The Department of Journalism's faculty had its second annual retreat on Sept. 05, 2008. That was a great way of starting another academic year. On that sunny, warm, Friday, full time and part time professors came together from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. to discuss some of the issues that will be at the top of the agenda for the department in 2008-2009.
We spent quite some time discussing how best to advise our students. We're trying to unify and be consistent with our advising, collecting all advising and informational documents, and making sure all faculty are giving out the same information and forms to students. We're also publicizing our advising efforts through Beachboard and Facebook, which have provided the department with great forums to reach students.
Also on the retreat's agenda: our accreditation efforts and the internal assessment. After last January's retreat, the department has made great progress on accreditation. Faculty have devised a plan and pathway toward accreditation, and divided up the work among full time faculty and lecturers.
Next Spring, Journalism will also go through an internal assessment process. This CSULB-defined project will evaluate how well the department is doing in areas such as advising, curriculum, diversity, resources, and faculty scholarship. CSULB has approved our plan to use ACEJMC's nine accreditation standards as our blueprint for our own internal assessment and self-study report.
At the retreat, we also discussed Beachboard and technology, as well as our Beacy Byline magazine and efforts to connect with our alumni. During lunch, all permanent and adjunct faculty came together on a "social hour", which gave us the opportunity of interacting and socialize out of a classroom environment.
Raul Reis
Click here for a pdf version of our Retreat Agenda.
