November 3, 2020 Minutes

Council of Department Chairs

In attendance: Curtis Bennett, Barbara Taylor, Chris Brazier, Andreas Bill, Babette Benken, Christine Whitcraft, Lisa Martin, Margaret Karteron, Dessie Underwood, Rick Behl, Kris Slowinski, Will Murray, Henry Wu, Maryanne Horton, Allie Puz.

NOTE: THESE MINUTES REFLECT DISCUSSIONS THAT HAPPENED ON THE DATE OF THESE MINUTES.  DUE TO THE COVID-19 SITUATION, THINGS ARE RAPIDLY CHANGING.  FOR OFFICIAL POLICY PLEASE WAIT FOR DOCUMENTS FROM THE APPROPRIATE OFFICES.

  1. Approve agenda (10:30)
  2. Approve minutes from Oct. 20; approved as amended.
  3. Announcements
    1. ASM
      1. All stipends and leader payments have been submitted for processing for our college.
      2. Need all department CARES forms. Will process later this month.
        1. Try to use CARES money earmarked for technology by December.
      3. Review monthly spreadsheet that Henry sends under tab “GF400” for budget and spending.
    2. Operations
      1. College Council Update
        1. Elections Committee is using Qualtrics for balloting.
        2. May require a change to the constitution.
    3. Academic Senate
      1. The policy for hiring TAs and GAs.
        1. Upcoming discussion: Amendment to differentiate instructional student assistants from graduate assistants.
    4. CEP Council
      1. Grading Policy
        1. Adding “+” and “-“ to grades.
          1. A+ effects on GPA?
          2. Will the “-“ count as toward the minimum letter grade requirement (Ex: Does a B- count as a B for catalog grade requirements).
        2. Bringing in “+” and “-“ presents logistical difficulty at the enrollment management level.
        3. Prefer to make these changes after the pandemic has resolved.
        4. Requests for more information from other CSUs that currently use “+” and “-“.
    5. Dean’s report
      1. Research Labs
        1. We have increased density to 12 per floor wing.
        2. No weekend access to labs apart from essential exceptions.
          1. Evaluated on a case-by-case basis
        3. Over winter break, people can work except for holidays and weekends.
      2. Building Approvals
        1. Chairs cannot give approvals for those not already on an approved list.
        2. Approvals must come from one of the Associate Deans, the Dean, or the ASM.
      3. WSCUC Update
        1. Report came back very positively.
    6. Academic Programs
      1. Lecturer Evaluations and Range Elevations Updates
        1. 25 cumulative 6Y or 3Y.
        2. Total of 74 required.
        3. 48 optional.
        4. Process / deadlines (Faculty Affairs): /academic-affairs/faculty-affairs/lecturer-evaluation-process (new forms will be available later)
        5. CNSM lecturer evaluations policy: /sites/default/files/groups/college-of-natural-sciences-and-mathematics/docs/cnsm_lecturer_eval_policy_ay_20-21.pdf
        6. SPOT ratings for S’20 are not required
      2. Winter and Summer Advising Compensation
        1. Advising of incoming transfer students (summer/winter)
        2. Advising of Continuing Students
          1. Discussed  compensation for summer and winter advising of incoming transfer students and  those continuing students who must modify their schedules for the next semester (D/F grades, changes in degree objective, etc, departments will establish guidelines based on needs, suggest 10% of the total cohort)
          2. Funding sources: academic departments
          3. All advising records must be entered in EAB
      3. Enrollment Management (Time Certain, Vanessa Hernandez: 11:15)
        1. Start of the Semester Enrollment Management
          1. Based on new guidelines from ES Department/Instructor consent can not be added to sections unless it is enforced in the catalog prerequisites. 
          2. Departments should be able to control or restrict enrollment through requisite enforcement and reserve seat capacity coding.
          3. PeopleSoft has its own limitations and there are situations where the prerequisites are not codable and may need consent to restrict enrollment.
          4. If any change needs to be made to the consent information in the course catalog, this is done via the curriculum process.
          5. Email concerns about this policy to Kris and Vanessa
          6. Further discussions and exceptions to this new rule will be discussed with ES.
        2. Closed Sections
          1. We need a list of courses that must be blocked in the first or second week of classes and why they need to be blocked. 
          2. May consider adding “Department/Instructor Consent” to our catalog in the next curriculum cycle (Fall 2022).
          3. Need to separately consider multiple component courses SEM/LEC with lab/activities
      4. Student Support Coaches – Request for Spring 2021
        1. Would like to continue this program in the spring semester but do not want to pay for grading; prefer to pay for interactions with other students.
        2. Email Kris with preliminary suggestions by next week about the number of courses and the number of hours we can expect in the Spring.
    7. Research
      1. Reminder: Chairs received an email about Edison funding through the Chancellor’s office
        1. Call for applications to send to the Provost (Faculty must write the application).
          1. Forward application process to select few who might be interested.
          2. Faculty should send nominations to Chairs.
          3. Top ranked 1 from each department due to Barbara and the Dean by December 4.
  4. Other Business – N/A

 

Upcoming Dates:
Nov. 6, 20 – CO grant writing workshop
Mar. 19 – 9am-1pm ORSP Virtual Research Competition
Apr. 5-9 – CSULB Week of RSCA
Apr. 9(?) – Nobel Prize Lecture

 

 

 


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

 

Meeting Minutes were APPROVED on Tuesday, November 17, 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.