February 2, 2021 Minutes

Council of Department Chairs

In attendance: Curtis Bennett, Barbara Taylor, Margaret Karteron, Chris Brazier, Andreas Bill, Babette Benken, Christine Whitcraft, Lisa Martin, Dessie Underwood, Rick Behl, Kris Slowinski, Will Murray, Henry Wu, 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 (10:00)
  2. Approve minutes from Jan. 26
  3. Announcements
    1. ASM
      1. SEF Funds
        1. Start spending SEF money that has been planned.
        2. Start thinking about next year’s SEF funds.
      2. A lot of Departmental Admins have been working from home off of their own computers; consider getting them college/department laptops.
    2. Operations Update
      1. Due Dates
        1. Range Elevation Committee deadline is February 8, 2021.
        2. Need Names for Review Committees for Lecturers
          1. Deadline is February 8, 2021.
        3. Need Names for ETF Committees
          1. Deadline is February 8, 2021.
        4. First-year faculty submitted or completed for Dean’s Review.
          1. Signed PDP is required.
            1. PDP is prospective, not retrospective.
          2. Deadline is February 12, 2021.
        5. Need Volunteers for the Scholarship Committee.
        6. CEPC
          1. Need a replacement member.
          2. Modifying the GE Policy given the Ethnic Studies requirement.
            1. Suggestion was to put Ethnic Studies into the D Category and move social sciences into the C category.
            2. Another suggestion was to modify the D Category so that the social sciences were only upper division
            3. Babette will follow up with an email; send any comments or concerns to Babette.
    3. Dean’s Report
      1. Provost Tenure-Track Request documents will go out soon.
      2. Ongoing concerns about academic honesty.
        1. Academic Senate just revised the wording on this policy.
      3. Reminder: Dr. Nicole Joseph anti-racism workshop on Friday, February 5, 2021 at 2:00 pm.
      4. Reminder: Math Colloquium, Friday, February 5, 2021 at 12:00 pm.
    4. Academic Senate
      1. Awards program made significant progress.
      2. Sub-Council Update
        1. Modifying the GE Policy given the Ethnic Studies Requirement
  4. Associate Deans
    1. Academic Programs
      1. CNSM Showcase (2nd Week of April) (Valerie Bagley, Time Certain: 10:30)
        1. Proven to be a successful event; helped the college meet all set goals.
        2. Proposed Date: Week of April 15, 2021.
          1. Gives us more time to get an accurate picture of Fall semester and to potentially develop a website that has all necessary resources.
        3. Tanya Piloyan and Valerie Bagley will be running the event this year.
        4. Reusing recent recordings of info sessions as asynchronous learning.
        5. Valerie will send document of available recordings for review.
          1. Please view available recordings and provide any feedback to Valerie and Kris (i.e. is the information in the available videos satisfactory as a first introduction to students)
        6. Will follow up with an email.
      2. Formative Feedback for Faculty
        1. New tool developed
        2. Video was sent in CDC Teams channel. Watch the video for discussion in next week’s Student Success Meeting.
    2. Research
      1. Pulling together appropriate funds to replace the argon laser and the confocal microscope.
  5. Commencement
    1. Awards
      1. Graduate Dean’s List Announcement is pending.
      2. Outstanding Thesis Award
      3. Outstanding Baccalaureate per Department
      4. Departmental Honors for Baccalaureate Masters Students
    2. College Involvement in Ceremony
      1. Two people on the platform: either the Provost and the Dean or the President and the Dean.
      2. Two drive-thru CNSM commencement ceremonies on Friday, May 21, 2021.
      3. Send Margaret ideas as to how we can involve other faculty/department chairs in the ceremonies (e.g. department chairs socially distant along the car line).
  6. Tenure-Track Requests
    1. The Dean forwarded an email from the Provost regarding Tenure-Track searches.
      1. Includes Tenure-Track Search Authorization Request form.
        1. Items prioritize diversity and Beach 2030 goals.
      2. Departments reply to the Dean by March 1, 2021.
      3. Would like to share applications between departments to encourage discussion before final submission to the Provost.
      4. Discussion Items:
        1. Environmental Science & Policy aligns with Beach 2030 goals.
        2. Joint hires between departments.
        3. Possible creation of a data science area.
      5. Send priorities and ideas to the Dean so that he can compile a longer list by Monday, February 8, 2021.
  7. New Business
    1. CNSM thoughts on Fall 2021 repopulation plan have been submitted.
      1. Consider what repopulation plan means for support systems (e.g. would department offices be open and how would we keep staff, faculty, and students safe?)

 

 

Upcoming Dates:
Feb. 1 – Applications due for Student Research Competition
Feb. 5 – Nicole Joseph Anti-Racism Workshop
Mar. 11 – Graduate Research Fellowship Deadline
Mar. 15 – Last day for Scholarship Applications
Mar. 19 – 9am-1pm ORSP Virtual Student Research Competition
Apr. 5-9 – CSULB Week of RSCA
Apr. 15 – Nobel Prize Lecture
May 18-21 – Hybrid drive-thru commencement

Meeting Minutes were APPROVED on Tuesday, February 16, 2021

*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.