thomas reported on changes in the Chancellor's Office. Chancellor Read will be starting March 1. The major change for the Council is that CLRIT support has moved from IRT to Academic Affairs. Cher will be the representative to the SSRIC meetings; she is also a social psychologist. The discussion shifted to provide Cher with background on SSRIC. John Korey and others recounted the evolution of the Council, the oldest of all of the CSU discipline councils.
Cher reported on a project entitled "Dynamic Environmental Scan." This is a project to provide information on job projections and anticipated degrees by county. The URL is http://www.des.calstate.edu.
CSU San Marcos
Victor Rocha, Dean of Arts and Sciences at CSU San Marcos joined the meeting for lunch. San Marcos has 5,000 students with 3,500 FTES. The campus capacity is currently 1,700. 70% of the students are in Arts and Sciences. The plan is to support 30,000 FTES by 2040 A.D.
CETI
Cher Thomas discussed what she knew of the CETI project, which is of great concern to the Council. She is on the Revenue Generating Task Force, chartered with establishing the potential for creating revenues from the project. She indicated that the task force's activity was on hold for the moment, but that sufficient revenues appeared to be available from infrastructure and product sales.
Council members asked how the program was put together, and what it will mean. The ensuing discussion enabled Council members to air their concerns. Cher indicated that the person to contact was Frank Medeiros, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. He reports to Chuck Lindal, Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.
Field Committee Report
Ed Nelson reported on the Field intern applications. The internship was at Field's San Francisco office. The internship pays $7.00/hour for a 40-hour week. Interns must arrange their own housing. We currently have one applicant, Chin Pei Zhang, from Bakersfield, for Summer 1998. This internship was approved by all present. Jae Emenhiser asked if Field would consider a shorter term internship (e.g., a one-week Spring Break internship). Ed indicated that he would ask Mark DiCamillo.
Ed went on to discuss the Field Question Credits and the Field Faculty Fellow. The Field committee had one request from Stephanie Marquez on Fear of Crime. They also had two applicants for the Faculty Fellows: Wendy Schultz from San Marcos ("Psychological basis of environmental concern") and Elliott Barkan from San Bernardino ("Attitudes toward immigrants").
The committee's recommendation was to approve Schultz as Faculty Fellow, and to that 6 previously-asked questions on attitudes toward immigrants be resubmitted for the question credits. Elliott would be given the opportunity to recommend which questions be submitted. Marquez would be encouraged to resubmit her questions. The committees recommendation was approved unanimously by all present. Ed then discussed the scheduling of the Field Workshop. The Council members present expressed a preference for May 29, with June 5 as a second option.
Reflective Teaching
Jim Gerber distributed copies of a draft proposal for a textbook on reflective teaching. The proposed book would contain three sections. First would be a section on reflective questions. Examples of question categories include: "What is education and where does it occur?", "How do I organize my class so as to balance the competing needs and demands of students?", and "What are the goals of my course and why do I believe in these goals?"
The second section would be a series of narrative essays, the goal of which is to provide a range of responses to the questions posed in the first section. The third section would consist of suggestions for further reading.
Jim encouraged contributions for the narrative section. The essays should be 3 to 4 double-spaced pages. They should be submitted before the end of April. Contact Jim at jgerber@mail.sdsu.edu.
Election of Chair for 1998-99
John Korey was nominated to be chair for the 1998-99 year. No other candidates were nominated. John was elected on a vote of 12 ayes and 1 (vigorous) no.
The meeting adjourned at 4:00pm.
Submitted by Richard Taketa
