Provost Communication, Monday, April 17, 2023

Hello, and happy Monday. I hope you enjoyed your weekend. This time of year can feel particularly exhausting and I really appreciate all that you are doing to support the success of our students. 

Well Done!

Congratulations to the 2023 McCrone Promising Faculty Scholars:

Dr. Rouhollah Aghasaleh, Education

Dr. Oscar Vargas, Biological Sciences

Dr. Paul Michael Leonardo Atienza, Critical Race, Gender and Sexuality Studies (CRGS)

And the 2023 Alistair and Judith McCrone Graduate Fellowship Awardee:

Regina Khoury, Environmental Systems (Geology)

Summer Session

Thanks to everyone who has worked so hard putting together our summer session this year. It has been a particularly big lift as most of the summer session transitions from self-support to stateside. This will provide greater access to our students and allow summer courses to count toward our overall FTES which will assist our campus in working to minimize a state funding reduction due to enrollment recalibration. Additionally, we are able to cover the cost of up to six units for many undergraduates. In order to do this, we must require a higher fill rate for our summer courses to avoid course cancellation. This fill rate is 75%. Of course, some limited exceptions may apply particularly for courses that are large. For more information on summer session click here or discuss this further with your dean and/or associate dean.

Decolonizing Economics Summit: The 4th Annual Post-Capitalism Conference: Thursday, April 20 - Saturday, April 22, 2023

For the last three years, the Post-Capitalism Conference has brought together organizers, academics, leaders, students, workers, artists, and creators to imagine a world beyond ecological, economic, social, and political crises. This year's summit will be virtual with an in-person closing ceremony/Earth Day celebration at Pierson Park in McKinleyville, CA. A full schedule can be found here. Learn more and register at the Decolonizing Economics Summit website.

Teaching Excellence Symposium Registration: Friday, April 28, 2023, from 11 am-2 pm

As Humboldt reimagines itself as a polytechnic institution, educators continue to create innovative ways to further learning excellence within and across the disciplines. This year’s symposium celebrates this creativity. 

Join your colleagues on Friday, April 28, 2023, from 11 am-2 pm in the Authors’ Hall on the second floor of the library.  Lunch will be provided to registered attendees. Hear from a panel of educators on how they are imagining their work within a polytechnic, followed by an Open Digital Interactive Session for colleagues to connect with one another and learn more about what we as a Cal Poly campus are doing to further teaching excellence.  The Center for Teaching & Learning is thrilled to host a collegial space for educators to explore and celebrate their support of students at Humboldt! 

Additionally, in partnership with the Library, there are two workshops bookending the Teaching Excellence Symposium. Both workshops are facilitated by Ryne Leuzinger, a Research and Instruction Librarian at Cal State Monterey Bay. 

Workshop 1: Transparent Assignment Design (All faculty), 9:00 am-10:30 am, Library 308

In this interactive workshop, Ryne will introduce faculty to the cross-disciplinary transparent assignment design framework (https://tilthighered.com/tiltexamplesandresources) through an overview of how these evidence-based practices have benefited both students and instructors (e.g. assignments that are easier to grade). Participants will work to design or refine an assignment of theirs via the transparent assignment design framework.

Workshop 2: Metacognitive Reading Skills and Information Literacy Instruction (Librarians), 2:30-4:00 pm, Library 308

This workshop will involve an overview of Ryne’s scholarship and teaching practices related to Reading Apprenticeship, an approach designed to improve students’ ability to comprehend and think critically about advanced or unfamiliar texts. Fundamental to this framework is that when instructors become more aware of the complexity inherent in how they themselves make sense of text, they gain a new appreciation for the difficulties students face. Thus, in doing so they are better able to make their invisible comprehension strategies visible (or transparent) to students and create a culture of shared problem-solving around reading. 

Click Here to Register for the Symposium and/or Workshops

Have a terrific week.

Jenn Capps

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Jenn Capps, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs