CSU leaders address plans for Fall semester at two town halls 17 May, 2021
Photo from 2019 by CSU Photography
Colorado State University leaders hosted two town halls this month for faculty, staff, students and their families to learn more about the return to in-person learning and working in the fall.
At a May 7 session attended by more than 1,000 people on Zoom, President Joyce McConnell and members of her leadership team addressed a variety of topics, including how hybrid courses are being restored to face-to-face delivery and how student and employee vaccination records will be secured.
Provost and Executive Vice President Mary Pederson said CSU will return to primarily in-person teaching in the fall. The process has started with many large-capacity classes being restored to a completely in-person format, and departments have been submitting their course changes to the Office of the Registrar. She added that even if they are teaching face-to-face, faculty are encouraged
A year of changes: Faculty Council in review 14 May, 2021
Colorado State University’s Faculty Council had a full year of jam-packed meetings, covering various discussions, task force reports, elections, regular reports from President Joyce McConnell and Provost Mary Pedersen, as well as key revisions to the Faculty and Administrative Professional Manual.
Included in these manual changes were revisions to Sections E and C, made in response to efforts to improve University commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Other changes involved expanded participation of non-tenure track faculty in Faculty Council processes, increased acknowledgement of shared governance, a new Presidential survey, improvements to intellectual property protections, consideration of a new standing committee on information technology, and approval of a full rewrite of the Title IX Appendices.
At the May 6 meeting of the Colorado State University System Board of Governors, President Joyce McConnell shared plans for mostly in-person learning, events and university operations on campus this fall, largely made possible by the recently announced vaccine requirement. McConnell also advocated for a 3% merit pool to provide pay increases for faculty and administrative professional staff, along with a 3% increase in teaching and research assistant stipends for graduate students. That degree of additional salary support would match what is planned for classified personnel across the state.
A Year Like No Other: President’s report reflects on impacts of COVID-19 10 May, 2021
In February 2020, Colorado State University had just celebrated the 150
th year since its founding. The collective celebration was to continue under the greening leaves of the historic Oval and among beds of tulips poking through the soil.
Days before spring break, however, everything had changed. The COVID-19 pandemic was accelerating and President Joyce McConnell shared the news with the CSU community that learning was shifting to online only.
Students headed home. Frontline workers donned masks and learned new ways of doing their critical work. Faculty and staff reconvened in front of screens at dining tables and in home offices. CSU’s 150
Demo Day goes virtual for 2021 on custom presentation platform 21 Apr, 2021
Preview of the “Internet of Soil” submission in the College of Agricultural Sciences, opened to the individual submission. Notice the rows of startup companies (for the startup company showcase) and the rows of Poster Showcase submissions behind the introduction video.
CSU Ventures, the technology transfer office for Colorado State University, is hosting its annual innovation symposium, CSU Demo Day, as a virtual event on April 27-29.
All eight colleges at CSU are represented in this year’s event, with submissions highlighting the incredible innovative work that has flourished at all levels despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the constraints across educational and research spaces at CSU.