The California State University Alumni Council
Business Meeting
CSU Fullerton – Marriott Hotel, Salon A and B
January 20, 2007

MEETING

Voting Members Present: CJ Klug (President), Valerie Vuicich (President-Elect), Bob Linscheid, (Alumni Trustee), Shannon Hill (Bakersfield), Tania Garcia (Channel Islands), Yvette Bocz (Channel Islands), Tim Colbie (Chico), Sheila Butts (Dominguez Hills), Jimmie Thompson (Dominguez Hills), Carlos Leija (Fullerton), Kristin Crellin (Fullerton), Dean Hart (Humboldt), Pete Mathiesen (Humboldt), Gay Arakawa (Long Beach), Guy Heston (Long Beach), Natalie Smith (Los Angeles), Stephanie Regevig (Monterey Bay), Gray Mounger (Northridge), Francine Oschin (Northridge), Melissa Riordan (Pomona), Jon Lundstrom (Pomona), Gary Davis (Sacramento), Jeanie Esajian (Sacramento), Pamela Langford (San Bernardino), Dia Poole (San Bernardino), Jim Herrick (San Diego), Ash Hayes (San Diego), Patricia Smith (San Jose), Kim Rutledge Gannon (San Luis Obispo), Ken Stone (San Luis Obispo), Heather Manley (San Marcos), Robert Threatt (San Marcos), Victor Mitre (Stanislaus)

Voting Members Absent:Bryan Burrow (Bakersfield), Sue Anderson (Chico), Kate Shaheed (East Bay), Charles Fisher (East Bay), Jacqui Glasener (Fresno), Judy Sharp (Fresno), Randi Moore (Los Angeles), Jennifer Whitty (Maritime), Captain Lynn Korwatch (Maritime), Courtney Kuhn (Monterey Bay), Doug Hupke (San Francisco), Derrick Morgan (San Jose), Kate McClintock (Sonoma), Michele Lahti (Stanislaus)

CSU Chancellor's Office Staff Present: Karen Zamarripa, Assistant Vice Chancellor, Advocacy and Institutional Relations; Marge Grey, Director of Communications; Carolina Greenwood, Administrative Assistant, Advocacy and Institutional Relations.

1. Call to Order
President CJ Klug called the meeting to order at 9:05 a.m.

2. Roll Call
In lieu of Secretary Jacqui Glasener’s absence, the roll was passed around for check-off and it was confirmed that a quorum was present.

3. Approval of Minutes
   Motion/Second/Carried that the minutes of the September 9, 2006 business meeting be approved as submitted.

4. Officers Reports
   
   
   1. President
      President Klug welcomed everyone and thanked Carlos Leija for a great job in hosting the meeting. He reported to the Council that the Executive Committee had discussed options to travel to Humboldt for the June meeting and said that there was not enough interest in chartering a bus or van. He asked Dean Hart from Humboldt to put together a list of travel options and circulate to Council members in advance of the June meeting.
      
      
      
   2. Treasurer
      Ken Stone provided a brief overview of the status of the 2006/07 budget and reported that income is on track and that the majority of expenses would not be recorded until after the Legislative Day event in mid-March.
      

5. Liaisons Reports
   
   
   1. Alumni Trustee
      Trustee Bob Linscheid reported on activities by the Trustees over the past few months including: an update on the strategic plan, “Access to Excellence”; negotiations between the CSU and CFA regarding compensation; the 2007-08 budget; the retirement of Dominguez Hills President James E. Lyons, Sr.; and the concerns regarding the agreement between the CSU and Eastern Mediterranean University in northern Cyprus. Trustee Linscheid has four campus visits scheduled (San Jose, San Marcos, San Diego and Sonoma) in the first quarter.
      
      
   2. Alumni Directors' Rep
      Sheila Butts reported that the Alumni Directors will now meet the Thursday evening before the Alumni Council meeting over dinner. The format worked well for this meeting with all but two campuses attending. The directors discussed the importance of encouraging alumni to participate in the campus conversations for Access to Excellence and they also met with Lori Redfearn, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Systemwide Advancement, on the topic of record keeping in an effort to have more accurate alumni addresses. Sheila also reported that the directors are putting together a master calendar of alumni events and activities that will be posted on the Alumni Council website.
      
   
   
   3. Academic Senate
      Barry Pasternak of the Academic Senate reported to the Council on the various activities the Senate has been working on in the past few months including: support of Carnegie’s new community service classifications; support for the professional science master’s degree program; support for substantive revisions to the “No Child Left Behind Act”; and the graduate fee differential for all graduate students. Other issues the Senate is working on include: Accessible Technology Initiative; Early Assessment Program; lower division transfer pattern project; Access to Excellence strategic plan; accreditation style visits on facilitating graduation; proposals for the education doctorate; voluntary system of accountability; remediation (which will be reported on at the March Trustees meeting); and the community college proposition on the 2008 ballot. Pasternak also reported that the Senate has the following task forces: expanding the role of international education in the CSU; policies concerning drops/withdrawals/incompletes/repeats; reducing the cost of textbooks and other materials; sustainability; and MBA fees.
   
   
   
   4. Student Representative
      No student representative was present and no report given.
   
   
   
   5. Vice Presidents of Advancement Report
      No Vice President of Advancement was present and no report given.
   
   
   
   6. System Office Report
      Karen Zamarripa gave a system update and reported the following: Advocacy training is scheduled for campus teams on Feb. 8 in Sacramento and alumni directors and volunteers are encouraged to attend; March 19 is the annual CSU Legislative Day and will feature a lifetime achievement award and legislator of the year award. There will be no keynote speaker but instead each campus will present its “Advocate of the Year.” Karen gave the Council an update on the CSU eAdvocacy program and reported that two of the pilot campuses had sent two messages: one seeking support of Prop. 1D, and one call to action asking people to write letters about federal Pell Grant funding. There was a 20 percent open rate and 15 people unsubscribed. Key learnings included having training for staff members that are going to implement the system. Campuses should be getting databases ready as the goal is to have the system operational by late March/early April. The Chancellor’s Office will have a page for outreach to community and industry groups and will put together a master calendar to use the system effectively for year-round communications. Karen reported that the policies and procedures are finalized and the campus agreements are signed. The grasstops/wealth screening component of the system included a second run of 2 million records which yielded 20,000 grasstops. Karen stressed that campuses should consult with the Chancellor’s Office before they send messages as the contract with Kintera includes a specific number of messages per month. Systemwide messages will go to a systemwide messaging team for review (within a three hour window) then campuses will send out.

6. Committee Reports
   
   
   1. Finance and Development
      The Finance and Development Committee did not meet.
      
      
   2. Government Relations
      Dia Poole reported that the committee adopted two sets of guidelines: the first concerns volunteers calling representatives of those campuses who are not on the Government Relations Committee prior to an upcoming Alumni Council meeting or Government Relations Committee meeting to be a resource for information, questions, etc. Guidelines for volunteers to make these calls are available from Dia. The second set of guidelines is for campuses to host events in and around Sacramento for legislators and their staffs. The guidelines will be sent to campuses encouraging them to host events outside of Legislative Day. Several campuses have events scheduled. Dia also reported that the list of CSU alumni working in legislative offices in the Capitol will be delayed as several legislators have not yet hired staff.
      
   
   
   
   3. Programs
      Jeanie Esajian reported that she had received many positive comments on yesterday’s program on “Generational Marketing” by Dr. Mary Joyce, professor of marketing at CSU Fullerton. The March meeting topic will be branding in the context of telling the CSU story and will be given by Carole Hayashino, vice president of University Advancement and Frank Whitlatch, associate vice president of Public Affairs from CSU Sacramento. They will focus on Sacramento’s recent rebranding effort and how the alumni association was brought into the process. The June meeting topic will be “Alumni and Advancement: Working Together for Mutual Benefit” and will feature a panel of speakers from different areas of advancement and alumni, representing different size campuses. Several members of the Council suggested including outside speakers on the panel such as Babs Sandeen from UC Davis, James Asp from UCSF, and James Stofan from the UC alumni program. The Committee is also working on the beginning stages of the fall retreat at Dominguez Hills and is considering several topics for breakout sessions including dues vs. non-dues paying membership, defining success as an association, and benchmarking and evaluating association initiatives. Council members were asked to e-mail Jeanie with additional suggestions.

7. New Business
   
   
   1. Trustee Reappoinment
      By paper ballot, Trustee Bob Linscheid was unanimously reappointed for a second term as the CSU alumni trustee.
      
      
   
   
   2. Legislator of the Year Award
      Motion/Second/Carried to award Lynn Daucher with the Lifetime Achievement Award and Hector De La Torre as the Legislator of the Year. Barry Pasternak added that the Academic Senate also supported Lynn Daucher’s nomination. The awards will be presented during the CSU Alumni Legislative Day on March 19 in Sacramento.
   
   
   

9. Public Comment
   
   There was none.

10. Adjournment
    
    
    1. Next Meeting: March 18, 2007 at Sheraton Hotel, Sacramento.
    
    
    
    2. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 10:45 a.m.