Redefining Faculty Success

Reimagining what we think we know about higher education is the ethos of Beach 2030.  

Our journey through the decade is guided by this mindset, and when it comes to faculty, we aim to question, like everything, our commonly held beliefs about how their work, service, and evaluation ought to be structured.  

To that end, the Beach 2030 Reimagine Faculty action zone team has worked diligently this past year to facilitate the revision of CSULB’s policy governing faculty reappointment, tenure, and promotion. Examining this doctrine and its standards for faculty review was identified as a meaningful project during the Beach 2030 planning process to allow greater autonomy for our scholars.  

The university’s RTP policy establishes the mission and guiding principles, as well as the process, for evaluating faculty members eligible for reappointment, tenure, or promotion. Quality of instruction; research, scholarly and creative activities; and service and engagement on campus, in the community, and in the field of work are all criteria by which this policy prescribes faculty to be evaluated.  

By aligning faculty work, evaluation, and rewards, CSULB educators will feel empowered to engage in interdisciplinary collaborations across campus and strengthen ties to the community in the form of research, teaching, and service. The RTP policy revision, drafted by the Faculty Personnel Policies Council (FPPC),is under review now by the Academic Senate. These two groups, whose current and former leading members have also spearheaded the Reimagine Faculty Action Zone team, drove the efforts behind this work. Science Education Prof. Alan Colburn — who chaired the FPPC — and Former Academic Senate Chair Neil Hultgren helped steer this Action Zone with Engineering Dean Jinny Rhee when Beach 2030 launched at the turn of the decade. Speech-Language Pathology Chair Pei-Fang Hung succeeded Hultgren on the Academic Senate and on the Reimgaine Faculty team, while Library faculty member Leslie Andersen replaced Colburn upon his retirement in May 2023.  

Redefining what it means to be a successful scholar at CSULB is our charge as we chart a bold new path into the future. Cultivating resilience means adopting innovative, forward-looking practices that fortify our university as a leader responsive to the forces of change. Through this process of retooling practices for reassignment, tenure, and promotion, we’re demonstrating our ability to make meaningful adjustments in the face of shifting trends in higher education and work.