March 20, 2018 Minutes

Council of Department Chairs

Present: C. Bennett, K. Slowinski, B. Taylor, H. Wu, M. Karteron, M. Horton, B. Livingston, C. Brazier, R. Behl, T. Gao, A. Bill, L. Martin-Hansen, B. Benken

  1. Agenda: Approved.
  2. Minutes: Meeting minutes for Tuesday, 3/13/2018, were approved with changes
  3. Announcements
    1. Staff at faculty meetings, etc.: Per Staff HR – Staff is not included in departmental faculty meeting unless specifically needed (i.e., taking minutes or informational).
    2. Tenure line positions update: Academic Affairs will announce next year’s tenure track positions for hiring following the May budget revise. University-wide hiring will be low, expect 0-12. CNSM will present requests for TT hires with impact. Departments are to prepare their requests with a 5-year plan in mind.
    3. No CDC meeting next week, March 27, 2018.
    4. March Pay Day: 3/30/2018 – Campus is closed for Cesar Chavez Holiday. Pay warrants will be available between 10:00 a.m. and Noon at Payroll Services in BH-344 by request only. Those who are not on direct deposit and wish to get their pay warrant on 3/30/2018 must submit a request in advance via the
    5. "Employee Center" chiclet available through Single Sign On.
    6. Department Updates: Chemistry – The candidate has verbally accepted the Biochemistry TT position with a start date of January 2019.
  4. Associate Dean Announcements
    1. Undergraduate Reports – K. Slowinski:
      1. Advising Updates
        1. Early Alerts were sent to 600 students failing one or more CNSM classes. Note: many are not CNSM majors. Interventions recommended: mentoring and tutoring.
        2. Those on Probation are being moved from CNSM pre-majors to undeclared due to impaction. Students need to petition to stay in the major. Associate Dean Slowinski will review these petitions.
        3. Declaration requirements
      2. Summer Advising & SOAR – SOAR for transfers will be 7/11/18. CSULB incoming transfers will be 4400. COE will have 380; CNSM will have 250. Tim Kaliomaa has prepared a transfer action plan; feedback is requested, verify appropriate actions by students.
      3. NSCI 190A – Valerie has made some revisions. Currently recruiting for fall instructors. Contact Associate Dean Slowinksi.
    2. Research – B. Taylor: Participating in reviews for ORSP internal awards (disciplinary and multidisciplinary), Student Summer Research Awards, and University Academic Achievement (UAA) awards. Notes that the UAA awards has a small pool of applicants. This year, there was only one applicant from the entire university for the two Outstanding Undergraduate Research awards. CNSM needs more attention to faculty and student applications for awards.
    3. Graduate Director
      1. Docusign for thesis approval is beginning piloted implementation Summer 2018. Fully in effect for entire university community Spring 2019.
      2. Thesis submission deadlines beginning Fall 2018 have been moved two weeks later. Those theses submitted by the deadline and having struggles with the library formatting rules will be allowed to have these changes admitted late without changing the graduation date. This change will prevent an added GS 700 registration.
      3. Proquest does not have a word limit for abstracts, but CSULB enforces a 150 word limit.
      4. Projects will soon be optional for library review. Those projects submitted for library review will be put on Proquest and will have to meet format requirements.
  5. Faculty/Student Travel
    1. Reimbursement Timeliness: Travel requests have more recently been submitted without adequate time for approvals. For FY 1819, allow at least a week's notice for travel authorization.
    2. General Funding: Associate Dean Taylor will draft a Travel Worksheet for 2018-19 to provide equity of access for funds that are to be allocated. Discussion lead by the Dean: Priority is to fund mission critical travel:
      1. Probationary Faculty are always mission critical.
      2. Senior faculty at times have no funding for travel.
  6. New Business (None).
  7. Adjourn: Meeting adjourned at 11:15 a.m.

Respectfully submitted by Margaret Karteron, Operations Officer.

Meeting Minutes approved on: 4/24/2018.