Update from the President Dec. 5, 2018

Dec. 5, 2018

Dear Campus Community,

As the fall semester draws to a close, and the holiday season begins, I’d like to congratulate you on your hard work, your dedication to achieving your goals – whether as students, faculty, or staff members – and your commitment to our caring community values of respect, integrity, excellence and responsibility. Thanks to your efforts, the 2018-2019 academic year is already one marked by many achievements and successes.

Supporting our students

I’m delighted that our entire campus community has continued to demonstrate a commitment to serving our students with unflagging compassion and support since the fall term began. Not only is this a priority central to our campus’s new strategic plan, but it’s also a priority of great personal importance to me as Sonoma State’s President. I’d like to share a few examples of that priority in action with you here in this monthly message.

First, the SSU Dream Center will soon choose two undocumented Sonoma State student leaders as CA Campus Catalyst Fund Student Leadership Fellows. Along with 62 other fellows from across the state of California, our SSU fellows will participate in professional development and leadership workshops and receive a $1,500 stipend.

For her remarkable work on behalf of first-year students at Sonoma State, Professor and Department Chair of Mathematics and Statistics Dr. Brigitte Lahme has been awarded recognition as an Outstanding First-Year Student Advocate from the National Resource Center and Cengage Learning’s annual campaign. Congratulations and thank you, Dr. Lahme!

I’m also proud that our Division of Student Affairs is currently hosting ICanHelp! Mental Health Training for non-clinical University sessions, so that staff members from all over campus can learn how to better support our Sonoma State students who are experiencing mental health concerns. The next 90-minute open workshop will be on Dec. 12 at 3:30 p.m. For more information, please email studentaffairs@sonoma.edu.

Strengthening our campus

At the same time that our Seawolf community as a whole has been setting up our students for success, our leadership team also has been working hard to better position our campus for success. In that spirit, the President’s Budget Advisory Committee hosted its fall 2018 Budget Forum last week. 

In addition, the 2018-2019 Campus Budget Report has been posted to the University Budget and Planning Office website. This report underscores our campus commitment to sustainability and aims to serve as a helpful guide for all Sonoma State community members to better understand our campus budget:

http://web.sonoma.edu/budget/campus-budget-report.html.

Finally, I’m thrilled that so many of you gave to our campus last week as part of Giving Tuesday. As we work to build a culture of philanthropy at Sonoma State, I want to thank all of you who contributed to GIVE2SSU, our Giving Tuesday campaign.

Dates Ahead

In these last few days of the semester, I encourage you to remember these important dates:

·      Seawolf Alcohol Awareness Week runs through tomorrow, Thursday Dec. 6. Please consider visiting the Red Flag Display and Crashed Car Display at Salazar-Darwin Quad and Salazar Plaza. It is our great hope that the information provided this week will help save lives.

·      Finals week: Dec. 10 to Dec. 14

·      Spring semester: Classes begin on Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019

To our students, I wish you all the best as you prepare for and complete your final exams, projects and papers. And to all members of our campus community, I wish you and your loved ones an enjoyable and restful winter break.

Happy Holidays!

With gratitude,

Judy K. Sakaki signature

Judy K. Sakaki
President