October 24, 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 (via Teams), Henry Wu, Margaret Karteron (via Teams), Lindsay Aymar

  1. Approve agenda (10:00) – Approved
  2. Approve minutes from October 10 – Approved as amended
  3. Announcements
    1. ASM
      1. No updates
    2. Operations
      1. End of Semester Party
        1. Usually on the last day of classes (Monday December 11th) but since it will be a very busy day, switching to the Friday before, December 8th
        2. Location TBD, weather dependent but could be either main hallway or Nagel Courtyard Patio
        3. Usually 2-4PM
      2. The college is mandated to award 5 sabbaticals this year
      3. Student Awards Committee is currently meeting
      4. RSCA due November 3rd
    3. Dean
      1. Academic Senate and early tenure
        1. Keeping the newly adopted policies
        2. Early tenure and promotion requires being exceptional
        3. Colleges and departments will need to spell out what that means and update documents
          1. RTP change approved by policy it requires a faculty vote
          2. RTP Q and A session is Thursday 11/9 3:30-4:30
        4. Available via Zoom
        5. Change in RTP policy taking out requirement that changes go through full faculty vote, rather than just senate
      2. Last chance for comments on Credential proposal
        1. Get any ideas or comments on that please get to Curt ASAP
        2. Formal written document of proposal is available online
      3. AI committee representative
        1. The University has started a committee on AI in academics
        2. Issues we think will be discussed: Academic integrity, how to use AI in academics, AI and plagiarism, AI and thesis submission
        3. We'll send Ashley Carter as a representative
  4. Associate Deans
    1. Academic Programs
      1. GE for transfer students update
        1. AB928 mandates that CSU's and UC's use the same transfer curriculum – Presentation explaining AB928 (enacted last May)
      2. GWAR proposal
        1. Proposed changes to the GWAR would under-place students (under-placed students typically have lower graduation rates)
          1. Students would take composition as a foundational class, and then take the WPE – that score then dictates placement 
        2. Changes would lead to serious budgetary and staff shortages due to increased number of composition/English sections
        3. There cannot be 2 separate GE pathways for Freshman and transfers
      3. Learning Communities
        1. Sp24 update
          1. Learning communities will continue in the Spring with about half the students from the Fall
          2. Spring learning communities will be the same combination
          3. Next year they want to expand learning communities across campus
          4. That would theoretically put about half of our freshman in learning communities which is not manageable with scheduling
        2. Preliminary Ideas for next(?) Academic Year
          1. Considering expanding survey to get feedback from learning community instructors
    2. Research – No updates
    3. Graduate Programs – No updates
  5. Open discussion
    1. People to be brought in for discussion:
      1. Margy Merryfield
      2. Chris Frost – Safety
      3. Miles Nevin – Bookstore
      4. Tanya Piloyan – Outreach
        1. Related to outreach – to attract students to smaller departments, is there any way we can offer transfer students opportunities to work in labs before they start (but after they've been offered admission)
        2. This could be difficulty due to necessary faculty time investment and pay – need some way to incentivize faculty

Upcoming Dates

  • November 10: Veterans Day (campus closed)
  • November 20-22: Fall break (no classes)
  • November 23-24: Thanksgiving Holiday
  • 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, November 28, 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.