Provost Message - September 14, 2016

HVDI 2025

A renewed Highly Valued Degree Initiative (HVDI) 2025 institutionwide Steering Committee had its first meeting on Monday. Six committees were identified as crucial to our student success initiative:

  • Re-Imagining the First-Year of College (RFY)
  • Time to Degree
  • Career Development and Student Services
  • Strategic Advising
  • Faculty Development
  • Research & Evaluation

 

Please watch your email for a call from the Academic Senate for faculty to serve as representatives and co-leaders on these committees.

Poster Session & Fair Highlights Inclusive Excellence in Teaching, Learning

The American Association of Colleges and Universities has developed several initiatives that bring together faculty and institutions of higher learning to provide national leadership that advances diversity and equity in higher education, and the best educational practices for an increasingly diverse population.

The Faculty Center for Professional Development (FCPD) understands that many faculty at CSULB have well-developed, ongoing teaching and learning practices involving the goals of inclusive excellence. As such, FCPD will host a Poster Session and Resource Fair to showcase faculty pedagogy and research, along with campus services and support for Inclusive Excellence in Teaching and Learning. The event will take place in the Karl Anatol Center, AS 119, on October 18 from 2-4 p.m.

Faculty can submit an abstract for a competitively selected poster on pedagogy, practice or research on inclusive excellence in teaching and learning. Faculty and staff can request a table at the resource fair to highlight campus resources that support inclusive excellence in teaching and learning. Learn more in the Call for Participation.

Upcoming Faculty Workshops

The following workshops for faculty will take place over the next few months:

CNSM Students Present Research at Symposium

A record number of people attended the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics (CNSM) Student Research Symposium on Friday, September 9.  About 115 undergraduate and graduate students presented 108 posters showcasing their collaborative research with faculty at two sessions. More than 500 people attended the event, including 42 faculty and 370 students. You can learn about the outstanding work that was presented in the book of abstracts. Please join me in congratulating the faculty, students and staff on a successful symposium.

Achievements and Accolades

Congratulations to Library faculty member Carol Perruso for her article on a four-year study published in College and Research Libraries, the official scholarly research journal of the Association of College & Research Libraries.

The article, “Undergraduates’ Use of Google vs. Library Resources: A Four-Year Cohort,” was based on a study done by Perruso and four other library faculty members, Joseph Aubele, Karin Griffin, Susan Jackson and Catherine Outten. The study surveyed freshmen entering CSULB in 2008 about their use of websites and library resources for research papers. It found that as time went on they used library resources more frequently and Google less. The primary variables influencing this behavior change were librarian instruction and faculty requirements on the use of certain types of resources (e.g. three journal articles or no more than one website).

The study’s findings support the importance of instructors inviting librarians to conduct research sessions and collaboration between classroom and library faculty to help students improve the quality of the work they produce (i.e. research papers).To learn more about the study, read the abstract or the full text.

Todd Gray (Art), an internationally recognized photographer who was Michael Jackson’s photographer early in his career, was one of only 26 contributing artists exhibited in the Hammer Museum’s critically acclaimed show, “Made in L.A. 2016: a, the, though, only,” which closed last month.

CSULB’s Moot Court program was ranked third in "Top Programs in Intercollegiate Moot Court" by the American Moot Court Association. CSULB moot court students have won many awards in recent years and the university hosted the national moot court championship for the first time in January. Congratulations to moot court team coach and political science faculty member Lewis Ringel and all those involved in the program’s success.

Share Your Achievements

I invite you to share your achievements with me so that they can be included in this newsletter each week. Please email provost@csulb.edu with any faculty, student or staff news and accomplishments you may want to share.

Conference Highlights Influence of German Authors

CSULB students and faculty from across campus are coming together for a conference on two authors who significantly influenced German and U.S. literature, theatre, film, and music – Bertolt Brecht and Heinrich von Kleist.

The two-day conference will open on Wednesday, September 28 with a greeting from the German Consul General and the director of the Goethe Institute in Los Angeles. Distinguished faculty from universities across the country will speak during the conference. There will be original musical and theatrical performances by CSULB students as well as excerpts from a new opera based on Kleist's Penthesilea and two screenings of U.S. films based on works by Brecht and Kleist. The conference is intended for both students and scholars and will be open to the general public. Learn more.

City of Long Beach Civic Innovation Summit

The City of Long Beach is hosting a day-long summit on civic innovation as an opportunity for thought leaders, community members, planners, and professional staff to recognize outstanding efforts and cutting-edge innovation in the public sector.

This free summit will be held on Thursday, October 6 from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. at the Long Beach Convention Center. CSULB faculty, staff, and students are welcome to attend, subject to class schedules or supervisor approval. However, registration is required. Registration will close on October 3 at 5 p.m. or when participation has reached its capacity.  More information is available online.