December 5, 2023 Minutes

Council of Department Chairs

In attendance: Curtis Bennett, Krzysztof Slowinski, Barbara Taylor, Jesse Dillon, Lijuan Li, Lora Stevens, Will Murray, Prashanth Jaikumar, Jim Kisiel, Christine Whitcraft, Henry Wu, Margaret Karteron, Lindsay Aymar

  1. Approve agenda (10:00) – Approved
  2. Approve minutes from November 28 – Approved as amended
  3. Announcements
    1. Budget
      1. CFA and Teamsters have not reached agreements
      2. Financial assessment
        1. Based on a preliminary look we appear to have too much money because we didn't receive any cuts
        2. Spreadsheets gave been updated to reflect CPACE money and communication costs (148K back)
        3. We still need to spend $1.25 mil early in the year
        4. Asking for proposals – Dr. Taylor can add more structure around proposal request
          1. Proposals cannot take 24 months to deliver
          2. Money can be used for equipment
          3. Tax needs to be included in proposal
      3. Spring expenditures should be the same as Fall
        1. More money may be available once Henry has the Spring hiring list
        2. Let Henry know if you’re not going to have a bunch of TA/GA/ISA's – need a list of current estimates
      4. As of December 5 – still have 500k have not submitted requisition
      5. Purchasing
        1. New decision that if anyone has been using a vendor for 5 years, on the 6th year you need a whole new process and review
        2. Purchasing needs a full requisition – effective retroactively
        3. IRA funding is already updated in spreadsheets
    2. Operations 
      1. End of semester party is Friday December 8 from 2pm-4pm on MLSC patio
        1. Seating for 40-60 people
        2. Not all volunteers and donors can be invited due to volume
        3. We're inviting "friends of the college" or "friends of the department"
        4. Faculty and chairs need to get their guest list to Margaret
        5. Several Emeriti will be there
      2. RTP in progress
      3. Sabbatical applications are being processed with recommendations being sent to Dean’s Office on Monday 12/11
      4. Nominations for commencement awards will be near the beginning of the Spring semester
      5. Committees for RSCA and mini grants will be collapsed into one committee beginning 2024-25.
      6. Dr. Taylor and one other person will review applications from committee members.
    3. Dean
      1. CPaCE expansion is a presidential priority
        1. Each college given goals to get to a net for CSULB of 10K students into CPaCE
        2. CNSM goal is 800 broken up into two groups – we expect that number to be reduced
        3. 480 in a degree completion program/320 in a non-degree completion program
        4. Science Ed is talking about micro credentials.
        5. Other small-scale programs could be safety or equipment credentials
        6. Dean's retreat in January will discuss how to reach the assigned goal – send any ideas to Dean's Office
        7. Academic senate is considering certificate, micro-credential, and digital badge policies
        8. May be able to give faculty additional employment to participate in these programs
        9. If this goes through the usual curricular process it will take 3 years
      2. Dean's Council
        1. CSU's are in trouble financially
        2. Government funded compensation never came through
        3. CSU's will be given enrollment targets next week
        4. Enrollment needs to increase each of the next 5 years
        5. CSULB is doing better than others in the system, but not forever (about 1.5 mil under what we were hoping to get)
      3. New chancellor reception
        1. LB College Promise, expansion of EOP programs are going to be big priorities
        2. Chairs + AD's dinner will be in January instead of December (or February)
  4. Associate Deans
    1. Academic Programs - N/A
    2. Research
      1. KURE Summer Bridge Program
        1. Considering having a 6-week program – focus on Environmental Toxins (once we have nuts and bolts worked out with pilot, we can extend into other disciplines)
        2. Ideally will target up to 24 participants (will depend on what room is available)
          1. High school students/incoming freshmen/transfer students
        3. With a 2-week hiatus in the beginning of July
          1. High school students will only be for the second half of it
          2. Freshman/transfers can come in the beginning (and leave whenever they want)
        4. Goal is to gain authentic research experiences and have student success workshops (for professional development)
          1. We want transfers to have the secondary option
          2. After they complete the first week, they can move into a faculty lab for research experience
      2. Feedback
        1. Are we going to be able to get the extra 20+ faculty who want to take transfers into their labs
        2. KURE has money to pay everyone (faculty and participants) – hired through foundation
          1. #1 priority is paying the transfer students working in a lab (starting $16/hour)
          2. Grad students will provide TA and teaching prep work
        3. How will we recruit into this?
          1. Community college connections can be invited to check out the program
          2. From the list of admitted students
          3. Giving incoming freshman credit over summer is logistically difficult (due to gaining credits outside of financial aid packaging)
          4. Will send out a mass email (last week of January/First week of February)
          5. We will need a website by then (can we get a link in YouVisit?)
          6. For high school students, we can send out information to high school science teachers
          7. Early sign up will be important due to limited space
    3. Graduate Programs - N/A
  5. Adjournment (11:00am)

Upcoming Dates

  • December 8: End of semester party
  • December 11: Last day of classes (MONDAY)
  • December 12-18: Final Examinations (last finals are on a MONDAY)
  • December 22: Last Day of Fall Semester
  • January 2: Winter Session starts
  • January 19: Winter Session ends
  • January 22: First Day of Classes & Beach Scholarships Open
  • March 29: Mini Review Due from Departments
  • February 5: Due date for Mini's & ETF's
  • February or March ??: CSULB Student Research Competition
  • March 12: Beach Scholarship Applications Close
  • March 23: Math Day at the Beach
  • April 13: Day at the Beach (for Admitted Students)
  • April 1-7: Spring Recess
  • April 1: Cesar Chavez Day Observed
  • April 2: FAFSA Deadline (Altered timeline this year only due to "late" change of federal process)
  • May 10: Last Day of Classes (FRIDAY)
  • May 23: Graduation @ Angel Stadium 9:00am

Meeting minutes were APPROVED Tuesday, January 16, 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.