December 15, 2020 Minutes

Council of Department Chairs

In attendance: Curtis Bennett, Barbara Taylor, Chris Brazier, Andreas Bill, Babette Benken, Christine Whitcraft, Lisa Martin, Margaret Karteron, Dessie Underwood, Rick Behl, Kris Slowinski, Will Murray, Henry Wu, Allie Puz.

NOTE: THESE MINUTES REFLECT DISCUSSIONS THAT HAPPENED ON THE DATE OF THESE MINUTES.  DUE TO THE COVID-19 SITUATION, THINGS ARE RAPIDLY CHANGING.  FOR OFFICIAL POLICY PLEASE WAIT FOR DOCUMENTS FROM THE APPROPRIATE OFFICES.

  1. Approve agenda (10:00)
  2. Approve minutes from Dec. 1; Accepted as amended.
  3. Announcements
    1. ASM
      1. Sent notice about minimum wage increase for January 1st.
      2. Financial Assessment went well; carry over whatever we have.
        1. Please focus on spending SEF.
        2. Spend IRA money on course costs, if possible.
        3. If there are new items that you think may be attributable to CARES money, note that for Henry.
      3. Course fee refunds are being processed and students will be notified.
        1. If students owe money to the university, the refund will be applied to their obligation.
      4. State Legislative Office speculates that we will not have a mid-year cut.
      5. If you can credibly claim pure research, sales tax can be reduced.
        1. Where the money comes from matters. Please talk to Henry.
    2. Operations
      1. End of Semester Social Gathering Wednesday 12/16/2020 from 4:00 to 6:00 pm.
      2. Margaret Karteron will be on leave from December 21st to January 15th.
    3. Academic Senate
      1. New policy on cheating and plagiarism.
      2. New policy on employment of graduate students
        1. No substantial changes, just new policy passed.
        2. Every department that employs graduate students must have this policy posted or readily available to all graduate students.
      3. Both new policies will eventually be posted on the Academic Senate website
      4. Next semester Academic Senate will review Learning Outcomes for Ethnic Studies.
    4. Dean’s Report
      1. Vacation Calendar on Teams CDC channel does not replace getting approval from the Dean. The calendar is just a way to keep track of who is available and not available.
        1. On Teams:
          1. CNSM CDC > Agendas and Minutes > CDC Vacation Calendar
        2. It may be helpful for specific Staff to put their vacation on the calendar as well.
      2. RTP Suggestions:
        1. The dean should bring to Deans’ Council a request for Academic Affairs to consider additional flexibility on the extending a year for COVID, so faculty are not having to make a decision to put off their promotion 1 year before it is clear what the full effect of the COVID restrictions will be.  (Note that changes like this involve working with the union.)
        2. Departments and college should consider RTP policy addenda for including a COVID impact statements:
          1. All levels of review should be recommended to consider the impact statement as it pertains to research and work delays by:
            1. Considering equity issues without lowering standards.
            2. Showing a commitment to both excellence as well as compassion.
  4. Associate Deans
    1. Academic Programs
      1. Lecturer Evaluations Spring 2021
        1. Policy
        2. Timeline
          1. Files are due on February 8, 2021; this deadline cannot be extended.
        3. Documents
          1. No documents will be added by department officers in InterFolio except for the evaluations. Lecturers must add their own documents.
          2. To be added by Lecturers (document shared with chairs):
            1. Index of submitted materials
            2. Completion Rates / SPOT Ratings (department officers should send lecturers this data so they can include it in their evaluation file). (SPOT Ratings for S’20 are not required but could be provided)
            3. Current Vita
            4. Reflective Narrative (as described in 2.1. of the CNSM Evaluation Standards for Lecturers) 
            5. Instructional Materials, including course syllabi, and samples of representative assignments and assessment tools 
            6. The most recent CNSM and Department Committee/Chair evaluation, if available.
            7. Optional documents -- only required if part of the job description or if you wish to be evaluated on the following areas: 
              1. Evidence of research activities 
              2. Evidence of University/Community Service
              3. Description of advising activities

 

  1. Spring 2021 Enrollment and Advising Update (Vanessa Hernandez Time Certain 10:30)
    1. Doesn’t make sense to pull stats or do anything right now because of pending factors:
      1. 3.6% of students are on the waitlist.
      2. We are about halfway through incoming transfer enrollment.
      3. We have students who will be failing courses and withdrawing from courses and will need to retake them in the Spring.
    2. We have several courses with reserved seats; proposal is to release those seats on 12/21/2020 and then revisit the waitlists when we come back in January 2021 and see how we can help students who need courses.
      1. Monitor classes with EAB in early January 2021.
    3. Blocking enrollment for courses in the Spring semester.
      1. Consent can only be added with sound justification (e.g. pedagogical reasons such as early assessment/advising or if catalog description includes “consent” as the only requisite).
      2. Send list to Vanessa that includes justifications
        1. We should not be submitting a large number of classes for enrollment blocking; ES will be denying requests that impact campus-wide access.
        2. Concerns about upper division courses, getting enough seats for graduating seniors, delaying the time to degree, etc.
  2. Research
    1. Edison STEM Net Applications
  3. Graduate
    1. Stats on Required Thesis Revision for CNSM M.S. Students
      1. AY 19-20:
        1. CNSM Average for number of students needing revisions exceeds university average. For the number of revisions needed in first review, CNSM average is 137 revisions (university average is 167).
      2. College and departmental data is available.
      3. Thesis deadlines may contribute to delay.
    2. Graduation Ceremony for Postbac Students
      1. From 5/18-5/21 CNSM will be having a graduation, but we will not have more details will until the end of January.
      2. Campus is planning a hybrid graduation with recorded speeches.
        1. Plan is contingent on health guidelines from LA County and city of Long Beach.
        2. Please wait for more details.
    3. GRF/D Green Research Fellowships 
      1. Call for Graduate Research Fellowship is out; looks very similar to last year in terms of funding and scholarships.
        1. Will be going out soon and will be due a couple of months after we return from winter break.
        2. All electronic submissions.
  1. Formative Feedback
    1. Looking for Faculty who want to be mentors to provide formative feedback for their colleagues in teaching.
      1. Formative feedback: pertains mostly to climate and environment (.e.g do students feel like they can come to faculty for help?, etc.).

 

Upcoming Dates
January 19, 2021: Start of Semester
March 19, 2021: 9:00 am – 1:00 pm ORSP Virtual Research Competition
April 5-9, 2021: CSULB Week of RSCA
April 15, 2021: Nobel Prize Lecture

Meeting Minutes were APPROVED on Tuesday, January 12, 2020

*Note: This reflects 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.