Fresno State Foundation board to include faculty members. What will that look like?

The Fresno State Foundation, a nonprofit that manages $315 million in grants and donations for the university, is the only nonprofit auxiliary in the California State University system that has managed philanthropic and research activity, even though its board members, stacked with community members, lacks experience in research grant and contract administration and academic affairs.

The board has included the university president as an ex-officio member, but no other university administrators, no deans from any of the university’s eight schools or colleges, and no faculty.

That will end, with the board voting last week to include university representation to comply with state regulations and recommendations from a highly-critical advisory review of Foundation governance and operations by the CSU chancellor’s office.

But what will that look like, with a Foundation board that bears little resemblance to other nonprofit auxiliaries in the CSU that administer research activity?

Raymond Hall, chair of the Fresno State Academic Senate, said faculty on campus will see representation on the board as progress, and a long time coming. “I’m overall pleased with this step forward,” he said, in an email to The Bee.

Hall noted the university last year reorganizing its Division of Research and Graduate Studies into independent units. The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs is tasked with research support including grant writing and application, and infrastructure.

“On the front end we have the faculty involvement that is crucial, and now with representation on (the Foundation board) faculty can connect both ends — which was missing,” Hall said.

Christopher Morse, who was elected chair of the embattled Foundation 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.

The 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.

There also is an argument for greater representation.

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.

“We’re talking about grant money,” Jones said. “We’re 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’t think there was one person that was a faculty member on it, speaks to its problems.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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’s sponsored programs.

“Adequate university representation within the Foundation’s board of governors, including appropriate academic representation, provides critical insight and accountability, enhancing oversight of the auxiliary’s key functions by ensuring decisions are informed by academic expertise and aligned with the university’s mission,” the report states.

“Further, adequate board composition strengthens stakeholder confidence in the management of the auxiliary’s operations and builds trust between the auxiliary and the university community. “