Provost Newsletter February 2023
A Note From the Provost
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Dear Faculty and Staff,
April, marking my first 100 days at CSUN, has been a busy month. I am immersed in the Retention-Tenure-Promotion (RTP) process, but I feel at home here now and do make it a point to take time to enjoy our campus. You might even see me during one of my regular workouts at the SRC!
I enjoy discovering various gems on campus and am frequently amazed at the wonderful things being done in so many of our programs. For instance, I recently attended several events that were encouraging and inspiring: the Explore CSUN this past weekend, where I met with numerous newly admitted students who are considering coming to CSUN this Fall 2023 semester; the CSUNposium, an Annual Student Research and Creative Works Conference, where I enjoyed listening to our undergraduate and graduate students share their work; the EOP Spring Social offering games, food, raffles and community for students, staff and faculty, as well as the groundbreaking for the Autodesk Technology Engagement Center, which will be a unique space for connecting underserved students with STEM learning and career readiness.
Each of us plays a role in student success, and your support of the GI2025 events this semester demonstrates that you understand this and care deeply for our students. Almost 200 people attended “GI2025 Strategies and Our Road Ahead” on April 12. Our focus was on retention. In opening remarks, I acknowledged that retention is influenced by many variables, some that we don’t have control over and some that we could potentially influence. So, we looked more closely at how to make our teaching more innovative. Faculty Development and The Institute for Transformative Teaching & Learning led a wonderful panel of faculty sharing their approaches to reduce equity gaps for their students through their teaching pedagogy. A data presentation by Janet Oh, Senior Director of Institutional Research showed clearly that not passing classes in the first year at CSUN increases the chance that a student will never come back. What happens in the classroom is only one of the many variables that affects retention, but anything we can do to improve the performance of students will have a positive impact. As we closed out the session, it was encouraging and inspiring to hear attendees share the best practices that are currently in play at CSUN and plans for next steps. We know, too, that advisement plays an important role in student retention, so we are continuing to work on expanding our advisement team.
The quality of our academic programs is only as good as the quality of our people, and I have seen that CSUN faculty and staff are among the best. When I came to CSUN in January, we were in the middle of a search for our new Dean of Health and Human Development (HHD), and I am pleased with the appointment of Dr. Mechelle Best as Dean effective May 1. Many of you know Dr. Best, who is in her fifteenth year of service at CSUN and has served as interim Dean of HHD since November 2021. She will be a terrific dean.
As we approach the completion of a successful academic year, I am continually impressed by the hard work, talent and innovation of our staff and faculty, and I am proud to count myself a Matador. With final exams on the horizon, I am sure that you, like me, are eagerly looking forward to Commencement, taking place May 19-25. In the meantime, keep striving, keep learning, keep doing your best to make CSUN shine for our students.
Sincerely,
Meera
Meera Komarraju, Ph.D.
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
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