January 30, 2024 Minutes

Council of Department Chairs

In attendance: Curtis Bennett, Krzysztof Slowinski, Barbara Taylor, Jesse Dillon, Lijuan Li, Lora Stevens, Will Murray, Prashanth Jaikumar, Jim Kisiel, Christine Whitcraft, Babette Benken, Henry Wu, Margaret Karteron, Lindsay Aymar, Tatiana Avila, Christina Hall

  1. Approve agenda (10:00) – Approved
  2. Approve minutes from January 16 – Approved as amended
  3. Introductions (Christina Hall and Tatiana Avila)
  4. Announcements
    1. ASM
      1. SEF for current FY 23/24 should be submitted now.
      2. Start thinking about SEF for next year FY 24/25. The proposals probably due in March/April.
      3. SEF is not in the regular budget discussion – standalone and not affected by state budget changes.
    2. Operations
      1. Commencement
        1. Ceremony date and time: Thursday, May 23, 9:00am
        2. Encouraging faculty to attend as much as possible – can sit with students if they want
        3. Invitations for students go out end of March
        4. Lineup:
          1. Students will walk and have their names read
          2. We will use marching order
          3. Name and degree will be on the Jumbotron as they walk
          4. Graduate students walk first, then Baccalaureate
        5. Hooding
          1. Need to decide if we are hooding at the stadium, or have our own ceremony outside of Commencement
          2. If hooding happens at the stadium, who does it? (Faculty or advisor)
        6. There will not be mini stages
        7. We want to have a reception in the parking lot after the ceremony
          1. Margaret Karteron will send out invitations for students and family
        8. Will be asking for marshals to help with lineup (similar to '23 ceremony)
          1. Need to appoint a Grand Marshal
      2. Scholarships
        1. Opened on January 22
        2. Physics and Math have conditional applications
        3. Summer research assistantships in Chemistry, Biology and Physics
          1. Not applied to in Beach Scholarships (considered employment)
        4. Danny Ames will post links on the website
        5. FASFA deadline has been changed from March 4 to April 4
    3. Dean
      1. Budget update
        1. Governor's budget does not look good
        2. The Governor's budget defers the 5% increase to the CSU and UCs to next year
        3. The CSU can borrow against that 5%
      2. ASM Search
        1. Conducting the search early because we want overlap with Henry
        2. Search committee will ideally have 1-2 chairs, 1-2 staff, 1 SSP, 1 ASM from another College
          1. So far possibly Margaret Karteron, Sofia Aguilera (Math Department Office), Dr. Dillon, Yaneth Bravo from Chemistry.
        3. Interview will likely be in late March or early April
          1. Aiming to have hire in place by May
  5. Associate Deans
    1. Graduate Programs – quick announcements
      1. Reminder that the applications for Graduate Equity Fellowship and Green deadline is February 26
      2. Solicitation already sent out – faculty must submit the application packet (not the student)
      3. Graduate advisors – email Dr. Benken if you're anticipating any changes for fall
      4. Any University-level training? (usually in the Fall)
    2. Academic Programs
      1. Academic Programs
        1. Meeting after CDC
          1. Similar to workshop last year
          2. Meeting will be recorded and sent out
      2. Beach XP, HVDI SEF, and SOAR budget request (due February 5)
        1. Dr. Slowinski has documents explaining SEF budget and potential cuts and how that can affect our student success model
        2. We are currently paying for peer learning in Math and Chemistry
        3. Beach XP
          1. We need to grow enrollment by a factor of 2
          2. Realistically we could potentially expand by 50%
          3. Budget concerns - we cannot pay from the College general fund
            1. Hiring a GA to handle logistics
            2. Providing students with free lunch once a week (positively affected attendance)
      3. Advising Program Review
        1. Thursday at 3:00pm
          1. To prepare read self study pages 3, 4, 5 + last 3 pages (starting at page 43)
          2. We do not want centralized advising
          3. We do not want to lose faculty advising
          4. We want integration with other student support opportunities (i.e. tutoring)
          5. Faculty advising needs greater support
    3. Research
      1. University Research Advisory Committee conducted reviews for multidisciplinary awards Thursday 1/25
      2. Remind faculty to apply – we have money to give out 9 and we only had 8 applications
  6. Discussion about budgets (time permitting)
  7. Adjournment (12:02pm)

Upcoming Dates

  • February 2: AAC external review visit
  • February 5: HVDI SEF, SOAR, and BEACH XP budgets due
  • February 5: Due date for Mini's & ETF's
  • February 26: CNSM Graduate Fellowship Deadline (GEF/DGGRF) – 5:00pm
  • March 8: ºÚÁÏÍø Student Research Competition
  • March 12: Beach Scholarship Applications Close
  • March 23: Math Day at the Beach
  • March 29: Mini Review Due from Departments
  • April 13: Day at the Beach (for Admitted Students)
  • April 1-7: Spring Recess
  • April 1: Cesar Chavez Day Observed
  • April 2: FAFSA Deadline (Altered timeline this year only due to "late" change of federal process)
  • May 10: Last Day of Classes (FRIDAY)
  • May 23: Graduation @ Angel Stadium 9:00am

Meeting minutes were APPROVED Tuesday, February 13, 2024.

Note: The minutes above reflect 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.