Dr. Paul Oliaro, Vice President for Student Affairs

Dear Parents,

As you know, this is a very difficult time for the State of California and for the CSU. We face unprecedented reductions in our state allocation and have been forced to take drastic measures to continue to provide quality education to our students. Those measures have including increasing the University fee by a total of $978.00 for the 2009-10 academic year.  In addition, virtually every faculty and staff member on campus will be on furlough 2 days a month for the entire fiscal year - a 10% reduction in their salary for this coming year.  In addition, we will still have to eliminate some positions, not fill vacancies that occur, and continue to reduce our routine operating expenses wherever possible.

We realize that many of you are experiencing similar conditions in your place of employment. On a positive note, I believe that our staff and faculty are managing these reductions and these changes with professionalism and a sense of collaboration and coopration.  We are committed to providing the highest quality of instruction and services to students within the reduced time and resources that are available. We will have to do less with less, but we will work hard to maintain core services, quality instruction and maintain a safe and supportive campus environment.

I realize during periods such as this, clear and frequent communication is important. I conducted an open forum on the budget for our Division in March and again in July after the Trustees’ decision to raise fees again.  On the Student Affairs website, there is a budget update that outlines the effect of the budget reduction on our Division.  I will continue to communicate with the Parents Association through your new “Parents Blog” and will continue to keep our Division and our students updated as new information becomes available.

We will get through this and we will work together as a Division to maintain our reputation for helping students to succeed.  More than ever, we need your help as supportive parents with your daughters and sons. We will also benefit from your generosity by using funds from the Parents’ Annual Fund to supplement projects and programs that have been reduced due to budget reductions. As always, I thank you for being such an active part of our Fresno State family.  We do look forward to the coming year knowing that we will do our very best to make this year a very positive experience for our students. We will also look forward to seeing many of you at our Parent’s Welcome Night on September 9th.

See you there! Go Dogs!

Paul M. Oliaro
Vice President for Student Affairs