University Spotlight

Issue 6, January 21, 2023

Pole Decorating Contest

Strategic Enrollment & Recruitment

Partnerships between Student Affairs and Academic Affairs have been established to address the university’s declining enrollment. Strategies have been devised and implemented to invite students back to Cal State East Bay. And the university is working incredibly hard to bring new students to the campus. Some good news is that our international student population has grown significantly.

Rob Williams

University Diversity Officer

Dr. Kathleen Wong (Lau) is our new University Diversity Officer. I have already started working with her. She is a significant positive addition to our campus community.

Rob Williams

JEDI Efforts

Thank you to all departments and centers for submitting documentation to the university on your efforts to redress and abolish discrimination, racism, homophobia, classism, and deeply ingrained dehumanizing policies and practices. The Council of Chairs will jointly review these submissions while the university administration will review the entire campus’s submissions.

Rob Williams

Issue 5, November 18, 2022

We Must Win the Pole Decorating Contest This Year!

Thanks to Saehya, Eve, Keelin, and Michele for taking the lead on our award winning pole decorations. Please give them whatever support they need to ensure that our decorations stand out. Meanwhile, please join the Annual Faculty and Staff Holiday Party on December 8th from 3 to 5 pm. Free food and you will be able to vote on the best decorated light pole. RSVP here.

Strategic Enrollment & Recruitment

Partnerships between Student Affairs and Academic Affairs have been established to address the university’s declining enrollment. Strategies have been devised and implemented to invite students back to Cal State East Bay. And the university is working incredibly hard to bring new students to the campus. Some good news is that our international student population has grown significantly.

Rob Williams

If you believe you can or you can’t, you are right.

Thomas Edison

University Diversity Officer

Dean Williams Co-Chaired the UDO Search Committee with Balvinder Kumar this year. Our work is complete. The president will decide who will come to campus to be interviewed. Please look for an announcement soon for interviews during the week after the Fall Break.

Rob Williams

Check this out!

The 2022 Brown Lecture in Education Research was delivered by John B. Diamond of Brown University. He referenced his book Defending the color line. In his lecture, he talked about how our integrated schools are characterized by segregation. He talked about how silencing dissent through book banning and the introduction of laws to ban Critical Race Theory are all strategies to keep people in power, and to establish a non- critical mass of Americans. This was a great lecture that is worth watching and listening to.

Issue 4, November 10, 2022

We Must Win the Pole Decorating Contest This Year!

Who is with me on this?!! The annual Pole Decorating Contest is December 8. I have submitted a request for our college to decorate a pole. We have a college full of creative people, who can see beauty, and art in a plain light pole. Let me know whether you want to be on the team. Right now, it’s just the dean and Saehya, who volunteered to join the team one year ago. Let’s do it. Whoo hoo!

And there is an annual Faculty/Staff Holiday Party from 3 to 5 pm on December 8, 2022 on the Fremont Green.

Rob Williams

Equity & Excellence Self-Paced Course

This is for staff and faculty! The Chancellor’s Office has created a free course called “Setting the Foundation for Advancing Racial Equity in Education.” More information about this program can be found on the Center for Transformational Educator Preparation Programs website. If you are not in teacher ed, don’t despair; this program is still for you. There are two additional courses that require a fee. University-wide and across the CSU, we are having discussions about how to make the additional courses available to all. We are also talking about whether to add a financial incentive to encourage everyone to participate in the courses that require a fee. Look for more information on this soon.

Rob Williams

Issue 3, November 4, 2022

K-16 Collaborative

The Las Positas-Chabot Community College District is the fiscal lead for a region-wide planning grant. SJSU, SF State, and CSUEB are the sub-regional Co-PIs for this grant. Cal Berkeley is the region-wide Co-PI. Dean Williams is the lead Co-PI for the East Bay subregion which includes PK-16 for Contra Costa County and Alameda County and all community colleges. The goal is to achieve equitable pathways from cradle to career. Many, many partners are involved in this effort – too many to name. However, please acknowledge Dr. Edgar Chavez, Executive Director of Hayward Promise Neighborhood. His involvement has been impossible to quantify. More information will be shared in the weeks, months, and possibly years to come.

Rob Williams

Equity & Excellence Self-Paced Course

This is for staff and faculty! The Chancellor’s Office has created a free course called “Setting the Foundation for Advancing Racial Equity in Education.” More information about this program can be found on the Center for Transformational Educator Preparation Programs website. If you are not in teacher ed, don’t despair; this program is still for you. There are two additional courses that require a fee. University-wide and across the CSU, we are having discussions about how to make the additional courses available to all. We are also talking about whether to add a financial incentive to encourage everyone to participate in the courses that require a fee. Look for more information on this soon.

Rob Williams

Issue 2, October 24, 2022

Darryl Camp honored as Alumnus of the Year

On October 21st, Darryl Camp was honored by the university and the college as Alumnus of the Year. Dr. Camp is the current superintendent of San Lorenzo Unified School District. Dr. Camp spoke highly of his time at East Bay, as did all of the honorees from the other three colleges. Please join me in applauding Dr. Camp for this high honor.

Rob Williams

Paycheck Problems

Dear CEAS Community, I have sent the names of faculty who were either underpaid or never paid for their raises or summer work. This situation is well out of my hands, but some relief is available via an Emergency Pay Advance. Please check the most recent Academic Affairs Newsletter (October 18) to obtain more information on this stop-gap measure.

Rob Williams

Universal Design for Learning

A very important priority for this college is that we seamlessly adopt a Universal Design for Learning ethos everywhere. To that end, UDL support is available:

UDL Open Hours: Drop in virtual Universal Design for Learning (UDL) peer support office hours! No sign-up is needed - just stop by during University Hour (12:15-1:15) on any of the following days via Zoom: UDL Open Office Hours Zoom Link

Thursday, October 25, 2022

Thursday, November 10, 2022

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Indirect Cost Redistribution

Issue 1, October 14, 2022

WASC, FUTURE DIRECTIONS & JEDI

Our college’s ongoing commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti- racism (see more) is fully aligned with the East Bay President’s Future Directions Initiative (see more) and WASC’s expectation that our university embody equity and inclusion (see more). The President has requested all departments and units (includes CSSJ, KRG, CRECE, HPN, and all CEAS staff) to develop DEI plans in relation to Future Directions. Dean Williams will discuss this with Chairs next Tuesday. We will have two other priorities to respond to. Since we have a nice head start, all of us should be in good shape. December 2, 2022 will be our first deadline to submit plans. Dean Williams will be in contact with CSSJ, KRG, CRECE, HPN leadership, as well as the staff as a whole.

Rob Williams

University Diversity Officer Search is Underway

The search for a new permanent University Diversity Officer is well underway. Dean Williams is the cochair with Balvinder Kumar. The full committee will announce the next steps in the coming weeks.

Fifth College

The report from the Task Force that examined the feasibility of a fifth college has been released. You are invited to take a look at the report. I believe that the comment period has closed. But don’t despair, Dean Williams will speak up to ensure that the college is made whole in this process. The discussion is never closed until . . . it is truly closed.

Rob Williams