San Francisco State University
PA-3: Inclusive and Participatory Governance

We have many shared governance groups in the system and on campus. for this report we will use the CSU Board of Trustees as our highest governing body and our on campus AS Governing Board and our Academic Senate:


System-wide governance body:
The CSU Board of Trustees is a 24-member governance board that adopts regulations and policies governing the entire CSU system. This group governs the CSU system as a whole and is the highest governing board for the system. Board committees have authority over educational policy, finance, campus planning, and facilities, among other areas.

Membership of the board of trustees is composed of five (5) ex-officio Trustees (including the governor of CA, the lieutenant governor, the speaker of the assembly, the state superintendent of public instruction, and the CSU chancellor), and nineteen (20) trustees who are generally appointed by the Governor.
For more information on the CSU Board of Trustees, please visit: https://www2.calstate.edu/csu-system/board-of-trustees/Pages/default.aspx

For more information about current membership of the Board of Trustees, please visit: https://www2.calstate.edu/csu-system/board-of-trustees/meet-the-board-of-trustees

SFSU Students:
All students enrolled at SF State automatically become members of its student government, (ASI) Associated Students Inc. A portion of student fees goes toward the program and services ASI provides its students. This means that SF State students can enjoy many of the events and programs provided by fellow students that might have cost them even more without this one time semester fee.
To get more involved, students run for election to sit on the Board of Directors. (Please note that these are stipend positions.) Students have the opportunity to vote or be elected into the Associated Students Board of Directors each spring semester. In doing so, candidates experience the opportunity to run a campaign, network on campus, and develop programs that provide resources and services for the students here at SF State. Visit the Board Members page (Student Governing Board) and contact a representative for more information. To learn more about elections check out ASI Election Information.
https://asi.sfsu.edu/board-of-directors
there are 13 student representatives on the ASI Board of Directors.

SFSU Academic Senate:
The San Francisco State Academic Senate develops policies and procedures regarding faculty and administrative appointments, curriculum, business and fiscal matters, campus development, academic standards, University goals; examples of which include the following:
-appointment and review of academic administrators;
-faculty appointment, retention, tenure, promotion, leave and dismissal;
-curriculum and instruction;
-Library and research;
-student affairs, admissions, retention, awarding of grades and graduation;
-business and fiscal matters;
-campus development;
-academic and professional standards;
-mission and goals;
-other matters about the welfare and excellence of the University.
The committees of the Academic Senate shall include the Executive Committee and such other standing committees, all-university committees and ad hoc committees as the Academic Senate shall determine. The Senate also participates in two additional types of committees: committees on which the Senate has liaison members or representatives and committees for which the faculty members are recommended for executive appointment.
https://senate.sfsu.edu/committee-information

SFSU Foundation board (this is not the highest governing body as they oversee the Foundations Endowment but not SFSU)
The SF State Foundation is governed by a board of directors, San Francisco State University Board of Directors, who work closely with the University to reach out to alumni, friends, and businesses in the community to build commitment and funding for San Francisco State University. The Foundation directly manages the University's endowment by determining acceptable risks in the portfolio, maximizing investment returns, minimizing investment expenses and improving endowment reporting and stewardship.
https://sfsufdn.sfsu.edu/directors

SFSU Non-academic staff:
Collective Bargaining Units represent CSU employees in labor relations and negotiate with the employer regarding the scope of the employment relationship which sometimes relates to governance matters. Current bargaining agreements for the CSU are organized as follows: Unit 1 Union of American Physicians and Dentists; Units 2, 5, 7, and 9 CSU Employees Union; Unit 3, CA Faculty Association, Unit 4 Academic Professionals of CA, Unit 6 Teamsters Local 2010, Unit 8 Statewide University Police Association, Unit 10 International Union of Operating Engineers, Unit 11 Academic Student Employees, Unit 13 CSUEU English Language Program Instructors Cal State LA, and Unit 14 CSUEU English Language Program Instructors, CSU Monterey Bay. Employees are elected to leadership positions within each bargaining unit. (https://www2.calstate.edu/csu-system/faculty-staff/labor-and-employee-relations)

SFSU recently underwent a campus wide strategic plan process that started in 2022 and is still ongoing. The strategic plan was organized by the main strategic plan committee and coordinated by six sub-committees.

Phase One:
There were 3 months of open engagement to the whole community run by Blue Beyond (the consulting company responsible for facilitating the strategic planning process). This engagement included four different types of activities: a survey available to all community members; web-based comment box; focus groups of select university participants/groups; and open forums where anyone was invited to attend. It was from these open engagements that the Strategic Planning Committee built drafts of mission-vision-value-priorities. Then, there was another round of engagement where constituents could comment on the draft before the committee and President finalized.

Phase Two:
Metrics were drafted by coordinating committees and then open for comments on the web. A draft version with Qualtrics survey was presented to various campus groups (Senate, Staff Council, Campus Leadership, Staff Forum, ASI) and was available in Campus Memo.

Janice Gumas was the formal voice of the alumni and parent group in the Strategic Planning Committee. She regularly attended meetings over the multi year long process. Janice represented alumni stakeholders on the President’s Strategic Planning Committee. As a member of that committee, Janice synthesized feedback from over 3000 current and former students and employees to help craft the university’s updated mission statement and strategic priorities. She and the committee reviewed and commented on proposed metrics to measure progress on the strategic plan priorities and will reconvene in 2024 for the first activity report.


https://planning.sfsu.edu/strategic-planning-committee
https://planning.sfsu.edu/