Provost Message - March 22, 2017

At one of my recent faculty lunches in The Chartroom, I got into an interesting conversation about individuals’ sense of belonging and how interactions we have with others can affect us. One colleague, Rosa Moreno-Alcaraz from Counseling and Psychological Services, later sent me an article that recommends smiling at other people to help everyone feel welcome.

I think we all know that our close personal and professional relationships help keep us grounded and can easily influence our daily attitude and moods. They help give us a sense of belonging, whether it be to a circle of friends or a group of people in an office. However, we may overlook how interactions with people we don’t know that well (or don’t know at all) can affect us as well.

In any event, I left the lunch with those thoughts on my mind and tried to smile at every person I made eye contact with on my walk back to Brotman Hall. I continue to enjoy these lunches with my faculty colleagues and look forward to the next one.

The president received an email recently from CSU Executive Vice Chancellor Loren Blanchard requesting faculty, student and administration input on how to reshape the system’s general education policy with a focus on equitable access and student success. Specifically, how can the CSU’s General Education (GE) Breadth Requirements be revised to achieve better clarity, ensure equitable treatment and opportunities for all students, and importantly, streamline students’ path to graduation?

I am including a link to the system’s GE Breadth Requirements, also known as Executive Order (EO) 1100, for your review. I am also providing a link to a campus feedback form that includes space to provide advice regarding each main section of EO 1100—applicability of the policy; pathways to fulfillment of general education requirements; premises of CSU General Education Breadth; distribution of General Education Breadth units; transfer and articulation; implementation and governance.

Contact your academic senators to provide feedback. Campus officials are hoping to receive all input by May 31 and consolidate the responses in time to meet the Chancellor’s Office response deadline, which is June 16.

Finally, I had an opportunity to attend my first Pow Wow celebration at the university, and I was honored to be there. It was an incredibly beautiful event—full of pageantry, cultural pride and plenty of food. It was a very positive and heart-warming experience, and it was wonderful seeing so many happy people celebrating their heritage and sharing it with others.

University Library Signage Goes Digital

In the University Library’s latest technological upgrade, its directional signage has gone digital.

Monitors have been installed on every floor in each elevator lobby to guide library patrons in a clear and vivid way to where they need to go. Features of the new signage include:

  • 80” display on the first floor;
  • 65” displays on all other floors;
  • Time, date, and weather on all monitors;
  • Library hours on all monitors;
  • On the first floor signage, comprehensive signage for the entire building, including services and collections;
  • On all other floors, the signage is floor specific, including type of study room, services residing on each floor, and collections on each floor;
  • Ability to be a good campus partner and advertise events on campus, such as the ASI elections, which are currently being promoted;
  • Coming soon—a four-panel greeting video wall over the library entry.
     

All of this is phase one of the University Library digital signage project. Phase two will include touch-screen technology and will be introduced in the near future.

For any questions, please contact Jane Yi.

Veterans Services Office to Host
Spring 2017 VET NET Ally Seminar

The CSULB Veterans Services Office invites faculty, staff and students to attend the Spring 2017 VET NET Ally seminar on Thursday, April 6, from 8 a.m. to noon.

The VET NET Ally Awareness Program was developed to educate faculty and staff members about the unique needs and concerns of military service members and veterans studying at CSULB. Its goal is to foster a campus atmosphere that supports the academic and personal success of service members and veterans, and to establish a network of visible allies to provide support and assistance to students who have served in the armed forces.

Since 2010, more than 600 CSULB faculty, staff, and students have participated in the seminar, and the program has been presented at more than 35 other colleges and universities in California and across the nation.

Seminar attendance is limited, so reserve a spot soon. To RSVP, contact Marshall Thomas, director of Veteran Services, at Marshall.Thomas@csulb.edu by Thursday, March 30.

At the end of the training, participants will be given a decal to display in their workspace to show they are allies to CSULB's student veterans.

For more information, visit the VET NET Ally Awareness Program website.

President’s Commission on Status of Women
Seeking Nominations for 2 Awards by April 5

The CSULB President’s Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW) is seeking nominations from the campus community by Wednesday, April 5, for the following awards:

  • The Advancement of Women Award: Honors members of the campus community who actively contribute to the advancement of women through scholarship, teaching, campus service, and/or community service. All women and men who are current members of the campus community are eligible for the award.
     
  • The Honoring Community Organizations and their Campus Partners Award: Recognizes community-based organizations that—in their collaborative efforts with CSULB—have demonstrated a commitment to the advancement of women.

 

Nominations may be submitted by the same person for different categories. Confirmation of receipt will be provided within two business days. If application is not acknowledged as received, contact Mary Anne Rose at (562) 985-4547.

Selected nominees will be recognized at the Women’s Research Colloquium on Thursday, April 13.

The PCSW serves the campus community through initiating, advocating and implementing action that addresses the concerns of CSULB women students, faculty, staff and administrators. More information and nomination forms for each award can be found on the PCSW website.

Child and Family Center to Hold
Its Annual Open House on April 7

The Child and Family Center, an accredited program of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, will hold its annual open house from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Friday, April 7, in the Family and Consumer Science Building’s rooms 107 and 109.

The center is a nationally recognized student-teacher training facility that provides childcare services for CSULB employees and their families for children 18 months to 5 years of age.

The open house is an opportunity for families to receive enrollment applications and information, meet the lead teachers and administrators, learn about the center’s curriculum, and the only day to tour the facilities. Applications for the 2017-18 school year will become first available at the open house.

For more information, visit the Child and Family Center website or contact Jodi Morinaka or Stefanie Pedigo.

Wellness Week 2017 Set for April 10-12; Will
Feature Walk, Lecture, Fair, Live Your Life Day

The LifeFit Center at the Beach will present Wellness Week 2017, featuring a variety of activities over three days—April 10, 11 and 12—in an effort to inspire the CSULB campus and greater Long Beach community to a lifelong commitment to wellness.

The festivities kick-off on Monday, April 10, at 12:15 p.m. with a one-mile fun walk around the campus, beginning along Friendship Walk at the base of the stairs that lead to upper campus. Also on Monday will be the week’s signature event, the Lauda Lecture, from 5-7 p.m. in The Pointe at The Walter Pyramid. This year’s lecture will feature four guest panelists in a conversation on how campus and community partners can connect to make Long Beach healthier.

On Tuesday, the seventh annual “Live Your Life Day” will take place from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on the Speaker’s Lawn in front of the University Bookstore. Hosted by Project OCEAN (On-Campus Emergency Assistance Network), the event will have more than 40 different organizations on hand promoting mental health and overall wellness with many providing helpful resources both on campus and within the community.

The celebration concludes on Wednesday, April 12, with the College of Health and Human Services Wellness Fair from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. along Friendship Walk. Activities will include a mind-body workshop, a Fueling Your Exercise nutrition booth and wellness activities and screenings led by various campus and student organizations.

For more information, visit the Wellness Week 2017 webpage.

Women’s Research Colloquium on April 13
to Feature Anthropology, Theatre Arts Faculty

The President’s Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW) will host its signature event, the Women’s Research Colloquium, at The Pointe in The Walter Pyramid on Thursday, April 13, from 5 - 7:30 p.m. The evening will highlight CSULB scholars who contribute to our understanding of issues related to women and activists who advance causes important to the well-being of women.

The colloquium will feature presentations by Mitra Baghdadi of the Anthropology Department, College of Liberal Arts, and Andrea Caban of the Theater Arts Department, College of the Arts.

Reservations for the colloquium, which includes dinner, can be made to Cynthia Angiuli via email at Cynthia.Angiuli@csulb.edu or via phone at (562) 985-1688. Make reservations by Monday, April 10. The cost is $20, and payment may be made in advance or at the door on the evening of the colloquium. Those unable to attend are invited to sponsor one or more students.

For more information, visit the PCSW website.

CSULB Chapter of National Academy of Inventors to Present Luncheon Session on Protecting Inventions

The CSULB Chapter of the National Academy of Inventor (NAI) invites faculty and staff to attend a luncheon session on “The Faculty’s Guide to Protecting Inventions” on Friday, April 14, from noon to 1:30 p.m. in the Niggli Conference Center (Engineering/Computer Sciences Building, Room 312).

Presented by Wayne Howe, technical fellow for The Boeing Corp., the discussion will cover the four types of intellectual property (IP) protections—patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets—and how to protect your IP with them. The talk also will look at California State University contractual obligations that faculty and students may run into with respect to their inventions.

Those in attendance can enjoy some pizza, meet colleagues with an interest in innovation and learn how to protect their inventions. For more information, contact John Brevik, associate professor of mathematics.

2018-19 Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program
Competition Now Open; Deadline Aug. 1

The 2018-19 competition for the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program is now open. The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program offers teaching, research and combination teaching/research awards in over 125 countries for the 2018-2019 academic year. The deadline to apply for an award is Aug. 1.

Opportunities are available for college and university faculty and administrators as well as for professionals, artists, journalists, scientists, lawyers, independent scholars and many others. Interested faculty and professionals are encouraged to learn more about core Fulbright U.S. Scholar opportunities by visiting the online Catalog of Awards. They also can sign up for webinars to learn about region- and discipline-specific opportunities. Upcoming webinars include:

Regional Webinars:

Discipline Webinars:

 

 

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the Fulbright Program is the U.S. government’s flagship international exchange program and is supported by the people of the United States and partner countries around the world. For more information, visit eca.state.gov/fulbright.

Next Message

The next Provost’s Message will be published on Wednesday, April 5. Items for the upcoming message should be submitted to aa-communication@csulb.edu by Friday, March 31.