She is the 24th chair of the CSU Academic Senate and this will be her second year as Academic Senate chairwoman, the maximum term allowed. Thobaben is the only professor from HSU who has served in this capacity.
This CSU body, made up of more than 59 elected academic senators, represents all 23 campuses of the CSU system. It was originally formed in 1963 to serve as an advisory group to the CSU chancellor, board of trustees, and the state legislature, and makes recommendations regarding education and academic governance.
Thobaben, a nationally-recognized scholar, consultant, and state faculty leader, has worked for more than two decades in various leadership capacities for the university's California Faculty Association and the CFA's Board of Directors and the HSU and CSU Academic Senates. She was also an HSU Scholar of the Year in the 1990s.
The recent election also determined the vice chair, Barry Pasternack, professor of information system and decision sciences at CSU Fullerton; secretary, Marshall Cates, professor of mathematics at CSU Los Angeles; and Members-at-Large, Henry (Hank) Reichman, professor of history at CSU East Bay, and Paul Persons, professor of political science at CSU Chico.