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TO: Kathleen Rountree, Dean CLASS Susan Correia, Academic Senate Office From: Patricia Jennings, Chair Department of Sociology and Social Services

Date: April 28, 2011

SUBJECT: SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL SERVICES ANNUAL REVIEW REPORT

1. Brief Self Study

A number of objectives were articulated in our 2007 Five-Year Review. The objectives stated in the Vision Statement (see Appendix A) from our Five-Year Review remain essentially the same with some minor modifications. Three of the most pressing objectives identified by CAPR (see Appendix B) in our 2008 Five-Year Review are discussed below with comments on our progress since our 2010 Annual Review.

Objective 1. To strengthen the department’s teaching and research

Teaching:

Sociology continues to serve a large number of majors and non-majors. Following a typical pattern, this spring we placed fourth in CLASS for the raw number (4,279) of SCUs generated (see Appendix C). The number of majors remains fairly steady with 314 majors for fall 2010 according to Institutional Research (IR) (see Appendix D). However, this figure should be interpreted with caution since the Institutional Research (IR) position is not currently staffed. From fall 2009 to fall 2010 IR data shows a slight decline in the number of majors and the average class size across most disciplines. The spring 2011 Blackboard list of sociology undergraduate majors reveals that 409 majors are currently enrolled. Note that this figure includes students who have filed for graduation. Institutional data show that 134 sociology students graduated with a BA in 2009/10 (see Appendix D). The number of minors who graduated in 2010 is not available on the IR Webpage. The number of majors who have selected the Social Service Option is also not available. However, enrollment figures in the internship course (Soc 4718 taken in the last two quarters of their senior year) gives us a rough estimate of students who have selected the Social Service Option. Forty-eight students are currently enrolled in 4718 (This figure was similar in 2009). Coupling this figure with the number of students

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enrolled in prerequisites for 4718 (about 40) provides us with a rough estimate of close to 100 students in the Social Service Option.

Nineteen graduate students were enrolled in Sociology in spring 2011. As stated in our last review, difficulties staffing the graduate program forced us to suspend new admissions for a two-year period. Admissions remain suspended. We used the past year to help move current students through the program. Seven students completed their MA degree since March 2010. We also spent time revising the capstone option and course curriculum. We believe that streamlining the capstone experience (we plan to move to a comprehensive exam) will allow us to retain the program without compromising quality. We met with Dean Rountree (per her request) and Associate Dean Okutsu to discuss the future of the graduate program. Dean Rountree requested that we “hold off” on submitting our formal CAPR proposal which requests that the freeze be lifted for 2012/13 admissions. We agreed to withhold the proposal for now. However, we do plan to move forward with our plans to re-open admissions. Faculty discussions on the optimal time to submit the proposal are still in progress.

Former Provost Mahoney’s comment on Five-Year Review:

At the same time that majors appear to remain steady, the number of regular faculty remains low. As pointed out in the Five Year Review, the number of regular faculty decreased from 12 in 2001 to seven (one of the seven was in FERP status) in 2008. The number of regular faculty remains at seven with two of the seven now in FERP status. At our 2008 MOU meeting, Provost Mahoney recommended that some of our entitled lecturer appointments be increased to 1.0 as a way to meet the heavy advising load generated from the low number of regular faculty (see Appendix B). Due to the continuing budget crisis, this change has not been implemented. We believe that our capacity to continue to operate a quality program necessitates the implementation of Provost Mahoney’s proposal.

Research:

Despite a heavy teaching and advising load, members of the Sociology faculty continue to make strong progress in the area of professional development. Since the last Annual Review, members of the faculty have published five articles in peer-reviewed journals, two book/anthology chapters, and one book review. Carl Stempel is revising an article that received a “revise and re-submit” from a peer reviewed journal, and Patricia Jennings is in the process of making final revisions on a co-authored article accepted for publication. In the past year, faculty members have presented seven papers at professional conferences. Benjamin Bowser was a keynote speaker at the CSUEB Third Annual Leadership Institute. Patricia Jennings was invited to present a paper at South Dakota State University and two papers at Bakersfield City College. Finally, Efren Padilla will present an analysis of immigration at the CSUEB Diversity Day event.

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Objective 2. Increase the department’s teaching and research capacity

We submitted two position descriptions (Race and Ethnicity and Research Methods) in response to Dean Rountree’s call for position announcements (see Appendix E). The Dean’s ranking criteria were based on external accreditation, number of regular faculty, number of majors and number of students served by a department. Position One (Race and Ethnic Relations) was selected by the Dean for the final list (she selected 10 announcements for funding) submitted to Provost Houpis for funding. However, due to budget constraints, not all of the selected positions have been approved at this time. We remain on the list as a high priority (see Appendix E) but, as of April 2011, we have not been approved for a 2011/12 hire.

CAPRs Comments on TT-hire recruitment plan:

In 2008 CPAR noted that we lacked a TT-hire recruitment plan beyond our request for a global studies position and recommended that we develop a clear hiring plan by anticipating future attrition (see Appendix B). The ongoing budget crisis continues to hamper our capacity to fully develop a hiring plan. In our Five-Year Review we focused on hiring a globalization specialist since the only faculty member who teaches global/international studies is now in FERP status. At the time this was viewed as an essential need, however, the hiring freeze has forced us to re-focus attention on even more immediate needs. The position announcement for Race and Ethnic Relations includes subfields (e.g., Medical Sociology, Drug and Alcohol Abuse, Juvenile Delinquency, Criminology) that are difficult to staff due to recent retirements (i.e., Diane Beeson and Karl Shonborn). Under less stressful budgetary constraints, our ideal would be to hire in four areas: globalization, economic sociology, applied sociology, and sociology of education. Economic sociology and globalization hires would complete our offerings in economic inequality and broaden offerings in cultural diversity. Applied sociology would strengthen links to local agencies and promote grant writing for applied research. A hire in Sociology of Education would provide us with an opportunity to focus on current shifts in educational systems—a timely topic that has an immediate impact on our students. Four new hires would bring us just short of our 2001 level of 12 TT faculty. A single hire will not come close to meeting our needs. Clearly, hiring remains our highest priority.

CAPR noted that the Sociology Program should work out a fully developed, clear and specific five-year plan in collaboration with all of the members of the department. CAPR suggested that this be done before we request a hire. Paradoxically, CAPR also noted that the low number of faculty makes this task difficult to accomplish. This paradox continues to impact our ability to address CAPR’s concerns. Faculty members are stretched beyond their capacity. Nonetheless, we are holding regular faculty meetings and have recently undertaken revisions of department

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policies and practices. This is moving us toward some of our immediate goals. For instance, we recently revised our lecturer evaluation process/policies. We are holding a curriculum workshop before the end of spring quarter. We will pre-test an SLO instrument in summer and fall 2011. The ongoing budget crisis makes it difficult to set clear, obtainable goals. We find that we are often “spinning our wheels”—as soon as we have a plan in place the budget crisis forces a campus-wide shift in priorities.

Objective 3. Serve communities beyond the university at the local, national and international levels

Sociology and Social Service faculty continue to serve local, regional and international communities and organizations. Professor Padilla is an urban planning consultant to the Governor of Davao Oriental, Philippines and to the CEO and President of Clark Freeport Zone, Philippines. This faculty member also serves as a syndicated blogger for a major news outlet in the Philippines. Professor Stempel is linked to the local Afghan community through his role as a consultant to the Afghan Coalition as they implement a mental health program. He is also working with this group to partner with other researchers and stakeholders (e.g., UC Davis, Columbia, UC Berkeley) in an attempt to broaden the scope of his original research. Media coverage of Professor Stempel’s research brings greater recognition to CSUEB. Professors Stempel and Jennings serve on the CSU-wide Social Science Research and Instructional Council (SSRIC). The SSRIC plays a key role in providing access to major data sets (e.g., Census data, GSS data) and statistical software (i.e., SPSS) for all member campuses. Professor Johnson serves the local Hayward community through his role as a Board member at large for Eden Youth and Family Center. Professor Jennings continues to serve on the Board of Alliance for a Humane Biotechnology (AHB). Finally, Professor Vugia has an extensive link to the local community through her role as Supervisor of the Social Service Internship Program. She currently supervises internships at 14 different agencies. Not only does our internship program build links to community-based agencies, it provides students with the opportunity to develop job related skills.

2. Assessment

Student learning outcomes (SLOs) were not assessed for 2010/11. However, Professor Johnson was awarded a grant to develop assessment goals and instruments. He is working on this project with an assessment team comprised of CLASS faculty. Professor Johnson is currently developing assessment goals for methods classes and an instrument that will test these goals. We expect to pre-test this instrument in summer and fall 2011.

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3. Data

Attached (see Appendix C) are the most recent data on departmental FTES, FTEF, SCUs and SFRs available. We were able to obtain some recent data on FTES, FTEF and SFRs from the Chancellor’s Office Web (provided at the Council of Chair’s meeting by Dean Rountree) site. However, while the data may be somewhat more recent than CSUEB IR data, caution should still be taken when interpreting the figures. For instance, Dean Rountree pointed out that there is an error in the number of CSUEB faculty in 2007. Keeping these problems in mind, the data show that FTES (237.8) and SFR (25.6) figures are down slightly from 2009, but these figures are down for CSUEB as a whole. Our average class size was down slightly from 2009 (33.9 to 29.8).

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Appendix A Vision Statement from 2008 Five-Year Review

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Appendix B CAPRs Summary of/Response to Five-Year Review

Former Provost Mahoney’s Response to Number of Faculty Reported in Five-Year Review

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Appendix C

Institutional Data/Chancellor’s Office Data (SCUs, FTES, FTEF, SFRs)

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Appendix D Institutional Data on Sociology Majors

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Appendix E Position Announcement

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Department of Sociology and Social Services 2010-20]] Proposed Tenure Track Searches

The Department of Sociology and Social Services is requesting two tenure track positions. Both positions are described below and are followed by a detailed justification.

Position One

The primary responsibility of this new [faculty position is to contribute to our core curriculum by teaching Race and Ethnic r<.elations (including African and Mexican American Families) plus elective courses in one of three concentrations: 1) Medical Sociology (including Alcohol and Drug Abuse and Death and Dying); 2) Criminology (including Police and Society, Juvenile delinquency, and Violence and Conflict); and 3) lnstitutional Life (including Sociology of Religion, Education, Work and Professions, and Social Organizations). Applicants must have an active research agenda and preference will be given to candidates who demonstrate a global or transnational dimension to their research and/or teaching with links to domestic communities (i.e. African American, Latino American, Asian Americans and immigrant communities).

Position Two

The primary responsibility of this faculty position is to contribute to our core curriculum by teaching Research Methods (undergraduate and graduate) plus elective courses in one of the concentrations: 1) Medical Sociology (including Alcohol and Drug Abuse and Death and Dying); 2) Criminology (including Police and Society, Juvenile delinquency, and Violence and Conflict); and 3) Institutional Life (including Sociology of Religion, Education, Work and Professions, and Social Organizations). Applicants must have an active research agenda and preference will be given to candidates with a global or transnational dimension to their research and/or leaching.

Justification

Fewer Faculty, Larger Classes (SFR)

Like other CLASS departments, Sociology and Social Services has experienced an attrition of regular faculty over the past two decades. In 1990 there were 15 regular faculty members; there are 5 today (plus 2 FERP and 5 lecturers). In table one below, our student-to-faulty ratio has increased from 26.6 in 2005 to an estimated 29.8 in 2010 and our average class size increased from 28 in 2002 to 36 in 2005 and has remained at same level today; in comparison to other CLASS departments these indices put Sociology and Social Services in the upper half of both class sizes and student-faculty ratios.