Provost Communication, Wednesday, November 6, 2024

Good morning, everyone. It’s post-election Wednesday, and emotions are running strong today. Please take care of one another, create space to talk, and offer grace. 

Student Focused Post Election Activity Today, November 6, 2024, from 11 am-2 pm

I wanted to remind everyone that the Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) has a planned post-election event scheduled today entitled: "Stress Less Fest". It is being held from 11 am to 2 pm and will take place on the lawn outside of the Student Health Center (SHC) weather permitting otherwise it will move to Nelson Hall East 106. The event will include free snacks, tea, crafts, music, activities (like rock painting), wellbeing education resources, etc.  At 1 pm CAPS will host a listening circle for students who want to talk about stress and feelings from the election. 

URPC Divisional Presentations

Thanks to those of you who were able to join the University Resources and Planning Committee (URPC) last Friday for the first of three sessions dedicated to Divisional Reporting of budget reductions and impacts for last fiscal year. On Friday, we heard from the President’s Division, University Wide, and Administrative Affairs. Thanks to Mike Fisher for partnering with me to deliver these presentations. If you missed them, you can view them on this link. 

Next Friday, November 15th, 2024 we will resume the divisional presentations at the next URPC meeting from 1 pm-2:30 pm and hear from Academic Affairs and Enrollment Management. The Zoom link and time certains will be shared next week. Looking forward to continued engagement. 

National Enrollment Update

I wanted to share with you this recently released National Student Clearinghouse update, which summarizes early results from fall enrollment in the U.S. While enrollment overall increased nationally, the big news is that this fall, freshman enrollment declined 5% across the nation. Four-year public institutions, like ours, actually declined 8.5% in freshman enrollment since last year.  As I am sure you recall, our campus saw a slight dip in freshman numbers, but nothing of this magnitude, and also managed to significantly increase our new, upper-division transfer enrollment and our retention of current students. This means we are outperforming many of our peers, thanks to the strategic work that is underway. 

Native American Heritage Month and Fall 2024 Film Series

Throughout the month of November, you can join the Rou Dalagurr Food Sovereignty Lab and Traditional Ecological Knowledges Institute’s Fall 2024 Film Series for film screenings and guest visitors! These will be outdoor screenings (with heat lamps) so please bring your own chair and blankets! They will have snacks and drinks and this will go on RAIN OR SHINE.  

Films begin at 5:30 pm in the Wiyot Plaza (BSS Courtyard at the Cal Poly Humboldt Campus)

SCHEDULE:

• Tomorrow, Thursday, November 7: Love in the Valley & In.dig.e.nous Economics with special guest Lonnie Anderson (Apache Director)

• Thursday, November 14: Spirit Rangers Family Night, with Special Guest and Spirit Rangers Cast member Isis Rogers (Hupa)

• Thursday, November 21: Rez Ball

"Notes on Cure, Disability, and Natural Worlds" with Eli Clare

 Eli Clare will be speaking to Cal Poly Humboldt tomorrow Thursday, November 7, from 3-4:30 pm to present his talk, "Notes on Cure, Disability, and Natural Worlds.” This is a hybrid event and Clare will speak to us via Zoom, but the event will be held in the library fishbowl, or you can now join via Zoom here. 

Clare's work sits at the intersection of disability, queer ecological thought, and the craft of activist writing. His work pushes against dominant discourses of "cure" in both ecological and social realms, and explores the ableist ways that ideas about "healthy" environments and "healthy" humans mutually reinforce each other, often to the exclusion of more queer ecological modes.

This talk is being hosted by the Environmental Studies Department, and co-sponsored by the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, the ESM JEDI committee, and the Departments of Environmental Science and Management, Philosophy, Geography, Environment & Spatial Analysis, & Critical Race, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Much gratitude to all for helping to host Clare

Have a great rest of your week and a long three-day weekend. In honor of Veteran’s Day I wanted to share with you all some information about a documentary by a friend and colleague called, “Sacred Texts of War”. It was produced by Cristina Mendonsa in collaboration with the Center for Post Traumatic Growth (CPTG) and follows six veterans from Vietnam to Afghanistan as they recount their experiences and how they used narrative therapy to overcome "moral injury" which includes depression and suicidal thoughts. The film premieres on PBS today, November 6, 2024, at 7 pm. The film will be part of the “Viewfinder” series. 

Sincerely,

Jenn Capps

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Jenn Capps, PhD 

Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs 

Cal Poly Humboldt