Conversation with University Leadership Monday 11/2/09

Today i went to the conversation with the President and VP of undergrad studies. It took place in the library on the second floor in one of the private rooms. Our Muse class went to this in place of class because our professor was out of town. The room was pretty packed when i got there because i had class before this and it started at 12 noon sharp. There was about 60-70 or so people in the room and there were also free snacks like cookies, brownies, lemenade, and water. I had to sit in the front because all the middle and back seats where taken already. It started off with Ally Gomez a peer mentor greeting everyone. Then she handed the mic over to Andrew Wood with is the director of sjsu peer mentor program. He introduced the people speakers and then go the show started. Dennis Jaehne is the VP of undergrad studies, Jon Whitmore is the president of SJSU, Katherine Casey and Natalie Quilici are the peer mentors chosen to read the questions. This was a open forum where anyone can ask questions to the president and the VP. One of the questions was, how is their typical day like at sjsu. They both replied with, there is no typical day because everyday is different. They go to lots of meetings and their overall goal is to invision the future growing and improving. The only differece the VP has between the president is the VP has more meetings to go to about academic studies. The next question was advice they would give to students. They said since the budget cuts and the economy is bad and no one has money any more, much more people take their studies more seriously. They also say try to get off to a good start, and it is just more than classroom performance. Get help from faculty, get involved, join clubs, and this is how you find your networks and meet new people that may end up getting you a job or helping you in your future. Another question is what do they vision for the next year at sjsu. They said the goal is to make university stronger, but since there is less money it will be challenging. We can cut or decline more students and graduate more seniors students and shape the incoming class better. We also can improve the technology sustain ability. Dont drop out of college. This is why we created muse classes because to maintain quality time with faculty. The next question was about remial classes. They said last year at sjsu it was 12% over enrolled and had unlimited enrollment. This year they had almost the same about of students 30,000 and cut $44 million. Furlough days equals to 10% reduction in pay. Most remdial classes are english. Next quesition was how to we help out with money for college. They joked and said we take donations. When they talk about "we" it is the california. The reason why we have a limit of 14 units is because it will give everyone an equal chance to sign up and get their classes.