Open Letter

July 13, 2009

The wealth and well being of our region and our state are currently at stake, and we need to draw on our best resources to move forward. San Diego State University has been a major resource driving our prosperity in Southern California ( http://www.calstate.edu/impact/PDF/SanDiego.pdf ) . For many years, San Diego State University has been invaluable to the regional economy, educating many of its business, political, scientific, and community leaders, as well as parents, teachers, and the region's workforce. Many of our students have become role models and leaders in their communities.

San Diego State University is a prime example of what a California State University (CSU) campus with strong and imaginative leadership, smart and creative faculty, and hard-working and dedicated staff can accomplish. We have become a highly efficient institution of higher learning, attracting a diverse student population and providing a first–class college education at a very reasonable price by national standards. We have developed considerable research excellence with nationally ranked programs in such fields as psychology, biology, public health, speech language and hearing sciences, mathematics and science education, computational sciences, and geography. We have clearly demonstrated that teaching, scholarship, and community involvement not only go hand in hand, but truly enrich each other.

For our regional economy to recover quickly, we need a strong San Diego State University. We urge our leaders in Sacramento to recognize the crucial role that California's public colleges and universities play during this critical time. Over the past year, we have been asked to implement unprecedented and permanent cuts to our budget, forcing us to turn away smart and motivated students, to significantly reduce the number of faculty and staff, to cut the number of classes we can offer, and to double and triple class sizes. These changes will adversely affect every student now and in the future.

The faculty, staff, and students of San Diego State University understand that we all have to make our contribution to help balance California's budget, and painful work furloughs and fee increases are now all but inevitable. However, we have reached – if not passed – the tipping point. The most recent cuts are so devastating that we risk permanently harming one of the region's most powerful recovery engines: San Diego State University. We need your help to ensure that we do not ruin in one year what took more than 110 years to build. We ask for your support: Please contact our legislators in Sacramento  ( http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html )  and Charles B. Reed ( csu-chancellor@calstate.edu ), the CSU Chancellor in Long Beach, and let them know how important the California State University System and your San Diego State University are to you, your family, your community, and the San Diego economy.

Sincerely,

Georg E. Matt, Chair/Professor, Psychology

Sam Shen, Chair/Professor, Mathematics

Usha Sinha, Chair/Professor, Physics

Terry Frey, Chair/Professor, Biology

Emilio Ulloa, Director of Undergraduate Advising and Programs

Andrew J. Bohonak, Associate Professor/Director of Undergraduate Advising and Curriculum, Biology

Radmila Prislin, Professor, Psychology,

Jennifer Thomas, Professor, Psychology

Elizabeth Klonoff, Professor, Psychology

Sarah Mattson, Professor, Psychology

Roger Dunn, Professor, Psychology

Keith Hattrup, Professor, Psychology

Vanessa Malcarne, Professor, Psychology

Sanford I. Bernstein, Professor, Biology

Monica Ulibarri, Lecturer, Psychology

Constantine D. Tsoukas, Professor, Biology

Richard Graf, Professor, Psychology

Arlette Baljon, Associate Professor, Physics

Shawna Saponjic, Lecturer, Psychology

Pamela Moses, Assistant Professor, Psychology

Lee McClenaghan, Professor, Biology

Robert Edwards, Assistant Professor, Computer Science

Joseph Lewis, Lecturer, Computer Sciences

Rebecca Lewison, Assistant Professor, Biology

May Yeh, Associate Professor, Psychology

Jeannine Feldman, Lecturer, Psychology

Jacques Perrault, Professor, Biology

William A. Hunrichs, Professor Emeritus, Psychology

James Sallis, Professor, Psychology

Jeff Bryson, Professor Emeritus, Psychology

Paula Konoske, Lecturer, Psychology

Sandra Marshall, Professor, Psychology

Jerome Sattler, Professor Emeritus, Psychology

Steve Reed, Professor, Psychology

Joseph Price, Professor of Psychology

Annalisa Berta, Professor, Biology

Barbara Huntington, Director of the Pre-professional Health Advising

Scott Roesch, Associate Professor, Psychology

Charles Tatum, Lecturer, Psychology

Edward Riley, Professor, Psychology

Dennis Saccuzzo, Professor, Psychology

Kathy S. Williams, Professor, Biology

Katherine Turner, Lecturer, Psychology

Ralph-Axel Mueller, Professor, Psychology

David Marx, Assistant Professor, Psychology

Al Hillix, Professor Emeritus, Psychology

Roger Sabbadini, Professor Emeritus, Biology

Margaret Friend, Associate Professor, Psychology

Forest Rohwer, Associate Professor, Biology

David Armor, Lecturer, Psychology

Robin Weersing, Assistant Professor, Psychology

Frederick Hornbeck, Professor, Psychology

Barbara McDonald, Lecturer, Psychology

Linda Gallo, Associate Professor, Psychology

Brian T. Hentschel, Associate Professor, Biology

Marilyn Borges, Professor Emeritus, Psychology

Eunha Hoh, Assistant Professor, Occupational and Environmental Health

Mary P. Thomas, Research Assistant Professor, Computer Science

Paul Gilbert, Associate Professor, Psychology

Richard Schulte, Professor Emeritus, Psychology

Elizabeth Diane Cordero, Assistant Professor, Psychology

Shelli R. McAlpine, Associate Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Melbourne Hovell, Professor, Public Health and Psychology

Michael Taylor, Lecturer, Psychology

Terry Cronan, Professor, Psychology

Kevin J. Burns, Professor, Biology

William E. Stumph, Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Amy Spilkin, Lecturer, Psychology

Claire Murphy, Professor, Psychology

John Elder, Public Health and Psychology

Elizabeth R. Waters, Associate Professor, Biology

Lisa Kath, Assistant Professor, Psychology

Vera F. Gutierrez-Clellen, Professor, Language and Hearing Sciences

Dale Glaser, Lecturer, Psychology

Thierry Devos, Associated Professor, Psychology

Cheryl L. Mason, Professor, Science Education and Biology

Susan Brasser, Assistant Professor, Psychology

Roland Wolkowicz, Assistant Professor, Biology

Roger Whitney, Professor, Computer Science

David Archibald, Professor, Biology

Saul Oseroff, Professor, Physics