elected chair of the embattled Foundation<\/a> in June at its final meeting of 2025-26, said the composition of the board is to be determined. It likely will include one or two faculty members and a student representative.<\/p>\nThe priority at the initial board of governors meeting of the new fiscal year on Tuesday was the vote, and to revise Foundation bylaws to enact governance changes, including term limits and appropriate university representation. The changes were approved ahead of a deadline to complete remediation actions included in the advisory review report from the CSU.<\/p>\n
There also is an argument for greater representation.<\/p>\n
Andrew Jones, president of the Fresno State chapter of the California Faculty Association, said he would like to see representatives from every college on campus, and the expertise they bring, on the Foundation board.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re talking about grant money,\u201d Jones said. \u201cWe\u2019re talking about money for research. This is stuff that faculty are in the know about, and they should be in charge of how that money is handled. The fact that you have a foundation board that, I don\u2019t think there was one person that was a faculty member on it, speaks to its problems.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the CSU, the San Jose State Research Foundation board has 15 members including four university administrators, three college deans and four faculty members. The three community members on the board are all from academia: a professor and department chair of molecular and cellular physiology from Stanford University, an associate vice chancellor for research at the University of Nebraska and a professor of public health from San Diego State.<\/p>\n
The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs board of directors at Cal Poly Humboldt, as another example, includes the university president, three vice presidents, one dean and seven faculty members. The board does include community members, only as appointed by the university president. In 2025-26, the board had one community member.<\/p>\n
The Long Beach State Research Foundation board of directors includes the university president, provost and senior vice president of academic affairs, an associate vice president for research and economic development, a dean, and a member of the academic senate. It has 11 on its board, including two public or community members.<\/p>\n
At San Diego State, the university president serves as ex-officio president of the SDSU Research Foundation board and its 18 directors include the provost, vice president for research and innovation and vice president for business and financial affairs. It also includes four faculty members recommended by the University Senate and eight individuals, five from the community who have been nominated by the university president.<\/p>\n
The CSU in its review of the Fresno State Foundation delved into the board composition of seven auxiliaries that manage research activity for other campuses and each one included university representation from provosts, academic senate chairs, college deans and a wide range of faculty members.<\/p>\n
That lack of relevant experience at the Fresno State Foundation stands out and also was highlighted in the CSU review, which questioned its ability to properly support the university\u2019s sponsored programs.<\/p>\n
\u201cAdequate university representation within the Foundation\u2019s board of governors, including appropriate academic representation, provides critical insight and accountability, enhancing oversight of the auxiliary\u2019s key functions by ensuring decisions are informed by academic expertise and aligned with the university\u2019s mission,\u201d the report states.<\/p>\n
\u201cFurther, adequate board composition strengthens stakeholder confidence in the management of the auxiliary\u2019s operations and builds trust between the auxiliary and the university community. \u201c<\/p>\n
Related Stories from Fresno Bee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Students and visitors come and go at the Fresno State Library. JOHN WALKER Fresno Bee file The Fresno…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470998,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-470997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}