1. Announcements
For those of you who might have missed our own Jackie Stallcup‘s moment of fame, do check out this article, “For Chairs, the Seat’s Gotten Hotter” (Dec. 2, 2013) by Audrey Williams June in the Chronicle of Higher Education at http://chronicle.com/article/Department-Chairs-Find/143309/.
President Dianne F. Harrison and the Cabinet have cordially invite you and a guest to CSUN’s holiday party to celebrate the good work of our faculty and staff in the Valley Performing Arts Center on Wednesday, December 18, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The evening will include activities and giveaways including a “let your CSUN shine” talent and karaoke competition — groups are encouraged; pre-registration is necessary.Please reply and signup for the talent/karaoke competition by December 5 (which is today). Light hors d’oeuvres will be provided by The University Corporation and the student a cappella group Acasola will be performing. In the spirit of the holidays, new and unwrapped toy donations on behalf of the San Fernando Valley Rescue Mission will be collected. For more information or to RSVP, please contact (818) 677-1300, or email holiday@csun.edu.
Also, tomorrow is the deadline for the CSU Symposium on University Teaching submission to be held on March 8 at CSU San Marcos, with a pre conference to be held on March 7. This year’s theme is Cultivating Human Connection in the 21st-Century University, and Faculty Development would like you to know that they have funds available to cover the cost of fees and mileage. For more information, please see http://www.csusm.edu/fc/CSUsymposium/index.html and http://www.csusm.edu/fc/CSUsymposium/call_for_submissions.html
CSUN’s student playwriting club, Desert Performance Lab, will having an all-day (from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.) fundraiser on Friday, December 13 at the Pizza Rev on the cross streets of Vincennes and Reseda (9420 Reseda). Please plan to curb those term end hunger pangs by stopping and mentioning the Desert Performance Lab, and 15% of your purchases will go to the club. The club plans to stage a play in the early part of the Spring 2014 semester and needs our help now!
2. Reminders
Don’t forget the Department holiday party, which is tomorrow, December 6, in the Linda Nichols Joseph Room from noon to 3:00 p.m. Take a break from finals and come to enjoy good food and holidays spirits with all who have shared this term together, and be there when our various Department awards are announced and our outstanding students are honored. It’s not to be missed.
Even though grades aren’t officially due until Christmas Eve, please try to get yours in by Monday, December 23 before 4 p.m.. As we all know, department staff must monitor the number of grade rosters left to submit and also be on hand to help with any difficulties that we might have. It’s hard on them to have to be doing this on Christmas Eve and it will be hard on YOU if (as in years past) the governor offers his last minute early Christmas present and lets us all go home early. As Jackie says, please, let’s all celebrate the holidays together on December 23 at 4 p.m. by raising our hands and our voices in a glad shout: “The grades are all in!”
And here’s a reminder of the Faculty Authored Materials policy of the CSUN Faculty Senate available at http://www.csun.edu/senate/policies_docs1.html under the Frequently Requested Policies drop-down menu. The policy spells out the circumstances under which faculty may adopt self-authored works in their courses (2.2) as well as the prohibition against the acceptance of personal royalties derived from the sale of course materials through the bookstore, Quick Copies, etc. (2.3). If royalties, not in excess of 5% of the cost, are charged they must be deposited into a department account and such funds must be used to benefit students (2.4).
Finally, if there are any of you still out there who haven’t ordered books for next term, please do so as soon as humanly possible. The Bookstore, and your students, will thank you.
3. Opportunities
Cargoes literary magazine of Hollins University is pleased to announce it’s national undergraduate poetry and fiction competition, with judges Michael Chitwood, fiction, and Catie Rosemurgy, poetry. Winners will receive a $200 cash prize as well as publication in this year’s Cargoes. Entrants must be a current undergraduate student at a university or college in the United States and may submit up to one (1) short story or three (3) poems. For more information, please email cargoes@hollins.edu. And please let your students know.
Here’s another exciting opportunity for students: Avon Books and Avon Impulse, imprints of HarperCollins Publishers, invite your graduate and undergraduate writing students to submit original romance manuscripts. Three student winners will receive one-on-one editorial consultation, and all entries will be considered for publication! Entries will be judged by the Avon Editorial Team and Academic Marketing, focusing on content, originality, voice, characterization, and romantic plot. To learn more about the contest guidelines and deadlines, please click here.
4. Achievements
Aside from Jackie’s being featured in the Chronicle of Higher Education, the most notable achievement for this Thursday’s Notes, the final edition of Fall 2013, is one we all share — that once again we have made it through, or very nearly, another memorable semester. And whether this is one of your first and one of many, it is always a mixed and humbling experience to reflect on the weeks we have just passed through. As happy as we all are to be finishing up, aren’t there things about this term we’re going to miss? Here’s wishing everyone fabulous holidays and an equally fabulous winter break, both well earned and richly deserved.