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  SEPTEMBER 2014     |      ISSUE: 13

Office of Sponsored Programs 

Bhaskar Jasti, Associate Provost for Research  
 

For current funding opportunities, please visit our Funding Opportunities Newsletters. The site is updated regularly, don't miss out!
 

New 'One Stop Shop' for Faculty Research

Improved Coordinated Support for External Funding for Scholarship
The Academic Division and University Development have partnered to provide a "one stop shop" to support faculty seeking external funds for scholarship/creative activities. The Provost and VP Atterbury worked with Bhaskar Jasti and Scott Biederman to integrate and improve support services for faculty in the preparation and submission of proposals to government, corporations and foundations. Additionally, the Academic Division has committed to hiring a senior grant writer whose primary responsibility is to assist in the preparation and submission of multi-disciplinary proposals. This individual will identify funding opportunities and facilitate the coordination of multi-disciplinary faculty teams for idea generation, as well as ensure that necessary components are in place for a strong proposal and submission.. A secondary responsibility is to assist faculty in preparing single investigator submissions, particularly, but not exclusively in the liberal arts. This position is funded for 3 years, after which the ROI will be evaluated.

In This Issue
Office of Enrollment Management
New Faculty Orientation
Upcoming Assessment and WASC Accreditation Activity
Tuesday World Forums
  
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Updates from the Academic Division

 

Developing Pacific's Academic Plan
As part of the Academic Planning and Alignment process, faculty in different parts of the University initiated some exciting conversations to collaborate across disciplines: to redesign current programs, build new interdisciplinary programs, provide new internship opportunities for students, and create joint scholarship projects. In their reflections, the Council of Deans realized that these discussions could be framed as part of a larger trend of "Crossing Boundaries for Academic Excellence" and would thereby serve as a driving image for the next phase of the academic planning process as we continue to implement Pacific 2020. We will build on the good work already being done, especially across the past few years.

 

"Crossing boundaries for academic excellence" recommits us to our integrative educational mission. We will build upon Pacific's existing academic strengths and values as a foundation for new avenues of program development and to attract new types of learners to benefit from "the Pacific experience".

 

The academic plan will be used to set Pacific's academic priorities for the next 3-5 years, focus our collective efforts and resources to enable our success, and will guide decisions about where we will invest new resources as we implement Pacific 2020. The plan will be completed by March 2015. It will then guide the development of a university-wide enrollment plan.

 

Deans have begun to engage unit faculty in conversations to understand what we're already doing to advance this vision and new kinds of initiatives we might undertake. In the spirit of this vision, the Provost Office will also host this fall a series of cross-unit conversations to explore ways we could "cross boundaries for academic excellence." Updates will be provided as the planning process unfolds. Stay tuned for these exciting conversations that will shape the future of Pacific's academic excellence.

Alignment of Academic Division Administrative Staff with Pacific 2020
The re-alignment of administrative support for the academic division to support the goals of Pacific 2020 is complete. Some new and some familiar 'faces' have moved into positions that focus on faculty and student success, reaching into new student markets, enhanced support for teaching and learning, and educational effectiveness. Individuals and responsibilities can be found
here. The Academic Division Organizational Chart is available here. Terri Johnson is the new director of the Center for Teaching and Learning. A new director for International Programs and Services (Ryan Griffith) and a new Vice Provost for Enrollment Management (J Michael Thompson) will be arriving within a month. Lynn Beck has stepped into serve as Interim Dean of the Library. Numerous faculty and administrative staff were involved in the recruitment and selection of these individuals.

Office of Enrollment Management

Meredith Kelley, Interim Associate Provost for Enrollment Management

 

Knoles Hall

As planned, total university enrollment for Fall 2014 is trending somewhat lower than last year. Budgeted enrollment is 6,189, and we expect about 6,285 students across all three campuses. This compares to 6,421 last year (6,438 budgeted).

 

Total enrollment on the Stockton campus is expected to be 5,165. The 2014 entering class includes 917 freshmen, 213 undergraduate transfer students, 210 pharmacy students and more than 300 graduate students.
 

Highlights of the new Freshman class

  • Representation of students from historically underserved groups remained strong, reflecting Pacific's ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusiveness. Among entering freshmen, 16 percent are Hispanic. African-American students make up 3 percent of the entering class. Asian-American students represent 40 percent of the entering class.
  • Among new freshmen, the average high school GPA is 3.48 and the average SAT score is 1,167.
  • More than 83 percent of incoming freshmen are California residents.
  • Nearly one in three entering freshmen come from the greater Stockton region (San Joaquin, Sacramento, Stanislaus and Calaveras counties).
  • 9 percent come from outside the United States.

New transfer students will total about 213, well above last year's 178. The average GPA is 3.19. The vast majority of our new transfer students come from our local market (68%) and Northern California (19%).
 

The number of new graduate students who have confirmed for fall is 295 compared to 258 at this time last year. We expect the total number of new graduate students to be about 300.

Total enrollment for the Doctor of Pharmacy program is expected to be 621 students while the number of DDS students at the Dugoni School of Dentistry remains stable at 490. Overall enrollment at Dugoni is 511. Pacific McGeorge School of Law will enroll a new class of 155 (119 Day, 36 Evening), with a slight decrease in LSAT scores to an average of 152. Last year's entering class totaled 159. The total JD class will be about 564, compared to 638 last year. Overall enrollment at McGeorge is expected to be 609 compared to 673 last year

 

Note: Anticipated numbers are confirmed in October, when the University compiles final fall enrollment information. 

Faculty Affairs' Happenings

Berit Gundersen, Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs and Educational Effectiveness
 
  

New Faculty OrientationNew Faculty Orientation 2014 
A special welcome to our new faculty. Please join us in welcoming these new faculty to the Pacific Family.
 

Roman Altshuler, Philosophy; Rupa Balachandran, Speech-Language Pathology & Audiology; Kristi Bowen, Health, Exercise and Sports Sciences; Katharine Campi, Psychology; Melissa Davies, Health, Exercise and Sports Sciences; Maria Duarte, History; Chadi El Kari, Computer Science; Carl Fairburn, Physical Therapy; Steven Farias, Communication; Derek Isetti, Speech-Language Pathology & Audiology; Mehdi Khazaeli, Engineering Management; Ruth Lewis, Sociology; Ruonan Liu, Business; Valerio Morucci, Conservatory; Hilton Oyamaguchi, Biological Sciences; Stephanie Raval, Speech-Language Pathology & Audiology; Rob Rigor, Biological Sciences; Ed Rogan, Pharmacy Practice; Christina Rusk, Education; Santiago Salinas, Biological Sciences; Jennifer Spore, Economics; Cynthia Samantha Valle-Oseguera, Pharmacy Practice; James Webb, Business; Frances Winters, Communication; Huihui Xu, Bioengineering.

Upcoming Assessment and WASC Accreditation Activity
WASC Interim Report 2015

In March of 2015 our Interim report to WASC will be due.  The three areas identified by the Commission Action Letter:

  • Strengthening systems of assessment and program review
  • Enhancing student success and diversity
  • Establishing faculty workload guidelines

The task force established by the Provost has been working diligently on all these areas towards a goal of a draft report to the university community late fall.  Sections of the work will come forward to appropriate committees throughout the fall semester.  

  

WASC Assessment Update 

WASC requires that all universities set performance standards and assess student achievement in five core competencies: Critical Thinking, Written Communication, Oral Communication, Information Literacy, and Quantitative Reasoning. Following up on early work done by a group of faculty last year, Pacific will send groups of interested faculty to WASC workshops and retreats. Funding and space are limited, if you are interested in attending one of the workshops or retreats, please contact Eileen McFall, Director of Learning and Academic Assessment soon. We have made great  progress in the area of assessment reports and assessment plans since our last accreditation visit.  Thank you all for your hard work and we will be continuing to gather the assessment reports completed in 2012-13 and 2013-14 in the upcoming months.

 

The Assessment Working Group was formalized last academic year and begins this new academic year as the University Assessment Committee.  The committee is still seeking a few representatives, including from the College and the Eberhardt School of Business, as well as an at-large representative to be appointed by Academic Council. If you are interested in this committee please contact Lourdes Reyes or Courtney Lehmann, Chair of Academic Council for more information about the committee.

 

Eileen McFall, Director of Learning and Academic Assessment, is now located in WPC 128 and will have weekly office hours in the CTL (times to be announced). Individual faculty members, departments, and programs can contact her at 209 946-7715 or email for help with course and program assessment for degree programs, Centers and Institutes, and General Education. 

Tuesday World Forums 


Dr. Joan Apecu LakerThis fall, with the help of our diplomat-in-residence Ambassador Arsene Balihuta, the School of International Studies is sponsoring a series of three visiting diplomat speakers. 
  • Dr. Joan Apecu, is the Head of the Trade Negotiations Committee Section at the World Trade Organization in Geneva on Tuesday, September 23
     
  • US Ambassador Peter Allgeier, will speak on Monday, October 20
     
  • Dr. Stephen Brown, a UN diplomat and author of the original Millennium Development Goals, will speak on Tuesday, November 18
More details will follow as those dates approach.  We hope you can join us for one or more of these exciting events.
Office of the Provost

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