1. Announcements
It is with deep sadness that I share the news our former colleague, Lawrence Stewart, passed away on Friday morning, March 8, 2013. In an email from his former student and subsequent colleague, Nancy Williams, we learn that Lawrence had asked to be buried as soon as possible after his death and that he “should like to be reabsorbed by nature in as unpolluted a condition as possible.” George remembers him as a kind and thoughtful colleague with whom he once had the good fortune to share office space back in the 1980s. I learned much from his conversation. And although he retired shortly after my own arrival at CSUN, I, too, remember him as kind, but also as fiercely brilliant, as well as the author of Paul Bowles: The Illumination of North Africa. That he had known an author who was then one of my heroes – and indeed had brought him to CSUN to teach for a term – made him, as well, another hero to me. I have always felt honored to have had him as a colleague, however briefly, and know he will be sorely missed.
And, as a warm-up for this special evening, you won’t want to miss this Friday’s (March 15) Graduate Reading Series, featuring our very own Glenn Collins, Melanie Grafil, and Ely Ryder. The reading will be held in the LNJ Reading Room and begin at 7:00 p.m.
And for another exciting creative writing event, next week, Thursday, March 21, the Northridge Creative Writers’ Circle has the distinct honor of hosting a reading by the enchanting Jeffrey McDaniel in their professional reading series. This free event will be held in Chaparral Hall 5122 and begin at 7:30 p.m. McDaniel will be sharing work from his acclaimed collections of poetry, followed by a Q&A. His books will be available for purchase, though supply is limited. McDaniel is a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts fellowship and the author of four collections of poetry: Alibi School, Forgiveness Parade, Splinter Factory, and The Endarkenment. His work has been published in many journals and magazines, including The Best American Poetry (2004 and 2010) and The New Young American Poets. He teaches creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College. https://www.facebook.com/events/572190296132843/?fref=ts.
The Academy of American Poets Prize Competition is now accepting submissions for the 2013 award. The winner will receive a cash prize from the Academy of American Poets and publication in the Northridge Review. One Honorable Mention will also be awarded. To enter, students should submit one to three poems, accompanied by a cover sheet with student’s name, address, phone number, email address and the titles of poems submitted to the English Department Office in ST 706. Poems may be any length or style. Names should not appear on the poems. All work must be typed and submitted in duplicate for judging. Submissions are judged anonymously. The winners will be announced during the English Department Commencement celebration. For more information please contact Leilani Hall, at (818) 677-3428 or leilani.hall@csun.edu, or Dorothy Barresi, at (818) 677-0911 or dorothy.barresi@csun.edu.
Looking into the future, please mark on your calendars for another exciting Lopez film event on Friday, April 26, 2013, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., when he will be sponsoring, ta daa, Tom Jones, 1963 Best Picture Academy Award Winner, in a 50th Anniversary Celebration screening to take place in Nordhoff Hall 113. Following the screening, Lopez is also pleased to host noted Queer Theorist, Tim Dean, author of “Unlimited Intimacy: Reflections on the Subculture of Barebacking” (University of Chicago Press, 2009). Dean’s talk is free and open to the public, and don’t forget about the refreshments.
The 2013-2014 Instructionally Related Activities (IRA) fee request process is now open for applications. Please note that this is the first year that IRA will be using an on line application process and approvals by department chairs and deans by email. The deadline for electronic submission of IRA applications is 5:00 p.m., Monday, March 25, 2013 and the deadline to receive the department chair and dean approval emails is 5:00 p.m., Tuesday, April 2, 2013.The application and policies and procedures governing IRA can be found on the IRA website at: www.csun.edu/academic.resources/ira1.html. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the IRA Secretary, David Crandall at david.crandall@csun.edu or the campus President’s representative to IRA Board, Diane Stephens at diane.stephens@csun.edu.
Please don’t forget to vote in the ongoing Spring 2013 online faculty general election. This is your opportunity to vote for Faculty Officers, Statewide Academic Senators and Senators at Large. A link to candidate information sheets, providing short bios for each candidate, is available once you enter the ballot site or from the Faculty Senate web page (http://www.csun.edu/senate/ ).To log in, use your CSUN user ID and your CSUN password, and click here to cast your vote: http://www.csun.edu/senate/electionballot. If you have questions, experience technical difficulties, and/or would prefer a paper ballot, please contact Heidi Wolfbauer in the Faculty Senate Office at heidiw@csun.edu, or X3263. The election began on Wednesday, Marcy 6, and will continue through Wednesday, March 20, ad 5:00 p.m.
On Wednesday, April 3, from the Oviatt Library and Academic Affairs will be hosting a day-long symposium on the digital world we find ourselves in. <r>evolution of knowledge: the digital order of things <a symposium> will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the Jack and Florence Ferman Presentation Room of the Oviatt Library. Featuring a range of impressive speakers that includes our own President Dianne Harrison and Provost & Vice President for Academic Affairs, the conference will host a diverse panel of experts and address ways in which digital <r>evolution has transformed the creation, distribution, and consumption of knowledge, in presentations with such provocative titles as: New models of publication, content creation, distribution, consumption; New trends in education: digital tools, technology, systems; and The future: explorations on new ways for engaging content and the future of libraries. Lunch is included. Please RSVP by March 28, 2013 to mickey.martinez@csun.edu.
For more on the digital revolution, you also might be interested in the upcoming screening of the two pre-recorded webcasts sponsored Academic Affairs and hosted by Information Technology. These webcasts from ACE’s (American Council on Education) 95th Annual Meeting, Leading Change that took place March 2-5, 2013 in Washington, DC., and will include: 1. Learning Without Boundaries: MOOCs and the Future of Higher Education (recorded on Tuesday, March 5th); and 2. Higher Education and the Nation’s Employers: Charting Paths to Meet Workforce Needs of the 21st Century (recorded on Monday, March 4th). This event will take place on Wednesday, March 20, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Oviatt Room 30, and you are welcome to bring your lunch and nosh away while you view.
Music & Media, a service area of the Oviatt Library, continues to purchase new videos and DVDs for classroom use and student viewing. With yearly funding still available, please let them know if you have further suggestions. 1) You may post your suggestion online at http://library.csun.edu/Services/VideoRecommendation, or complete a Recommendation Form at Music & Media, located in the Oviatt Library, 2nd Floor, East Wing. But please do so as soon as possible to give them sufficient time to use this year’s funding and achieve their goal of creating a balanced collection to support instruction and to create new avenues of interest.
You are cordially invited to attend the 21st Annual Provost’s Colloquium featuring Dr. Richard Heermance, the Jerome Richfield Memorial Scholar for 2012-2013. The event is designed to recognize faculty achievement and to foster academic and social interactions among California State University, Northridge faculty. This event will take place on Wednesday, March 20, at 4:00 p.m. in the Jack & Florence Ferman Presentation Room (Oviatt Library Presentation Room) and feature Dr. Richard Heermance, Professor of Geological Sciences, presenting his paper, “10Be Cosmogenic Exposure Dating of Holocene Glacial Moraines in the Trinity Alps, N. California,” a beautiful part of this beautiful state. A reception will follow. To assist in planning, please RSVP by March 18, 2013, to x2901 or email research@csun.edu For more information on Dr. Heermance, visit http://www.csun.edu/~rvh97413/
2. Reminders
This is the last call for the very-soon-to-be-upon-us deadline of Friday, March 15 (by 4:00 p.m.), for the 2013-14 Judge Julian Beck Learning-Centered Instructional Projects grants competition. Beck Grants are aimed at supporting faculty projects that are specifically designed to promote learning-centered approaches and improve student learning. The grants provide 3-units of reassigned time OR up to $6000. More information on this grant may be found on http://blogs.csun.edu/faculty-development/rfp-for-2013-14-beck-grants/.
And don’t forget, either, the upcoming deadline of March 25 for the following Graduate Student Awards: Association of Retired Faculty Memorial Award, the Robert H. Schiffman Memorial Award for Outstanding Research Promise, and the Nathan O. Freedman Memorial Award for Outstanding Graduate Student. The following awards are available for graduate students. Details and applications are available at http://www.csun.edu/grip/graduatestudies/sfo/studentawards.html.
The 2013-2014 Freshman Common Reading at CSUN will be Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash by Edward Humes. The book offers a non-fiction exploration of America’s trash as (1) a problem, (2) a topic of scientific investigation, and (3) an opportunity for solutions and improvement. Humes will (almost certainly) be our Freshman Convocation speaker on September 12, 2013. A limited number of copies of the paperback edition are available from Cheryl Spector, on the condition that you agree to read it and speak to at least one freshman about it next year! Call or visit CIELO (Sierra Hall 437 or 438, x6535) to get your book and/or to RSVP for a book group meeting: http://www.csun.edu/afye/Garbology-for-Faculty-and-Staff.html. You can choose from four different book group sessions: March 18 (Monday), 2-3:15, CIELO: SH 439; March 19 (Tuesday), 2-3:15, CIELO: SH 439; April 17 (Wednesday), 2-3:15 p.m., CIELO: SH 439; April 18 (Thursday), 2-3:15 p.m., CIELO: SH 439
Here’s another mark your calendar reminder for the upcoming and very special Investiture Ceremony of President Harrison on Friday, May 17, 2013. Beginning at 11:00 a.m. that day, the investiture is the formal ceremony when California State University Chancellor, Timothy P. White will confer President Harrison with the Presidential Medallion, a symbol of her responsibilities to the University. The installation of a new president is a ceremony of dignity with many academic traditions and protocols including an academic procession with delegates from other colleges and universities, as well as CSUN’s own faculty in their colorful academic regalia. Don’t forget to mark your calendar – it promises to be a very special event.
And while we are planning far into the future, please don’t miss this opportunity to take advantage of the Dean’s very generous offer to rent us regalia for Graduation Day. The deadline for this offer is March 20th, 2013, and forms are available from Noreen Galvin, <noreen.galvin@csun.edu>, who also wants to know if we are willing to serve as Marshall’s this year. Here’s a helpful link to the Commencement & Honors Convocation website if you have any questions about the schedule, directions, procedures, etc. http://www.csun.edu/commencement/.
The bookstore is returning textbooks. If you need them to hold on to yours a bit longer, please let them know at the Text Department staff at x2913, or via email at 0150txt3@fheg.follett.com, if you would like us to hold a title.
3. Opportunites
The Office of Community Engagement is pleased to announce the opening of our grant season. This is your opportunity to apply for grants to support service learning courses in your discipline or across disciplines with colleagues. This year, three types of grand opportunities are available: 1) Course development grants ($1,000) — apply to revamp an already existing course to include service learning opportunities for your students; 2) Disciplinary Grants ($2,000) — one faculty member can apply to do a project with students in the community; 3) Interdisciplinary Grants ($5,000) — two or more faculty from different disciplines can apply to do a joint project with students in the community All grant applications are due by April 22nd at 5pm. Please bring materials to The Office of Community Engagement in SH443 or you can email all forms with signatures to joyce.burstein@csun.edu.
CSULB has launched a search for a Director of Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC). The director will be a university-wide resource for all faculty, departments, and programs that seek to integrate writing instruction and assessment into their courses and programs. Specific duties for the WAC Director include working with faculty and departments to create, implement, and assess writing-intensive GE capstone and writing in the discipline courses. The Director will also be responsible for professional development of faculty in helping them become more effective writing instructors. A more detailed description and information about applying can be found here: http://www.csulb.edu/divisions/aa/personnel/jobs/posting/1091/index.html
The Soka University of America, Aliso Viejo is seeking a Visiting Assistant Professor in Rhetoric and Composition and Director/Coordinator of the Writing Program. For more information, please visit the job announcement at http://www.soka.edu/administration/finance-and-administration/human-resources/job-opportunities/full-time-faculty/visiting-assistant-professor-of-rhetoric-and-composition.aspx.
4. Achievements
Dorothy Barresi’s long essay-review, “Thingness,” has been accepted for publication by The Gettysburg Review and will appear in the next issue, due out in July. Framed by Lucretius’ “On the Nature of Things,” the essay is a review of five new books of poetry and an exploration of how imagery is being deployed in postmodern poetry. She has had thirteen new poems accepted for publication: The Gettysburg Review has accepted “Face” and “Penny Impromptu.” “Contain Yourself” and “The New Retort Courteous to One Who is Forgotten” appear in the current issue of 5AM. Pool has accepted “Bones,” “Skinned Aces,” and “Privacy.” Silk Road has accepted “Vegan Heaven,” “Walnut Acres,” “August Explanation,” and “Art and Decay.” April 2-4 she will be Visiting Writer at Gettysburg College and University of Pittsburgh, giving poetry readings and visiting with classes at both schools.
Congratulations to Stephanie Harper, who was one of the twenty students to receive one of the new $5000 Graduate Fellowships for Research and Creative Activity. Although many more applied, we are thrilled for Stephanie, who, in addition to being selected from among eighty-one other applicants, was one of only two selected from the College of Humanities. Here’s hoping the program continues and that others will have the same success and good fortune next year.
Here are two happy/sad announcement/achievements: Rachael Jordan has been offered and accepted a full-time lectureship at CSU Channel Islands. Rachael started out at Channel Islands and we were lucky to have her in the years she’s spent here. Nicole Warwick has been offered and accepted a full-time position in the UC Santa Barbara Writing Program. Between her undergraduate days and now, Nicole has been with us since the turn of the century. While we will miss them both, we are thrilled by these new and exciting opportunities for our former students and current colleagues. And at least they will remain our good neighbors!