September 7, 2021 Minutes

Council of Department Chairs

In attendance: Curtis Bennett, Barbara Taylor, Margaret Karteron, Henry Wu, Andreas Bill, Dessie Underwood, Kris Slowinski, Will Murray, Babette Benken, Allie Puz, Lijuan Li, Lisa Martin, Lora Stevens, Christine Whitcraft, Maryanne Horton, Vanessa Hernandez.    

     

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 August 30
  3. Announcements
    1. ASM
      1. Some Lecturers and Faculty have not responded to vaccination upload.
        1. Henry is contacting those people directly.
    2. Operations Update
      1. Working on nominations:
        1. All 2-year positions have been nominated for RTP Committee.
        2. 1 tentative nomination for one-year at large position for RTP Committee.
        3. No nominations for CEPC or PARC.
      2. Open meeting at College Council on Friday, 9/10 from 3:30 to 4:00 pm
        1. Discussing amendment to RTP policy that sets the limit at 20 pages.
    3. Dean’s Report
      1. Mostly covered in COVID Updates Section.
      2. Rough turnaround time from prescreen “red X” to phone call is 1 to 2 hours for faculty and staff.
  4. Associate Deans
    1. Academic Programs
      1. Spring 2022 Classes (Vanessa Hernandez time certain: 10:30)
        1. Still unclear as to increase in face-to-face classes, hybrid, AMI, etc.
          1. The COVID situation is fluid but the timeline is short for Spring courses.
        2. Access to Spring scheduling begins 9/17/21.
          1. Discussion:
            1. For Spring 2022 classes, we have complete control of class mode.
              1. We should not be more than 15% fully online for Spring 2022.
            2. Try not to let pandemic reasoning (barring legitimate limitations) motivate the class mode decision.
            3. Any classes shifted to long-term hybrid or AMI after Spring 2022 must go through the curriculum approval process.
            4. Can create unique meeting patterns in PeopleSoft.
            5. Consider how course mode affects testing expectations.
      2. Deadlines and processes for lecturer evaluations are on the Faculty Affairs website.
    2. Research
      1. QR Codes for Contact Tracing in COVID Updates section.
    3. Grad Programs
      1. Hearing that the Thesis and Dissertation Office is backlogged; Babette to follow up and find out what’s happening.
      2. The Thesis and Dissertation Office is now under Academic Affairs and under the umbrella of GSRC.
  5. COVID Updates
    1. Classes Moved to AMI Without Clearance and Moving Temporarily to AMI
      1. Students have reported that they weren’t required to come to campus because their instructor had moved their face-to-face class to AMI without the necessary approvals.
      2. Will soon be a process to track courses that have been given formal approval to move to short-term AMI.
    2. Classroom Exposure Protocol (As of 9/21/21, this process/protocol is out of date)
      1. Ongoing discovery process.
      2. The exposure process for now is:
        1. Students who are exposed within 24 hours of a class meeting should notify their instructor and the instructor will shift the next class meeting to AMI so that there is time to alert everyone of the exposure.
        2. After that AMI session, there will be conversations with the chair, the instructor, and the dean about any further AMI needs for the class.
        3. Vaccinated students must provide test results 3-5 days after exposure and will come to campus unless they receive a positive result.
          1. Unvaccinated students who have been exposed may not come to campus until they receive a negative test result.
      3. An “exposure” is qualified as whatever Student Health Services dictates at the time.
    3. Reported delay in Receiving Test Results from On-Campus Testing.
    4. Green Checks
      1. As of now, students who do not provide test results when required will be reported to the Student Conduct Office.
        1. Incidents of dishonesty will also be reported to the Student Conduct Office.
    5. Student Masking
      1. Everyone on campus must wear a mask or face shield with drapes.
        1. No exemptions are approved as of today.
      2. If a faculty member is uncomfortable confronting the student, have them contact the chair and dean’s office to handle it.
      3. Students cannot unmask while in classrooms or research labs.
    6. Research Protocols
      1. We are in the process of creating QR codes for each of the faculty-assigned research labs and common equipment rooms.
        1. When a student scans that QR code they will be taken behind the SSO (wipes all personal identification) to confirm that they entered a particular room.
        2. Will allow us to know which of our enrolled student researchers entered which rooms.
        3. Enables us to contact trace in the event of a COVID positive test result and contact whoever must be notified.
      2. Volunteer researchers must be filling out the appropriate forms and abide by the vaccination or regular testing rules.
  6. New Business
    1. N/A

Upcoming Dates:

None

Meeting Minutes were APPROVED on Tuesday, September 21, 2021

*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.