President's Monthly Campus Update

The first month of the new year greeted us with near-record-setting consecutive days of freezing temperatures. As we thaw out at month's end, we look forward to setting records of our own in divisions, schools, departments, and units across campus. The new year presents new and renewed opportunities for CSUB as we extend excellence in all areas.

Nursing Faculty Accolades
Congratulations are in order for nursing faculty who had papers accepted for podium or poster presentations at the Western Institute of Nursing's (WIN) April 2007 Communicating Nursing Research Conference in Portland, Oregon. WIN is one of four regional organizations with a focus on nursing research. CSUB presenters include: podium presenter Michelle Kinder - "The Lived Experiences of Treatment of Hepatitis C;" poster presenters Debbie Boschini - "Family Presence during CPR: An Exploration of Emergency Department Nurses' Attitudes;" Debbie Wilson - "Quality Care at the End- of-Life: Identifying Factors that Affect Decisions made by the Families of Seriously Ill Patients;" Gail Davidson - "Advanced Practice Nursing: Are Clinical Nurse Specialist and Nurse Practitioner Roles Merging?" Denise Dawkins and Kathleen Gilchrist "Leaping Tall Buildings: Barriers for Minority Nurse Practitioners in Education;" and Kathleen Gilchrist and Cherie Rector - "Opening Doors for RNs: RN-BSNs Evaluation of the INN Program." Special thanks go to Kathy Gilchrist for encouraging faculty to submit an abstract for WIN and to Candace Meares for spearheading the department's ad hoc publishing group.

Student Research Scholars
Please join me in congratulating honors students Ly Ly Pham and Monika Tincher, whose research was accepted for a poster presentation at the American Chemical Society National meeting in Chicago, Illinois, March 25-29, 2007. These students conducted their research under the supervision of Andreas Gebauer, assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry. Ly Ly is a senior chemistry/biology double major. She received a student research scholarship from CSUB in 2005 and 2006 and currently is a McNair Scholar. Her research focuses on the synthesis and study of pyrrole-metallocene as anion receptors and sensors. Monika is a sophomore chemistry major. She is active in student government and wants to attend medical school after graduating from CSUB in 2009. Her research focuses on the synthesis and characterization of pyridine, pyrrole and anisole containing calixarenes.

It is an honor to have an article accepted at this meeting and we are proud of this student achievement. Student research scholars are supported by President's Associates membership. For further information on President's Associates, please contact Laura Wolfe at 654-2330. For information regarding Student Research Scholars, please contact Vincent Oragwam at 654-2233.

Public-Private Partnerships
At its January 24, 2007 meeting, the CSU Board of Trustees gave conceptual approval of a mixed-use hotel, residential, and conference center project on the CSUB campus. The project will provide needed conference/classroom, office, and parking space for the campus, and will afford opportunities for on-campus student employment and internships. CSUB also will benefit from the receipt of ground ease payments from the project. The partner for this project is Crisp & Cole and Associates. In November, 2006 the Board gave conceptual approval for partnership with Gregory D. Bynum and Associates for a 4 to 6-story, 10,000-30,000 square-foot office building.

CSU Trustee Listening Tour
CSU Trustee John Garamendi, the new Lieutenant Governor, will visit CSUB on Monday, February 12, 2007 to hold conversations with CSUB faculty, staff, and students to better understand Central Valley needs. The core question posed is, "What do we want our trustees to know about what the Central Valley needs so that trustees can more effectively convey those needs?" Information regarding the specific schedule of meetings will be provided within the next several days.

CSU Strategic Plan
On March 15, 2007 CSUB will host a campus-wide dialogue on the CSU strategic plan, "Access to Excellence." CSU Board of Trustees Chair Roberta Achtenberg, a member of the CSU Access to Excellence Steering Committee, will visit our campus to attend a campus conversation with CSUB faculty, staff, and students as stakeholders in the systemwide strategic planning process. Specific information regarding the trustee's visit will be forthcoming from Provost Soraya Coley.

Departing Administrators
We congratulate two CSUB administrators on their acceptance of new positions at other universities. David Cherin, Interim Assistant Vice President of Grants, Research & Sponsored Programs, accepted the directorship of the Social Work Program at California State University, Fullerton. David began his new position at Fullerton last week. Henry Lowenstein, Dean of the School of Business and Public Administration, has accepted the deanship of the E. Craig Wall Sr. College of Business Administration at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina. Henry will continue to serve at CSUB until the end of the academic year in June. We thank our departing colleagues for their leadership and service to CSUB and wish them well in their new pursuits.

Completion of NCAA Division I Fundraising Campaign
We celebrate the success of the NCAA Division I Fundraising campaign. With the help of generous donors and tremendous community support, we exceeded our $6 million goal to fund the first five years of our transition to Division I. Our sincerest thanks go to Ben Stinson, Chairman of the Board of Stinson's Stationers; Rogers Brandon, Vice President of American General Media; and Geoff King, Partner at Barbich, Crier, Hooper & King, who led the campaign since its inception. We especially thank former U.S. Representative Bill Thomas and Castle & Cooke Chairman and CEO David Murdock, co-chairs of the final leg of the campaign. The $1 million challenge grant from Castle & Cooke triggered the achievement of the final million dollars needed to complete the campaign. We salute Mike Chertok, Vice President for University Advancement, Laura Wolfe, Assistant Vice President for Development, Athletic Director Rudy Carvajal, and the University Advancement staff, including George Culver, for an outstanding campaign.

University Council & the President's Campus Forum The next University Council meeting will be February 16, 2007 from 2:00 - 3:00 p.m. in the Albertson Room. The first President's Campus Forum will be the March 15th campus dialog on "Access to Excellence," mentioned earlier in this edition of the Update.

I look forward to seeing you around campus or at an upcoming University or community event.