Month: April 2022

Dear faculty, 

We had the pleasure to offer a Friday Forum last week on information literacy, particularly on the way the Framework for Information Literacy can be applied to our curriculum. 

If you missed the workshop led by Irene Korber and William Cuthbertson, I encourage you to explore these resources: 

Video Recording of the workshop 
Google Slides presentation
Handout from the Association of College and Research Libraries

Starting in Fall 2022, information literacy will be included as one of the 5 outcomes in the GE Program at Chico State, allowing students to: “Demonstrate[s] the abilities to recognize when there is a need for information; to identify, locate, and evaluate information; and to effectively, responsibly, and ethically use and share information for the question at hand.” If you are teaching a course that will incorporate information literacy as a student learning outcome, these resources are truly invaluable! 

I also want to encourage you to reach out to our librarians for the following resources: 

• One-shot information literacy session 
• Information literacy workshop series 
• Integrating information literacy into your assignments 
• Assigned research appointments 

We hope you will find these tools helpful! 

Sent on behalf of Dr. Gabby Medina Falzone, as a follow-up to her workshop “Decarcerating the Classroom and Supporting Justice-Impacted Students”

Justice-impacted students, i.e. those who are incarcerated, have been incarcerated, and/or who have/had loved ones incarcerated, are often left out of equity education conversations. All across California, a loose coalition for justice-impacted students, faculty, staff, and allies are developing pathways for those who are justice-impacted to graduate from college.

If you want to learn more about the work being done to support incarcerated and formerly incarcerated college students across California, here are some resources

• Don’t Stop Now Report from Corrections to College
• The Possibility Report from the Campaign for College Opportunity
• The CSU Project Rebound Consortium 2021 Report

If you want to learn more about how you personally can support justice-impacted students here are some tips and resources:

• Use humanizing language and avoid deficit-based or stigmatizing stereotypes. Check out the UC Berkeley Underground Scholars Language Guide and the workshop slides to learn more.
• Share resources with justice-impacted students in your classes as well as formerly incarcerated potential Chico State students. Here are a few:
  • Root and Rebound “My Education, My Freedom” Toolkit (you can download it here)
  • The California Community Colleges Rising Scholar Network, which provides supports for justice-impacted students at the community college level. 
  • Chico State Rebound Scholars which is a new student org for and by Chico State justice Impacted students and allies. Currently we are meeting Fridays at 5:30pm in Ayres Hall (AYRS) 106. Have your students contact Dr. Gabby Medina Falzone (gfalzone@csuchico.edu) to find out when we will meet next semester.
• Support Rebound Scholars’ first event. The organization is happy to welcome Shelley Winner, who with share about her journey from incarceration to professional employment, on April 25 at 6pm in BMU 203 (see flyer)
• Help create a Project Rebound chapter here at Chico State. Currently 14 CSU campuses have a chapter. Chico State is not one of them. Contact Dr. Gabby Medina Falzone gfalzone@csuchico.edu if you are interested. 

Dear faculty, 

This Tuesday Tip is more an occasion to share some updates and announcements as we approach the end of this academic year, and we plan for the next one. 

March 25 was the deadline to apply for the positions of READI Coordinator and Equity Fellows, and since this process was completed, I want to take a moment to announce the names of the faculty members that were selected. 

READI Coordinator: Rachel Teasdale (Earth and Environmental Sciences) 

READI Equity Fellows: 
Josephine Blagrave (Kinesiology) 
Mark Faaita (Communication Arts and Sciences) 
Jamie Gunderson (School of Education) 
Katie Oesau (Business Information Systems) 
Tina Hanson-Lewis (Chemistry and Biochemistry) 
Grazyne Tresoldi (Agriculture) 
Alisa Wade (History) 

I am excited about the different disciplines that will be represented as we launch the new hub for Research in Equity, Antiracism, Diversity, and Inclusion in the Fall, and how I can be the first one to learn from these colleagues. 

One key goal of READI will be to systematically assess the connections between faculty development and student success, and to collaborate with different units on campus to facilitate the process of assessment and continue to build a dialogue across divisions to help us overcome some academic silos.  

Sent on behalf of Dr. Josephine Blagrave, Betina Wildhaber, and Sean Murphy 

In 2018, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimated that 50,000 students on the autism spectrum will be entering college over the next decade. Since we’re already well into that timeframe, it’s likely these students are already on our campus. According to the University’s Accessibility Resource Center (ARC), the number of our students who identify as being on the autism spectrum increased by 54 percent from fall 2020 to fall 2021—over that same time students on our campus who report being neurodivergent has increased 47 percent. 

Let’s explore how we can better serve those and other neurodiverse students! 

We can start by learning more about what neurodiversity means. It’s the term typically used to include neurological differences like autism spectrum disorder (including Asperger’s Syndrome) and cognitive disorders like dyslexia and ADHD (Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder). It’s estimated that 5 to 7 percent of the national college population identifies as neurodivergent, and while these students can certainly be as intelligent and capable of learning as neurotypical students, they may face unique challenges due to, for example, difficulties with social communication, reliance on routine, or sensory sensitivities. 

So, what is Chico State doing to accommodate this student group? 

• This academic year, President Hutchinson established a Neurodiversity Taskforce to explore ways to raise awareness and acceptance and to better serve neurodivergent members of the campus community 
• This semester, ARC has developed a program called CASE: Chico Autism Spectrum Empowerment 
• For the last five years, Regional & Continuing Education has hosted a conference on autism—formerly the Northern California Autism Symposium, it is now called Disability and Neurodiversity Symposium 
• Chico State offers its Autism Clinic to the wider community (it was also featured in the spring 2020 issue of Chico Statements) 
• Faculty Development will release a podcast this Thursday that focuses on neurodiversity 
• Dr. Blagrave has created a teaching guide for Faculty Development that offers resources and information on neurodiversity, specifically in higher education 

Additionally, Chico State is considering how to accommodate our prospective neurodivergent students for orientation activities and we are looking at bringing in guest speakers (both in-person and virtually) to educate the campus community more on neurodiversity. 

If you have ideas or feedback or would like to become involved in the Neurodiversity Taskforce, we want to hear from you! Email us at NDTaskforce@csuchico.edu.