Provost Message - May 3, 2017

I am very pleased to announce that Dr. Kerry Johnson has accepted the position of Associate Vice President for Undergraduate Studies. She will begin her duties July 17.

Dr. Johnson has been a Full Professor in the Department of English at Merrimack College and served as the Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts from 2010-2014. She has been the Vice Provost at Merrimack since 2015, in which capacity she has served as the interim Director of the Honors and General Education programs, among other duties. We welcome her to The Beach.

I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to Dr. Nele Hempel-Lamer for her excellent work serving as the interim AVP for Undergraduate Studies for the past two and a half years. Nele has served admirably and helped move the campus along in addressing the challenges of the 2025 graduation initiative, along with many other accomplishments, especially in the area of rethinking the first year of college for our students. I wish her the best in the future – it has been a true pleasure to work with her.

Recently, I was delighted to welcome literally hundreds of people to a major College of Health and Human Services (CHHS) event called “Optimizing Collective Impact: Innovations in University and Community Partnerships.”

Under the urging and guidance of CHHS Dean Monica Lounsbery, the event brought together CHHS faculty and community stakeholders for meaningful and reflective discussions on how to optimize resources and partnerships and have a true, collective impact in addressing and improving four important areas of need within the greater Long Beach community—health disparities, homelessness, aging, and clinical service and prevention practices.

In my short time here, it is obvious to me that the relationship between the university and the city of Long Beach is a strong one. We can do so much more to improving our communities by working together rather than going it on our own, and Long Beach the community and Long Beach the university have proven this through the years and continue to do so.

In any event, President Conoley and I were very excited to hear of the subsequent success of the day-long discussions, and I’m sure we will be hearing more about these in the near future. Let me extend a big thank you to Dean Lounsbery for her leadership in creating this new event.

I also was honored to preside over the 2017 University Achievement Awards, at which we honored 12 members of the campus community for their efforts and accomplishments in the areas of instruction, research, creative activity and service. It was truly heartwarming to meet and hear the achievements of the faculty, students and staff who earned this year’s awards.

Listening to the brief comments given by our award winners, I was impressed by the incredible hard work of people on this campus who contribute to the high level of intellectual achievement that is so apparent across the university. This year’s award recipients were not only deserving, they also represent the very best of our inclusive excellence on campus.

I would like to express my thanks to the selection committees from the Academic Senate, Office of Research and Sponsored Projects and Staff Council for their work in choosing this year’s honorees. I also want to thank Vice Provost Cecile Lindsay as well as Monique Lopez and Rick Gloady from my staff for their efforts in making the event such a great success and a wonderful experience for our honorees and their mentors, families and friends.

Other items I would like to quickly note include:

  • Last Thursday and Friday, I attended the Western Academic Leadership Forum in Salt Lake City, where, among other things, I hosted a roundtable discussion on “The Classroom of the Future;”
  • On April 17 and 18, I attended a meeting of key institutional leaders at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland, where the focus was on the BUILD—Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity—Initiative. I am pleased to report that CSULB’s efforts through its BUILD grants are both noted and applauded in Washington. Although there is as of yet no confirmation on any kind of NIH funding, we believe we are in a good position to receive follow-up funding if it is allocated in the budget. Recently, we heard the positive news that the proposed Congressional budget includes a $2 billion increase in funding for NIH;
  • I also recently met with Matthew Argame and Dale Lendrum about Project Rebound, a project that helps formerly incarcerated students, to discuss ways in which we can support this worthy project on our campus.

 

In closing, let me say how much I am looking forward to attending my first Alumni Awards Banquet with members of the Academic Senate Executive Committee on Thursday at the Hyatt Regency Long Beach. In addition to saluting the 2017 Outstanding Graduates and Distinguished Alumni, the event also will recognize two of our University Achievement Award honorees—Outstanding Professor Award winner Bill Pedersen and Outstanding Staff Award winner Wendy Lopez.

2 Graduate Students Capture Top Honors
at CSU Statewide Student Research Contest

A pair of CSULB graduate students captured top honors in their respective categories over the weekend at the 31st annual CSU Statewide Student Research Competition at Cal Poly SLO.

Sarah Ottone, a graduate student in criminal justice, earned first-place honors in the Behavioral and Social Sciences category with her presentation on “Research Summary: A Qualitative Examination of Factors Influencing the Imposition of Bai.” Her faculty mentor for the project was Christine Scott-Hayward.

Charlotte Haigh, a graduate student in education (counseling— marriage and family therapy) garnered the first-place award in the education category for her presentation titled “More Than Skin Deep: Examining the Impact of the Desire for Lighter Skin on the Mental Health of University Students in Thailand.” Her faculty mentor was Paul Ratanasiripong.

CSULB Lecturer, Oral History Project
Featured in Online NBC News Story

Faculty member Phatana Ith, the university and the Long Beach community are featured in a story titled “Project Preserves Cambodian Genocide Survivor Stories After Decades of Silence,” which was recently posted on the NBC News website.

In the article, Ith, a lecturer in Communication Studies, talks about growing up in Long Beach and often feeling detached from her identity as a Cambodian-American women…that is, until she began to have conversations with elder women in the community about their experiences during the Cambodian genocide.

That feeling pushed her to gather the untold stories of elder women survivors of the Cambodian genocide, which killed 1.7 million people between 1975 and 1979. The stories have now been formally compiled as an ongoing oral history project called "Out of the Shadows" at CSULB.

University Library Open 24/7 Beginning May 7

The University Library will be continuously open beginning Sunday, May 7, at 12:30 p.m. through Friday, May 19, at 5 p.m. During this special time of the semester, students are reminded that:

  • Community Service Officers (CSOs) will be located in the lobby area to provide escort service if requested;
  • After Starbucks closes, free coffee will be served (while supplies last);
  • For late-night research help, use the 24/7 chat service or the library FAQs.

 

Help keep the library clean and welcoming during this time and for everyone’s safety and observe the following rules during the library's extended hours:

  • No reserving, saving, or selling of seating;
  • No camping or squatting;
  • No electrical appliances;
  • No shopping carts;
  • No moving of furniture that is bolted or restrained;
  • No blocking aisles, pathways, or doors.

 

Long Beach municipal code may be enforced if these rules are not observed, and the library is not responsible for belongings left unattended.

For more information, contact Vicky Munda, access services coordinator, at or visit the University Library website here.

Academic Technology Services Conducting
Survey for Input on BeachBoard Improvements

Academic Technology Services (ATS) is working on a major update to BeachBoard launching in January 2018 and is looking for faculty and student input to make BeachBoard better.

As part of this update, ATS is conducting a brief faculty and student survey to focus efforts on improving BeachBoard and related training and support for the campus community. In addition, ATS has started a monthly newsletter to improve its communication about upcoming changes and opportunities.

Those interested in taking the survey and/or receiving the newsletter can sign up at the links below:

 

Physical Planning, Associated Students
Seek Faculty Input on Sustainability Center

The Office of Physical Planning and Associated Students, Inc. are working to develop a Sustainability Center for the campus. The groups are currently seeking (2) faculty members who would like to serve on the committee to contribute their ideas and perspective.

The center will act as a hub for a myriad of sustainable initiatives, services, student projects and research undertaken by the campus as well as fostering new initiatives and new thinking to solve the challenges and opportunities around sustainability facing the world.

Meetings will be held approximately once every three weeks through the summer and into the fall semester. Interested faculty should contact Michael Gardner by Tuesday, May 9, at ext. 5-0123 or via email.

University Library to Participate in New
CSU-Wide Library Management System

Beginning June 20, the University Library, along with the other 22 CSU campus libraries, will switch to a new library management system that will allow students to access the libraries of all 23 California State University campuses. This will include changes to circulation, accounts, resource sharing, access to books and articles and more.

This new Unified Library Management System (ULMS) will allow the entire CSU system to better collaborate and share resources. Library staff and faculty are working diligently to ensure that the transition is as seamless as possible.

Users of the library can expect the following changes as a result of this transition:

  • The current library catalog--COAST, course reserves and articles search system will be replaced with a new modern discovery system called OneSearch, which will improve access to the library’s electronic and print resources;
  • OneSearch will be shared across all 23 campuses, allowing users to find materials that are available across institutions;
  • CSULB students, faculty and staff will be able to request library materials from any CSU library. This CSU resource sharing system, CSU+, will give users access to a larger collection of academic materials. Requested items will arrive in two to five business days;
  • CSULB students, faculty and staff will have “visiting patron” privileges at all CSU libraries and will be able to check out materials with their student or employee ID.
  • Loan periods for most items will be extended.
  • The library will no longer charge late fees for most items.

 

University Library officials do not anticipate any downtime to library resources or services as a result of the system transition. Additionally, the process for finding library materials will be largely unaffected. OneSearch will function in much the same way as the current system but with improved functionality.

For more information, contact Tracy Mayfield, associate dean of library services, or visit the University Library website here.

Employee Forms Available
in CSULB Single Sign-On (SSO)

Access to commonly used employee business forms from one convenient location is now available from a new chiclet within the campus Single Sign-On service (SSO) called “Forms.”

This new service will appear in SSO for all employees, and it will allow them to search for a form based on keyword, department or alphabetical listing to find the exact forms needed. Give it a try!

Next Message

The next Provost’s Message will be published on Wednesday, May 17. Items for the upcoming message should be submitted by Friday, May 12, to aa-communication@csulb.edu.