Volume 39:10

1. Announcements

Are you looking for funds for your research or creative work? Would you like funds for travel, collaborators, and stipends for your students? Are you interested in starting a new center or establishing, a contract with state, city, or local agencies? Do not be intimidated by the competition for external funds. A number of CSUN faculty have been successful in obtaining grants and contracts and can provide useful “tips” by sharing their experiences. Bring your lunch, listen to your colleagues, and ask your questions for a Q & A session with successful external grantees. The Brown Bag events will take place in the Oviatt Library Presentation Room from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. on the following dates: February 11 and 26; and March 4, 12, and 18. Of special interest may be the February 11 session, on Student Research & Student Success: NSF, NIH, and Foundations, and the March 18 session, on the US Department of Education, National Endowment for the Humanities, and Foundations.

Or, if you are just looking for money to sponsor speakers or workshops for this spring semester, consider applying to the Academic Programming Fund. This fund provides supplementary support for academically related activities and events only (e.g., guest lecturers, workshops, performances) and the application process is easy – a one page proposal (and budget) describing how the proposed activity or event supports a course or other academic program. Collaborative, co-sponsored, interdepartmental or inter-college events or activities are encouraged. For more information, or application forms, please see Jackie’s January 23 email or contact Juana Mora’s office.

Nominations are now being accepted for the 2013 Faculty Awards. The deadline for nominations is February 22; supporting materials will be due March 22. The awards honor:

*Outstanding Faculty (up to 2 awards, $1,700 each)
*Distinguished Teaching, Counseling, or Librarianship (up to 3 awards, $1,200 each)
*Preeminent Scholarly Publication(s) ($1,200)
*Exceptional Creative Accomplishment(s) ($1,200)
*Extraordinary Service ($1,200)
*Visionary Community Service-Learning ($1,200)

Details, including nominating procedures and forms, are available at  http://www.csun.edu/senate/awards.html Questions maybe be directed to the Faculty Senate Office, X3263, or heidiw@csun.edu.

Meantime, it’s Northridge Review submission time again, with the magazine soliciting new material for the issue to be compiled this term and published next fall. This really is an important opportunity for students, so please let them know to go to Submittable.com, sign in, and follow the guidelines there. Submissions are limited to 5000 word total per student in fiction, playwriting, and/creative nonfiction, and/or five poems per student. Names should not appear on the manuscripts, and the deadline is February 18.

On Monday, February 25th at 4 PM in JR 319, Professor Kevin O’Neill will be giving a talk in Irene Clark’s English 651 class (Rhetoric and Composition Theory). His talk is titled “How Many Friends Did Plato Have?: Rhetoric and Self-Presentation in Classical Athens.” Dr, O’Neill, who has expertise in both classical rhetoric and new media, will argue that rhetoric developed as a set of strategies for self-presentation in a culture in which love of public honor was a central value. He will also expand on the topic to include some remarks on Plato’s rhetorical strategies. You are welcome to bring your class, but please let Irene know in case she’ll need a larger room.

Don’t let stress get you down. Join the Spring 2013 Staff/Faculty Wellness Program, which begins January 28 and will be held Monday through Thursday from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in Redwood Hall. This Kinesiology Staff/Faculty Wellness Program, sponsored by the Institute for Community Health and Wellbeing and the College of Health and Human Development, has been designed to expand your limits of strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular health.All participants are required to complete participation forms and a short health pre-screening. For more information, please see http://jack.csun.edu/ichwb/faculty-staff-wellness-program/

And while you are getting fit, you might want to get informed at CSUN’s BizFed – Daily News LA Mayoral Candidate Forum on Thursday, February 7, from 9 a.m. 12 p.m. in the VPAC. Come here LA mayoral candidates Eric Garcetti, Wendy Greuel, Kevin James, Jan Perry, and Emanuel Pleitez in discussion with  Austin Beutner, former special deputy to Mayor Villaraigosa and founder of Evercore Partners moderator, and the Daily News of Los Angeles as our partner.

As a result of amendments to the California Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (CANRA) and the issuance of Executive Order 1083 (Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse and Neglect), all CSU employees now have an obligation to report suspected or known incidents of child abuse or neglect. Look for details in the coming weeks.

Finally, here are some upcoming HR events you might not want to miss. For more information, please see Additional information and registration links for all of these sessions can be found in this issue of HR News.

*In partnership with Kaiser Permanente, all CSUN staff and faculty are invited to participate in free Biometric screenings on February 13^th and 21^st, or take part in an eight week Weight Management Series which kicks-off on February 4^th.

*Retirement planning beyond CalPERS, a talk with Dr. William Jennings, Interim Vice President of University Advancement and Emeritus Dean of the College of Business and Economics and Dr. Michael Phillips of our Finance, Real Estate and Insurance Department, on February 27.

*”How to Feel More Encouraged During Discouraging times,” a talk with Dr. Mark Stevens and Dr. Julie Pearce of University Counseling Services on February 5.

*And on Friday, February 8, in the USU’s Northridge Center, HR’s Spring 2013 Keynote Speaker,  Dr. Iris Firstenberg, will present a discussion open to all faculty and staff on “Innovative Thinking for Extraordinary Outcomes.” Dr. Firstenberg is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychology at UCLA and an Adjunct Associate Professor of Management at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, and teaches seminars on creativity and innovation for a variety of organizations including numerous fortune 500 companies.

2. Reminders

All College of Humanities Faculty and Staff are invited to the All College Meeting with President Diane Harrison This meeting will provide an opportunity to meet our new President who will share important information regarding the university. When: Monday, February 11, 2013. Where: Whitsett Room, Sierra Hall 451. Time : 4-5 pm. Light refreshments will be served.

CSUN has a new transit station  at the intersection of Darby Avenue and Vincennes Street. Check it out.

Spring elections for positions in faculty governance will be held in March. Nominations for faculty officers (Vice President and Secretary), for Senators-at-Large (6 positions), and for one CSUN representatives to the Academic Senate CSU will be taken at the Faculty Senate meeting on February 7. If you would like to be nominated for any of these positions, please notify Steven Stepanek, CSUN Faculty President, or any member of the Faculty Senate by February 6. Also, as a reminder, faculty award nomination forms are due on February 22. The faculty award selection committees will be set up in March. If you have an interest in serving on a faculty award selection committee, please indicate so on the University Service Form (form is on the Senate website).

And if you are going to be late or absent, please remember that University policy requires that, as far in advance as possible, you  must notify Frank De La Santo in the main office, ext. 3431. Staff will post a sign on the doors of classes canceled due to faculty absence, but late-for-class or late-for-office-hours will NOT be posted. In addition, please let Frank know when you plan to go to conferences, etc., providing the dates/times they will be out of the office. Finally, according to University policy, “sick leave will be charged…from the onset of such an absence until the employee resumes attendance at the campus….” For example, if you have a MW class are absent all week due to illness, you will be charged for forty hours (all five days). If you miss the Monday session due to illness, then return to class on Wednesday, you will still be charged 16 hours of sick leave (for Monday and Tuesday). However, if you’re able to perform normal activities on Tuesday and notify the main office that you are resuming them, no sick leave will be charged for Tuesday.

3. Opportunities

Daring Pride is soliciting LGBTQ related fiction and/or poetry from talented young graduate students who have not yet published a book. The fiction/poetry contest will accept submissions by mail and online form January 20, 2013 to August 20, 2013. For full guidelines and information, please contact Ben Dralle at ben.dralle@glbtbookstore.com.

For students: If you have any bright and very promising students who would be interested in a three-month internship in Congress, consider letting them know about the annual Congressional Internship Program, one of several Panetta Institute-sponsored programs designed to encourage and develop future leaders of this nation. The program provides students with an intensive, two-week orientation at the Institute in Monterey before they begin work with members of California’s Congressional delegation in Washington, D.C. for approximately three months each Fall.  A full scholarship covering all costs is awarded to each intern, thanks to the Panetta Institute and its patrons. Students selected to participate are appointed by university presidents from the 23-campus California State University system, Santa Clara University and Dominican University of California. Selection is based on exemplary scholastic record, interest in politics and potential for a public service career. For more information, please contact the Office of Undergraduate Studies.

Also for students: Writers at Work has announced its annual fellowship competition for emerging writers in poetry, fiction and nonfiction. First place in each genre receives: $1000, publication in Quarterly West, and free tuition and a featured reading at the 2013 summer writing conference. The deadline for submissions is March 1, 2013, and the reading fee is $20 per entry. For more information, please go to www.writersatwork.org.

4. Achievements

Nate Mills’s article “Cleaver/Baldwin Revisited: Naturalism and the Gendering of Black Revolution” was published in Studies in American Naturalism 7.1 (2012): 50-79.