April 16, 2024 Minutes

Council of Department Chairs

In attendance: Curtis Bennett, Krzysztof Slowinski, Barbara Taylor (11:00am), Jesse Dillon, Lijuan Li, Lora Stevens, Will Murray, Prashanth Jaikumar, Jim Kisiel, Christine Whitcraft, Babette Benken, Henry Wu, Christina Hall, Margaret Karteron, Lindsay Aymar, Tatiana Avila, Bryan Jackson (11:00am), Daniel Ames (11:00am), Andrej Bosanac (11:00am), Muhammad Damanhuri (11:00am), Thuy Nguyen (11:00am)

  1. Approve agenda (10:00) - Approved 
  2. Approve minutes from April 9 - Approved as amended
  3. Announcements
    1. Budget
      1. No budget announcements
      2. Equity and diversity notifications out to all chairs
    2. Operations
      1. Commencement
        1. Chairs opting not to announce departments
        2. Dean and department chairs will greet their students as they come across the stage
        3. Not hooding at commencement
      2. RTP
        1. Science Ed will not have a member on the committee next year
        2. Margaret Karteron to send call out this afternoon for 1-year member
      3. RSCA and Faculty Small Grants: New this year - Academic Affairs designated funding amounts per category of award.
    3. Dean
      1. Budget
        1. Not great, but CSU to move money to more impacted campuses (ours)
      2. Continuity Planning
        1. Academic Affairs handout* figuring out continuity and communications plans (disaster planning)
      3. The university wants to expand the BA in integrative studies (BAIS) through CPACE
        1. Degree completion option (investigating how to satisfy CPACE enrollment needs)
        2. Consider stackable credentials for students returning after many years
      4. Buyout Rates - the university is investigating increasing the internal buyout ("vacant") rate from $4,650
        1. The internal buyout rate hasn't changed in 15 years
        2. The current policy disincentivizes inter-college collaboration on grants as grant buyout (at full faculty rate) goes to the college of the PI, but the college of the faculty being bought out only gets the internal buyout rate. For grants, the internal rate will definitely change.
        3. Discussions are continuing over what the new internal rate will be.
      5. Laureate Speaker update
        1. April 23 - Moved to Zoom
  4. Associate Deans
    1. Academic Programs
      1. Showcase went well - going forward will either stay inside or move to Nagel so access to electricity is maintained
        1. Send Henry Wu names of participants who need to get paid
    2. Research
      1. No updates
    3. Graduate Programs
      1. Thesis Award
        1. Looking into adjusting submission process to match thesis deadlines better - with the current policy, some Spring graduates who meet the thesis deadline do not meet the thesis award deadline (and are therefore ineligible)
  5. Minimum Teaching Load Policy
    1. College council made one change - approved by CDC
  6. Multi-disciplinary Science Degree
    1. Core classes moved into explorations
    2. Roadmaps created for pre-recs and their impacts on pathways (i.e., one for teaching, 1 for Biotech marketing, etc.)
    3. People with a general understanding of science are more employable
    4. Jim Kisiel to send information to Kris Slowinski – will be looking for feedback from the curriculum committee
  7. Summer CDC retreat date
    1. Likely August 12 and/or 13, 9:00am-5:00pm
    2. Subject to change due to availability 
  8. Teams Calling – (Time Certain 11:00am) Bryon Jackson
    1. Teams Voice demo/Q&A
    2. Several colleges and departments have already migrated
    3. 3 services
      1. User service
      2. Call Queues
      3. Common Area Phones - will be migrated at the same time (those will be a physical instrument)
    4. Can dial either typing number, extension, or name - contacts are attached to directory not number
    5. Call history and voicemail built it - voicemail can come through email
    6. Can have on cell phone - multiple forwarding options
  9. Adjournment - 11:56am

Upcoming Dates

  • April 23: Laureate Lecture (9:30am-10:30am, 3:00pm-4:00pm). Dr. Daniel Kastner (Chemistry)
  • May 10: Last Day of Classes (Friday)
  • May 23: Graduation @ Angel Stadium (9:00am)
  • July 20: Sharks @ the Beach and Science in the Halls
  • August 19: Fall semester begins
  • August 23: Convocation
  • August 26: First day of Fall 2024 classes

Meeting minutes were APPROVED Tuesday, April 30, 2024.

Note: The minutes above reflect 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.