November 28, 2023 Minutes

Council of Department Chairs

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

  1. Approve agenda (10:00) – Approved
  2. Approve minutes from November 7 – Approved
  3. Announcements
    1. Budget
      1. Still need to spend some CE money for the academic year or we will have too much carry-over
        1. All money gets counted (RS/49er)
        2. Target rollover for all of your money is 3%
        3. Any questions on budget document should go to Henry Wu
        4. Already received the Division money we normally don't get until Spring
      2. All unions except CFA and Teamsters have reached tentative agreements
        1. Final finding should be announced December 1
      3. Staff recruitment
        1. Starting mandatory training for members of search committees (effective February 1)
      4. There will be a financial assessment Friday 12/8
      5. Spring '24 hiring
        1. Start sending information to Henry Wu so he can print contracts ASAP after the New Year
        2. Notify Henry if you have any new lecturers
    2. Operations 
      1. Mini Reviews
        1. Department deadline in Interfolio is March 29
        2. Let Margaret know if you need deadline adjustments
      2. Pretty Darn Good Professor Award Winners
        1. Dr. Young-Seok Shon (Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry)
        2. Dr. Michael Peterson (Department of Physics and Astronomy)
      3. Pretty Darn Good Lecturer Award Winners
        1. Dr. Benjamin Perlman (Department of Biological Sciences)
        2. Dr. Hosun Choo (Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry)
        3. Mr. Diego Gutierrez (Department of Physics and Astronomy)
      4. Upcoming change in RTP policy for next year
        1. Putting forward to eliminate rating on reappointment reviews in favor of Meets or Does Not Meet Expectations
        2. Ideally will be completed by the end of Spring semester
      5. Commencement dates announced
        1. All ceremonies week of Sunday May 19 - Thursday May 23
        2. CNSM will be Thursday May 23 at 9am at Angel Stadium
        3. Not sure yet if there will be hooding
      6. Beach Grad Family and Friends Day open house will be May 18
    3. Dean – N/A
  4. Associate Deans
    1. Academic Programs
      1. Check accuracy on lectures lists so Dr. Slowinski can send emails about evaluations
        1. Dr. Slowinski will send links out for lists
      2. Need to compile a list of programs that would bring minors onto campus for Jody Cormack
      3. Winter SOAR
        1. Advising will be early December through January
        2. Information available on SOAR website
      4. Beach XP
        1. Consideration to double the size of the program
        2. Anyone in Beach XP must sign up for those classes before ANY other classes
        3. Information presented on Tutoring and Advising
      5. Spreadsheet of seats available in Teams
        1. Sections in red are waitlist
      6. Summer SOAR mandated a 1-day in-person session (that may not be possible for transfers)
        1. Freshman receive an autogenerated list of classes they need to take based on placements (but the students are not scheduled into sections yet unless they're in a learning community)
        2. CNSM preference for in-person is in HSCI rather than the Horn Center
      7. Long Beach College Promise program will be expanded to lower-GPA students
    2. Research
      1. Dr. Taylor to prepare information on KURE workshops over the summer for next CDC
        1. Soliciting feedback and suggestions from the faculty and chairs
      2. NIH and NSF have changed their BioSketch requirements – now SciENcv
        1. Please pass that information on to faculty as we now have proposal deadlines coming up
      3. Considering lab tours for groups of admitted transfers
        1. Also considering a website presenting research possibilities specifically for transfers
      4. Remind staff and department coordinators that when they are ordering key fobs for students they need to specify that they want it to work outside of business hours
    3. Graduate Programs
      1. Chairs should let Dr. Benken know if there are going to be any changes in graduate advising ASAP
      2. New Master's policy is coming to Senate soon (already through CEPC)
        1. Proposing to change current weighted policy of combining grades from repeats to dropping the first grade (for grades that are below what is required) and only counting the second grade (both grades would appear on transcript, but the first grade would not be included in GPA and unit calculations)
        2. This would only be allowed for 1 class
        3. Have a poor grade (e.g., D, F, WU) early on makes it hard to get of academic warning
      3. Fall '24 is the first semester where graduate students will be required to complete an enrollment deposit (like undergrads)
        1. $150 upon accepting admission
        2. Deadline for the enrollment deposit varies on program's application deadline
        3. Deposit is applied to their account for enrollment
      4. Changes to policy on graduate credit for courses taken as a senior
        1. As long as it can be verified that the course did not apply to the undergraduate degree, it can be utilized (no longer needs to be "reserved")
  5. Open Discussion
    1. Course Fees
      1. Henry needs any requests by the end of November only if it’s a significant amount
      2. Need information on Earth Science bus field trip ASAP
      3. Send Henry projected cost of the Spring bus trip
    2. Henry is retiring in June
      1. Planning to hire a replacement by May, so recruitment will start March 1
      2. 1-2 chairs will need to be on the search committee (and will need to attend the training)
      3. Let Henry know if you want to add anything to the position description
    3. Physics is requesting their voting system change from paper to online
      1. Contact Margaret for new set of directions – most use Qualtrics

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

Meeting minutes were APPROVED Tuesday, December 5, 2023.

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.