Dear Faculty Colleagues,

Welcome to Academic Year 2020-21! I sincerely hope that you and your loved ones are well and that you have managed some respite and rejuvenation this summer. I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your collaboration as we have collectively managed the shifting landscape of teaching and learning over the last six months. Many of us have experienced personal losses as a result of the global health pandemic, economic downturn, and recent local wildfires, and I am aware of the myriad of responsibilities and stresses we are all facing. Please know that my appreciation and admiration for your work and commitment to our students is ongoing.

As I have stated previously, the health and safety of our entire CCA community has been the leading factor in every decision that has been made since the beginning of the pandemic. In both the spring and summer the unfolding situation with the virus demanded quick action, and while there was consultation with our peer institutions, we in Academic Affairs had to do what was best for CCA, creating consensus amongst senior leadership to close our campuses in March and later making the decision in mid July to move to on-line only instruction for fall. These decisions were not made lightly and they were the result of many hours of discussions with leadership, staff and faculty as well as students and their families.

We have begun the process of planning for the spring and summer semesters. We hope to be able to draft a hybrid flex model of curriculum delivery that we can enact as soon as we are permitted to safely return to campus. We will also continue to build in creative and responsive planning for all possibilities. I will be working closely with the deans, academic affairs staff, and program chairs to have a proposal to share with faculty as soon as possible.

What we are setting out to do as educators this fall is uncharted, not to mention what is going on at home—I myself am launching a teen into high school and a kid into kindergarten, while holding my deep commitment to the college. I want to acknowledge that the impacts on every individual have been immense and are ongoing. Empathy and connection remain our most hopeful paths through these evolving times. Let’s be kind to each other, our community of staff comrades, our amazing students, and very importantly - ourselves.

Below you will find detailed updates on college wide initiatives, faculty leadership, promotions and ranked hiring as well as important resources. Please know I am extremely grateful to each of you and have never been more proud of the mission of CCA. I look forward to the day we can be physically together again on our cherished campuses. I can’t wait to share our stories with one another and gather around shared food and shared space. And hugs, remember those?!

All my best,

Tammy Rae Carland

Provost

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

CCA’s progress toward the first round of commitments we announced earlier this summer continues to advance anti-racism actions and address structural inequities within our college. This week, we launched a new communication tool: Action + Accountability: CCA’s commitment to anti-racism, equity, and social justice. On this page, we will provide ongoing, public updates on CCA’s commitments, actions, and progress toward making our college a place that is welcoming, equitable, inclusive, and safe for everyone. What you will see now is the beginning—additional actions and commitments will be added as well as ongoing updates of progress.

Faculty Leadership and Governance

Program Chair Leadership

We continue to support transitions in the leadership of our academic programs and welcome our chairs to return to a focus on teaching and for faculty to rotate into chairships and play a role in academic and college leadership. At the end of 2020, the following faculty completed chair appointments and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their collective outstanding contributions:

• Russell Baldon, Furniture
• Rebekah Edwards, Critical Studies
• Josh Faught, Textiles
• Brook Hinton, Film
• Kari Marboe, Ceramics and Glass
• Rick Vertolli, Animation (retired)

Please join me in welcoming the following incoming chairs:

• Kathrine Lam, Furniture Program Chair
• Patricia Lange, Critical Studies Program Chair
• Christina Linden, Graduate Curatorial Practice Program Interim Chair
• Ranu Mukherjee, Film and Graduate Film Chair
• Josh Silverman, Graduate Interaction Design Program Chair
• Christoph Steger, Animation Program Chair
• Deborah Valoma, Textiles Program Chair
• Zachary Walter, Animation Program Associate Chair

Faculty Governance Leadership

I want to thank the following faculty for their leadership in faculty governance committees this year. I greatly appreciate their service to the college and look forward to working closely with them and their respective committees this year. Please visit the committee links on the Academic Affairs section of CCA Portal for complete membership lists.

• Faculty Senate President and Chair of the Executive Committee: Cathrine Veikos, Professor, Interior Design Program
• Faculty Senate Vice President and Assistant Chair of the Executive Committee: Max Leung, Associate Professor, Critical Studies Program
• Chair of the Curriculum Committee: Angela Hennessy, Associate Professor, Textiles Program
• Chair of Appointments, Promotions, and Tenure Committee: Jeanette Roan, Associate Professor, History of Art and Visual Culture Program

Ranked Faculty Promotion and Hiring

Congratulations to the following faculty, who were awarded tenure this past year:

• Jasmin Darznik, Writing and Literature Program
• Mia Feuer, Sculpture Program
• Negar Kalantar, Interior Design Program
• Mia Liu, History of Art and Visual Culture Program
• Adam Marcus, Architecture Program
• Owen Smith, Illustration Program
• Karla Wozniak, Painting and Drawing Program

Congratulations as well to the following faculty for being promoted to the rank of Professor:

• Josh Faught, Textiles Program
• Nataly Gattegno, Graduate Architecture Program
• Jon Sueda, Graphic Design Program

Last year we conducted searches for tenure-track and RNT faculty members and successfully hired four new tenure track and four new RNT professors. Please join me in welcoming the following new ranked faculty:

Tenure-Track

• Sara Dean, Graduate Design Program
• James Graham, Architecture Program
• Ranu Mukherjee, Film Program
• Allison Yasukawa, First Year Studio Core Program

RNT

• Thi Bui, Graduate Comics Program
• Cristina Gaitan, Graduate Design Program
• Ghazaleh Khalifeh, Fashion Program
• Josh Silverman, Graduate Interaction Design Program

Appointments, Promotion and Tenure (APT) STATS Report

In the 2019-20 academic year APT reviewed files and contributed to the evaluation and promotion of the following faculty:

7 awarded tenure

3 promoted to full professor

7 successfully completed pre-tenure review

30 successfully completed promotion within rank

18 promoted to Adjunct II

4 promoted to Senior Adjunct

Faculty Resources

• Fall 2020 Policy Updates
• Encourage students to update Workday with their physical address for fall
  • Info on Updating Workday Online Learning Address and Portal Profile Time Zones here
• Teaching Lab information has been reorganized in Portal
• Teaching Technology IAs for faculty
• For Fall 2020, ETS is providing access to most software normally available in our computer labs. A comprehensive list of available software can be found on the new Software for Online Learning and Teaching page on Portal. From this page, faculty and students can access individual software titles through direct vendor links and installation help sheets.
• Faculty may contact the Help Desk if they need more information about how to grant access to specific titles, or they are having difficulty accessing software or they need support with their technology.