Dear Colleagues,
Notices:
Please consider attending this Wednesday’s brainstorming session and Friday’s meeting with the Dean and Provost. All tenure-line faculty, lecturers, and staff are welcome. The Provost has been visiting departments across campus, so this is our opportunity to introduce ourselves and outline our priorities.
Please submit any funding requests for Spring 2022 by 1 February. This includes event funding, Humanities in Action funding, and lecturer and graduate student travel funding. The AC will review all requests at a 2/9/22 meeting. Requests (or queries about what is required) can be emailed to qbailey@sdsu.edu.
Tenure-line faculty: please send course requests for Spring 2023 to qbailey@sdsu.edu, ideally by Wednesday 26 January. Katie and I will present a first draft of the Sp 23 schedule to the Dean’s Office Friday 11 February so need some time to balance curricular needs with requests and availability. Please indicate which courses you would ideally like to teach, which you are willing to teach to help the department meet curricular and student demand, and let me know any factors that might impact your availability.
The deadlines for periodic evaluation have been extended by two weeks. Tenured and temporary faculty undergoing a periodic evaluation in Spring 22 must now submit material to Interfolio by 28 February 2022.
Faculty can start adding students to their classes from their waitlists on Wednesday 19 January. Students will be auto-enrolled in available seats through Tuesday 25 January, with faculty able to add students manually until the add/ drop deadline of Tuesday 1 February. Please consider adding students if possible to your classes, but keep in mind the capacity of the in-person classroom you have been assigned.
As they did in Spring 2021, Jessica Pressman and Joseph Thomas will be splitting the role of Graduate Director this semester. Thank you to both for stepping in. Joseph will focus on applications to the MA program and Jessica will take responsibility for helping students graduate from the program. Stephen-Paul Martin is the MFA Director in Spring 2022 and Clare Colquitt continues as Undergraduate Director. The Advisory Committee will be made up of Clare, Stephen-Paul, Joseph [acting grad director], and Jessica [elected, at-large member and acting MA adviser]. Please let them know if you have issues you would like the AC to consider.
Dates:
Department meeting this coming Wednesday 19 January at 12 noon to discuss the upcoming meeting with the Provost and Dean: https://SDSU.zoom.us/j/
85350621041. All are welcome to attend.
Department meeting with Provost Ochoa and Dean Casper, Friday 21 January, 9-10 am. https://SDSU.zoom.us/j/
83491599813. All faculty and staff are invited and encouraged to attend.
SDSU returns to in-person classes on Monday 7 February.
Diana Leong will deliver the annual Warner Innovation Lecture Monday 21 March at 12 noon.
This year's NCSCL Visiting Scholar's Lecture, "A 'Damn Mob' of Scribbling Girls: From Jo March to Starr Carter" by Maria Tatar, will be held Wednesday 23 March from 4:00-5:30 PM in the Leon Williams Room (LL-430) of the San Diego State University Library.
The MFA Reading will take place Friday 6 May at 7 pm.
The CAL Commencement ceremony will be held Friday 13 May at 3 pm in Viejas Arena. It will be preceded by a departmental event from 11-12.30 pm in the Tula Community Center.
Good News:
- Stephen-Paul Martin’s latest story, “Sacred Places” will be published later this month by The Antonym, a journal based in Kolkata, India. The story will also be translated into Bengali and published in Anubad Patrika, another Kolkata-based journal.
Bill Nericcio featured in a recent issue of the Union-Tribune for his work with SDSU Press: https://www.
sandiegouniontribune.com/ entertainment/books/story/ 2021-12-04/comic-stans-new- sdsu-press-imprint-mixes- scholarly-study-with-a- graphic-novel-ethos
Matt de la Peña has been awarded the Alma Flor Ada Award by SDSU’s Department of Dual Language and English Learner Education for his book Love and in recognition of his commitment to bicultural literacy.
- Jessica Pressman gave lectures about her book, Bookishness, to two different local groups of "lifelong learners" organized by two different universities: UCSD’s Osher Institute for Lifelong Learners (in October) and USD’s University of the Third Age (U3A) (on 13 January 2022).
Visiting Professor Ronit Weiss-Berkowitz’s thriller ‘The Girl from Oslo’ is Netflix’s fourth most-watched show. Ronit taught screenwriting in the department in Spring 19 and Fall 21 as part of the Visiting Israeli Artists Program, and wrote the series during her first semester here: https://www.
sandiegouniontribune.com/ entertainment/story/2022-01- 14/netflix-girl-from-oslo-san- diego-connection?fbclid= IwAR06N92mMyiAw6_ aDuO0PaehUyWTPMJpWFtFqDeXOJhD_ GEdoVlHBjjHy-U
Resources:
The meeting calendar is attached, listing department, advisory committee, and graduate committee meetings.
The Academic Operations Guidelines provide useful information on masking requirements and how to deal with issues surrounding masking in classrooms (both for faculty and students): https://sdsuedu.sharepoint.
com/sites/stratcomm/SitePages/ Provost/academic-operations- spring-2022.aspx
There are resources available to help faculty and students deal with grief, loss, or other challenging events in their lives. Details may be found at https://www.sdsu.edu/contact#
campus-support-services. In particular, faculty may contact EAP (Employee Assistance Program) on 1 800 367 7474 or find out details at https://sdsuedu.sharepoint. com/sites/BFA/HR/benefits/ Pages/eap.aspx
