Thursday's Notes

1. Announcements:

• Students wishing to add/drop a class or change the basis of grading after Feb. 16 must receive signatures of the instructor and the Associate Chair on the Change of Schedule Petition. After Feb. 23, students will be allowed to add/drop a class or change the basis of grading "only in cases where the student can provide written proof of extraordinary circumstances that have arisen from events beyond his or her control," according to the 2007 Schedule of Classes (13).
• The English Department Alumni Newsletter is now available online at http://www.csun.edu/english/newsletters/newsletter.html. The Newsletter, along with archives of past newsletters, can be accessed by clicking the Alumni Newsletter link, which has been added to the English Department home page.
• Please remember to submit a copy of your Spring 2007 syllabus to Jennifer Lu so that it may be filed in the Conference Room. Your syllabus is useful in at least two ways: It can be useful in the future for an instructor who may be teaching a course for the first time, and it can be used by the Associate Chair when determining whether some courses can be used for course substitutions (this is especially true for special topics courses, such as Honors tutorials and senior seminars).

2. Reminders:

• Nominations for the 2007 Faculty Awards are being accepted until Feb. 26.  The Awards are: Outstanding Faculty (up to 2 awards, $1,500 each); Distinguished Teaching, Counseling, or Librarianship (up to 3 awards, $1,000 each); Preeminent Scholarly Publication(s) ($1,000); Exceptional Creative Accomplishment(s) ($1,000); Extraordinary Service ($1,000); and Visionary Community Service-Learning ($1,000). For more information, please visit: http://www.csun.edu/senate/awards/awards.html.
• The annual Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity Awards provide faculty the opportunity to receive up to $5,000 to pursue their scholarly and creative interests.  Faculty may apply for three units of released time and/or funds for project expenses. The deadline for submission of applications is 5 p.m. Feb. 26. Applications should be submitted to the Office of Research and Sponsored Projects in University Hall 265. Faculty may also obtain application materials from our web page at: http://www.csun.edu/research.
• Applications for the Faculty Early Retirement Program should be submitted six months prior to the beginning of the academic year in which the faculty member plans to begin participating in the program. The deadline for applications for this year is Feb. 20. If you have questions, contact Penelope Jennings, Associate Vice President of Faculty Affairs, at extension 2962.
• The English Department has a set of instructions for using the AIS Toolbar to check the accessibility of web pages. The instructions can be found at http://www.csun.edu/english/AISToolbar.html .
• Thursday’s Notes is also published weekly on our department webpage. Please submit items for upcoming Thursday’s Notes to Scott Andrews, the Associate Chair, or to the Thursday’s Notes folder in Martha Alzamora’s office.

3. Faculty/Student/Staff Achievements:

• Retired professor Tony Arthus has been invited to discuss his biography of Upton sinclair with Stu Levitan, of the Air America affiliate in Madison, Wis., WXXM-FM 92.1. The show is called Sundays with Stu and is scheduled to air on Feb. 11, from 10 a.m. to noon, on that station. Tony was also interviewed by Patt Morrison on KPCC on Dec. 22. He returned from his six-week Fulbright to Dortmund, Germany, on Dec. 20. While in Europe he gave talks in Hamburg, Munich, and Budapest.

4. New Items in the Thursday’s Notes file (ST708) or on Bulletin Board (Outside 710)

Competitions and Fellowships 

• CSUN’s La Raza Alumni Association is taking applications for two scholarships: The Rudy Acuna Scholarship and the Frank del Olmo Memorial Scholarship. The awards will range from $500 to $1,000. The application deadline is March 16. Applicants must submit a brief essay answering the following question: “Our communities are constantly battling many social and economic problems.  How would you be able to make positive changes in the community through your intended major?” For applications, contact the College of Humanities Student Services Center, 240 Jerome Richfield.
• The CSU Foundation has a variety of endowed scholarships available, including: The Wilson C. Riles Education Scholarship, which will provide four $1,000 awards for first-generation college students enrolled in a CSU teaching credential program, and The Angelina Aliberti Ruggie and Lawrence L. Ruggie Endowed Scholarship, which will provide two $1,250 awards for students studying the humanities at selected campuses. For a complete list of scholarships, visit http://www.calstate.edu/foundation/Scholarship.shtml.
• The University of California, Riverside’s 14th Annual Graduate Humanities Conference, (dis)junctions 2007, is accepting paper proposals. This year’s conference is titled “Malappropriation Nation” and submissions ideally will concern “conventional or popular theories [that] are used and in turned reworked/rethought/re-imagined in ways that may be more useful and empowering.” For information on the conference, visit http://english.ucr.edu/gsea/disjunctions/. Abstract submissions are due Feb. 16. The conference is scheduled for April 6 and 7.
• The UCR graduate students are also hosting the 5th Annual CINtax Film Forum on April 7. You can submit a DVD/VHS project of 1 to 20 minutes in length by Feb. 27. For more information, visit http://english.ucr.edu/gsea/disjunctions/.
• The 12th Annual CSU Graduate Conference, “Significations,” is accepting submissions for papers examining “the significations of language, word, and image, as well as literary representations of meaning and experience,” according to the conference flyer. The deadline for submissions is March 3. For submission guidelines, contact significations2007@yahoo.com.

Jobs and Opportunities 

• Student Affairs is seeking a student to assist with the editing of the First Year Experience (FYE) Web Project. Applicants should have excellent writing abilities. Minimal computer skills are needed. For more information, contact Angel Viramontes at angel.viramontes.19@csun.edu.
• Antelope Valley College is seeking a full-time administrative assistant in Instructional Resources and Extended Services (for the Lancaster campus and the Palmdale satellite campus). The application deadline is Feb. 9. For more information, visit: http://www.avc.edu.

Compiled by Scott Andrews, Associate Chair

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