July 7, 2020 Minutes

Council of Department Chairs

NOTE: These minutes reflect discussions that happened on the date of these minutes. Due to the COVID-19 situation, things are rapidly changing. For offical policy, please wait for documents from the appropriate offices. 

Attendees (7/7/20): Curtis Bennett, Barbara Taylor, Tangan Gao, Chris Brazier, Andreas Bill, Babette Benken, Christine Whitcraft, Dessie Underwood, Lisa Martin, Margaret Karteron, Rick Behl, Kris Slowinski, Will Murray (invitee, incoming Chair), Henry Wu, Maryanne Horton.

  1. Approved agenda
  2. Approve minutes from June 16.
  3. Announcements
    1. Operations
      1. Part-time lecturer positions are being posted on the college web page.
      2. Margaret will be sending out draft of GA/TA announcements for approval; these will also be posted on the college web page once approved.
    2. ASM update
      1. Summer Payments
        1. Professional development and CARES money payments were discussed.
      2. GA/TA contracts
        1. Will send out all contracts electronically.
        2. Process is a little cumbersome – Henry will need help from Department Coordinator to modify documents and send out.
        3. Currently no change to TA/GA signing process. The federal government has typically been issuing a 1-month exemption for the sign-in rule only a day or two before the last exemption expires.  We are not sure if they will do this again in the middle of July.  If they do, then it would be good to process TA/GA sign ins before August 15 if possible.  (May have changed by the time these are read).
        4. Recommendations don’t need to be submitted to Faculty Affairs any more – but you must keep a copy for your own records in case you get audited.
        5. COVID-19 survey email subject lines have changed to include either “Under SHS Review” or “Cleared to Work”; Faculty need to make sure if the subject line says under review that the student doesn’t come in.
      3. GA/TA contracts
        1. Will send out all contracts electronically.
        2. Process is a little cumbersome – Henry will need help from Department Coordinator to modify documents and send out.
        3. No change to TA/GA signing process.
        4. Recommendations don’t need to be submitted to Faculty Affairs any more – but do keep a copy for your own records in case you get audited.
        5. COVID-19 survey email subject lines have changed to include either “Under SHS Review” or “Cleared to Work”; Faculty need to make sure if the subject line says under review that the student doesn’t come in.
    3. Dean’s report
      1. Repopulation
        1. Room/Building Shut down policy.
          1. If a student has tested positive, that room will be shut down for 4-5 hours.
          2. If any building has 3 positive cases (a “cluster” as defined by the department of public health) associated with it over a 14-day period, then the entire building gets shut down for 3-5 days.
          3. At current COVID-19 test case numbers, we can have 60 people in a building over a 14-day period before we are likely to encounter a positive case.
          4. This is still under discussion.
      2. Travel
        1. International Travel – presidential approval required
          1. All international travel is considered high risk according to the state department
          2. Unlikely to get insurance for international travel, thus unlikely the president will sign off.
      3. Coming to campus
        1. If someone needs to come to campus regularly/frequently, we can get this approved by the dean once and then the chair can approve it after that.
        2. Keep in mind the 60 person issue mentioned in the above C1a.
      4. ICE regulations
        1. Campus is coming up with ideas.
        2. Hybrid classes – 697, 698, 296, etc.
        3. Be patient; don’t make hasty decisions; something will be distributed at the university level soon.
      5. Unions given notice
        1. The unions were notified that the CSU is considering furloughs and/or layoffs.
          1. CSU EU and APC have contacted their employees – unsure of other unions.
        2. This is still under negotiation between the CSU and the unions.
  4. Course contingency planning: Hybrid courses
    1. For hybrid courses, the syllabus needs to include what happens in the following situations:
      1. Student and Professor Quarantine
        1. What will happen if a single student is quarantined and what safeguards will be in place so that quarantine will have a minimal effect on their course grade
        2. What will happen if the entire class is quarantined.
        3. What will happen if the professor is quarantined.
      2. Room/Building closure
        1. As mentioned in 3C1)a) above, in a situation with 3 cases of Covid-19 in a building over a 14 day period, current campus policy will cause the given building to be shut down for 3-5 days.  Given the number of people who will be in our buildings, every course should expect for the  building it is in to be shut down for a week at least once during the semester.  Faculty are asked to plan in advance for this and to include this planning in their syllabus.
      3. Accommodations for students who cannot come to class (high risk)
        1. Please remember that this is an ADA issue.
        2. How can you meet the technological needs of your students.
      4. What will happen should the campus need to move to all virtual education for any portion of the semester.
    2. Departments are asked to begin thinking about the possibility of a primarily alternative mode of teaching Spring semester.
      1. Currently this is hypothetical, but other universities have already announced doing so.
      2. The decision to go virtual for spring term could happen at the last minute. It’s best to be prepared ahead of time.
  5. Research Recovery Redux
    1. Numbers based on building shut down policy
      1. Trying to focus on the idea that random chance will not shut down our building.
      2. Try to keep the numbers low enough to avoid a random shut down at 3%.
      3. We need to look at the number of people and labs we were planning to have on campus/in our buildings – it will likely turn out to be far fewer than what we were getting before the latest uptick in cases.
      4. If the current case load drops, then we can adjust those numbers to be higher.
      5. This is still under discussion.
      6. Please send thoughts on this to the dean and Barbara Taylor.
    2. Prioritization – No notes
  6. Associate Deans
    1. Academic Programs
      1. Fall Schedule, waitlists, and transfer needs
        1. Students cannot waitlist for more than one course.
        2. Faculty can adjust course sizes to accommodate more students (waitlisted courses).
        3. Will return to this discussion at the next CDC.
      2. Fall research symposium ideas (discussion)
        1. Concerns about faculty involvement over the summer hindering our ability to conduct symposium
        2. Fall symposium canceled and moved to the Spring.
      3. Updates on SOAR
        1. Freshman – 3 June days
          1. 145 registered for SOAR; 136 enrolled.
        2. Transfer – First day (7/6)
          1. 193 scheduled; 154 enrolled by EOD
          2. For 7/13 & 7/14, we have 383 total.
      4. NSCI 190A modules (discussion)
        1. Learn, Prepare, Explore, Engage, Succeed
          1. Learn
            1. How courses are designed, syllabus, what to do when…
            2. Metacognition
            3. Learning styles and strategies, test-taking strategies
            4. Learning online
          2. Prepare
            1. High school vs. college – how to transition successfully
            2. College finances 101
            3. Time management
          3. Explore
            1. Degree plan and academic advising
            2. Academic departments
            3. Undergraduate student opportunities
            4. Major exploration (MyMajors workshop)
            5. Careers in STEM
          4. Engage
            1. Belonging intervention via PERTS
            2. Clubs and campus resources
            3. Safe space
          5. Succeed
            1. Growth mindset via PERTS
            2. Growth mindset – learn more (growth. Mindset on steroids)
            3. Soft skills: collaboration, critical thinking, communication, creativity
            4. OChem success
            5. Gen Chem success
        2. Short modules or experiences (webinars, activities, etc.) to be chosen from the “main themes” (3-4 would be required, structure to be finalized by 7/10) with “mini-clusters” around specific courses (in addition to current learning communities), may use survey to recommend specific modules, PMs will be used as graders for short assignments, the “main themes” (early draft).
        3. Looking for feedback from chairs and faculty suggestions.
        4. Kris will seek feedback from faculty soon; possibly this week.
    2. Graduate
      1. Deferring admissions
        1. Babette sent out information to chairs and grad advisors.
        2. If a request is made, it will go to the grad advisor who will then work with Enrollment Services.
        3. Enrollment Services will immediately defer the student to the next admission cycle unless you tell them otherwise.
        4. International student concerns.
      2. 697/698
        1. Reminders:
          1. 698:
            1. Students are supposed to be advanced before they officially begin enrollment in 698.
            2. Faculty don’t understand that assigning a grade of “C” means the student does not get credit. They must get an “A” or a “B” in order to get the credits.
          2. Potential use of CARES funds for faculty to create sections in 697 & 698 to students to catch up in winter and summer. This might speed up time to degree for some students. This is still under discussion.
      3. Thesis defenses
        1. All defenses are required to be virtual.
        2. Virtual thesis defense seems to be working really well; we should consider this method even after returning to face-to-face instruction.
      4. TA training
        1. Think carefully about TA training that is beyond professional development.
        2. We have potentially more money to pay them and thus can increase hours.
        3. CARES funds; TA participation money
        4. New TAs for the upcoming fall, can be paid for summer PD and Training, but payment will not be processed until after August 17.
        5. If you are hiring TA/GA as a regular hire, this will come from your regular instruction budget. If you want them to do anything outside of instruction, they are usually listed as student assistants. Scope of duties determine title and payment.
        6. Before the semester begins they have 40 hours; once the semester begins they have 20 hours.
        7. You cannot have a person hired as GA/TA/ISA at the same time.
      5. Mentoring Policy
        1. Deferred until next CDC Meeting
  7. Adjourned.

Upcoming Dates:

N/A

Submitted by Allie Puz (Communications & PR Coordinator, CNSM)

Meeting Minutes were APPROVED on Tuesday, July 21, 2020

*Note: This reflects discussion on the date of the CDC meeting about policies, not actual policy. Faculty and staff should wait for official communication on each subject before acting.