Provost warns of loss of state funds

Faculty Senate members were told to schedule more classes on Fridays and consider offering comprehensive Saturday courses for the 1999-2000 academic year.

Jolene Koester, Vice President of Academic Affairs, said that "our classroom utilization figures are not what they need to be at this time" in a presentation during Thursday's Faculty Senate meeting.

Koester warned about a loss of state funds if CSUS didn't increase classroom utilization in the next two years.

She cited a study that her office had conducted that showed most CSUS classes were offered from 8 am to 1 pm Monday through Thursday.

"We have to schedule on Friday," she urged.

Faculty senators were lukewarm in their response to Koester's plan.

"I think flexible scheduling is a good thing," said Juanita Barrena, a professor of biological sciences who teaches a Biology 10 course on Saturday mornings. "My Saturday class is filled with a totally different population of students than from the same Bio 10 class during the week."

Other Faculty Senate members raised questions about whether increased classes on the weekends would be feasible, given their current academic and committee workload schedules. Koester reminded them that "all of these decisions need to made with the students in mind."

The Senate also held an election to fill the Executive Committee seat vacated earlier in the week by Linda Palmer, professor of English. Bob Buckley, professor of computer science, won the seat after his surprise nomination.

"I'm pleased and happy to serve on the committee," said Buckley.

Palmer resigned from the Executive Committee without explanation and did not attend last week's meeting.

The Faculty Senate held over a vote on their position on distance education until the November 19 meeting.