Faculty, Staff, Students, and Administration
Join Forces
to Fight Back Against Budget Cuts
"It is not too late to direct more funding to the CSU, but we need to work together to get our message heard by the Governor and legislature," says Andy Merrifield, Professor and President of the California Faculty Association, Sonoma Chapter.
CAMPUS BUDGET SUMMIT
Thursday, March 20
Noon-1:30 p.m.
Evert B. Person Theatre
Students, faculty and staff are encouraged to attend a Campus Budget Summit to hear the facts about the 2008-09 budget, the Governor's proposed budget for the CSU (with proposed cuts of $386 million) , and how, together, we can advocate for fair and necessary funding for the more than 450,000 students of the CSU and 46,000 faculty and staff.
The Budget Summit is sponsored by members of the Alliance for the CSU including the Sonoma State University Academic Senate, Associated Students, Alumni Association, California Faculty Association, and all staff unions (see list below).
Panel members include:
Ruben Armiñana, SSU President
Herb Dickerson, Maintenance Mechanic, Facilities Services
and Steward, Trades Union
Whitney Diver, President of Associated Students, Inc.
William Dixon, Physician and Chief Steward, Physicians
Union
David Dougherty, Police Officer and Director and Steward,
State University Police Union
Mike Hearty, GIS Site Administrator, Geography Department
and President and Steward, California State University
Employees’ Union, Chapter 304
Jim Manly, Alumni Association President
Elaine McHugh, Professor of Kinesiology and California
Faculty Association, Sonoma Chapter
Scott Miller, Director of Writing Center, Chair of the
Faculty of Sonoma State University, 2008-2009
Bruce Peterson, Senior Program Specialist, Academic Advising
and Chief Steward, Academic Professionals of California
(student service professionals)
For further information about the Summit and the CSU's efforts to increase funding for students' education, go to http://www.sonoma.edu/uaffairs/summit
Elaine Hamann Passes Away
The University Library, with great sadness, notes the
passing of Elaine Hamann, long-time employee. Hamann was
well-known on campus. She came to the university in 1979
as an assistant in the Library and remained with us, sometimes
on a part-time status, and more recently full-time, until
her retirement in late 2006.
University Library Dean Barbara Butler says Hamann was an employee who made a difference, a great office manager, knowledgeable, and completely engaged. " She juggled many, many details keeping us all on track and her reach extended to other units on campus for whom Elaine acted as interpreter of complex policies and procedures," says Butler. "We thought of her as our favorite drill sergeant! We missed her sorely when she retired, not the least because of her sharp sense of humor."
Among Hamann's outside interests were her family, a great fondness for Hawaii, and country music, especially Dwight Yoakum, a particular favorite. Her family suggests that in lieu of flowers, donations to the Cancer Society would be appropriate. The University Library plans a memorial to Hamann sometime in the near future.
From Tolkien to Autism, Third Annual Graduate Research Showcase Highlights Work for a Master's Degree
Yoga for computer injuries, the role of the Black Market, and free will in the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien are some of the topics explored at the Third Annual Graduate Student Research Showcase next week. President Ruben Armiñana opens the three-hour event with welcoming remarks at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, March 18 in the Cooperage.
This year's Showcase presentations and poster sessions range from those exploring the critical role of informal economies like the Black Market and micro-lending, use of mind-body treatments to help combat post-traumatic stress disorder, to ways of fostering academic achievement and positive ethnic identity development in local high school students. The Showcase gives Master's students experience in presenting research in scholarly conference format and provides a forum in which newer graduate students can see what kind of work is required of Master's degree candidates.
The large exhibit hall in the Cooperage will be filled with student poster and multi-media presentations, and food. Students giving formal papers will take up the two adjacent presentation rooms. The Graduate Studies Subcommittee and the Division of Academic Affairs sponsor the showcase. For further information, and a list of the full program of presentations, visit Graduate Showcase.
A&H
Forum: Perception or Point of View - Is There a Difference?
Dolores Bainter (Modern Languages and Literature) presents a talk entitled, "The Whole Truth: Narrative Truth in Autobiography" at the Arts & Humanities Research & Creative Works Forum on Wednesday, March 19 at 12:05 p.m. in Schulz 3001. Bainter discusses the concept of perception of the past in writing a creative autobiographical piece. In her thesis, "Harbor Rat: Memories of a Long Island Childhood" for a master's in Creative Writing, tackles the idea of reconstructing the events of a life according to the effect those events had on who we are and what makes up the core of our moral and ethical being, our social and reflective persona. Bainter will also discuss particular problems involved in autobiographical writing and read a few selections from her thesis. For more events next week on campus visit Campus Calendar
"The Question Mark Kid" Writing
Contest Explores Feelings
of Isolation
In memory of those who died last spring at Virginia Tech, the English Department and Hutchins Dialogue Center are sponsoring a writing contest in which students can explore - in a creative and non-violent way - their own experiences of feeling silenced, unseen, a question mark unto themselves or others. Faculty are encouraged to urge their students to contribute to the creative writing contest.
The winning writers will be announced during the commemorative event, "When Silence Explodes", A Forum on School Violence, which will take place on April 16, the first anniversary of the Virginia Tech tragedy, from noon to 2:30 in Schulz 3001. Cash prizes ranging from $50 to $100 will be awarded, and the winning entries will be published in the Literary Magazine, Zephyr. Submissions are due by April 1. For further information, please contact noelle.oxenhandler@sonoma.edu.
Changes to Tuesday Tours of the Green Music Center
The Tuesday Tours of the GMC have been quite popular, despite the weather of late. Thus far, visitors have been told to show up at 3:30 p.m. any Tuesday through May and there will be tour guides to lead them through a 30-minute tour of the construction site. With the weather getting warmer (at least momentarily more dry), there have been larger groups of "tourees" each week. In order to be able to offer the best tours possible by having enough guides available, those who would like to take a tour should register ahead of time. The details of the tours are:
° Register for any Tuesday Tour by e-mailing susan.kashack@sonoma.edu or
calling 4-2122 (even day-of reservations will work).
° Meet at 3:15 p.m. (a change from 3:30 p.m. previously)
in the parking lot across from the Green Music Center.
° Wear appropriate clothing in case of inclement weather.
Wear closed-toed shoes.
The Green Music Center construction changes dramatically
from week to week so those who had a tour a few months
ago, may want to visit again. For further information,
contact Susan Kashack, 4-2122.
Above, the Center for Music Education where classrooms, faculty offices, meeting rooms, and student practice areas will be complete this summer. Classes begin in this building in the fall.