Orientation for New Faculty

Contact the Faculty Center if your question is not answered here or you need further information: 909-869-2890.

 

The Cal Poly Pomona Catalog

The catalog is the official source of university policies and procedures regarding students and academics at the University: http://www.csupomona.edu/~academic/catalog.

 

Useful Websites and People-to-Know Lists (2012)

Websites (word doc)

People (word doc)

 

Questions to ask your department

Cal Poly Pomona has many policies that are created at the department level. Click on the appropriate link below for a downloadable document with questions to ask your department chair, faculty colleages, or administrative coordinator.

 

Getting "official"

 

How do I find out what's happening on campus?

Email to your Cal Poly Pomona email account is the official form of communication on campus. In addition, see the following:

  • PolyUpdates - Cal Poly Pomona's weekly electronic newsletter, sent by email
  • PolyCentric - http://polycentric.csupomona.edu/, campuswide news and announcements
  • Emails from the Faculty Center for Professional Development and other campus resources

 

Resources for teaching

 

University policies regarding teaching

 

Resources for research

The Office of Research is the primary support unit for research and scholarship on campus. The Office of Research contains:

The Office of Research and the Faculty Center occasionally have small, internal grant programs that can support your work, such as:

  • The Provost Teacher-Scholar program
  • The RSCA (Research, Scholarship, & Creative Activities) grants
  • Academic writing grants
  • The SIRG (Strategic Interdisciplinary Research Grant) program

Watch your email carefully to learn about these opportunities.

 

Campus emergencies

The emergency number for campus FROM A CELLPHONE is 909-869-3070 (goes to campus police). From a landline, call 9-1-1.

 

Personnel resources

 

The California Faculty Association

All faculty, whether tenure-line or contingent (lecturer) are represented by the CSU Bargaining Unit 3. The California Faculty Association is the faculty union. The CFA website provides the complete Collective Bargaining Agreement and other resources for your faculty career.

 

 

Getting “official”


What paperwork do I need to do?
  • On or before your first day of employment, you need to go to the Human Resources office, which is on the 1st floor of the CLA Building, aka Building 98 or “the pointy building.”
  • Before you visit HR, go to: HR Faculty & Staff packet. At the top of the page is a list of links to HR paperwork, and a link to a set of instructions for this paperwork. Fill out the forms online, print them, and bring them to HR.
  • Bring the contract letter that your department provided for you.
  • Bring your ORIGINAL social security card. Copies of the card will NOT work.
  • If you are not a US citizen, you will also need to bring identification documents suitable for the I-9 form. ORIGINAL documents must be provided. Acceptable documents may be found at the US Citizenship & Immigration Services website, provided here as http://tinyurl.com/3ncufmd.
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How do I get my Bronco number? How do I get a Bronco card? How do I get email?

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How do I sign up to get access to BroncoDirect, the Cal Poly Pomona grading system?

  • After you have your Bronco number, fill out a PeopleSoft Student Administration System User Access Request Form. Your role is “instructor.” You sign it and have your Department Chair sign it, then submit the completed and signed form to Rose Kukla, Student Administration Manager, Building 91-194. BroncoDirect access is normally provided within two working days.
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How do I get a parking tag?

  • Take your Bronco card AND your contract letter to the Cashier's office in the CLA Building on the Japanese garden side – building 98-B1-123. Tags cost $36 per quarter and may be directly deducted from your paycheck. See the Parking & Transportation Services website at http://dsa.csupomona.edu/parking/default.asp.
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Resources for teaching

How do I get my class roster? How do I submit my grades?

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What pedagogy workshops and programs are available to me?

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How do I get a Blackboard course shell and other Blackboard or online course support?

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What if I want to record my lectures or use Flash animations or multimedia?

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How do I get Library support such as course reserves and library workshops for students?

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What if I want to use “clickers” in my class?

  • Clickers, or student response systems, allow you to do interactive questioning in class. They can be very useful tools to engage students' attention and to give them instant feedback on how well they understand what is happening in class.
  • Cal Poly Pomona officially supports only the iClicker® system. If you want to use the system in your class, you can get a receiver and software from eLearning. Your students will buy clickers from the Bronco Bookstore.
  • For more information, see http://www.csupomona.edu/~facultycenter/clickers/ and http://www.csupomona.edu/~elearning/cs_006.shtml.
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How do I deal with plagiarism, cheating, or other kinds of academic dishonesty?

  • The Office of Judicial Affairs handles student conduct violations: http://dsa.csupomona.edu/judicialaffairs/default.asp. Explore the Judicial Affairs website thoroughly to see what resources are available to you for handling problems and helping students not to engage in academic dishonesty in the first place.
  • If a student engages in any kind of academic dishonesty, even low-level such as copying and pasting from internet sources in a paper, you are STRONGLY ENCOURAGED to file a report with Judicial Affairs in addition to talking to the student about the problem. Although you as the faculty member have the ultimate decision-making power to impose sanctions, Judicial Affairs keeps records of reports. Your class might not be the first one that the student copied-n-pasted in, in which case Judicial Affairs will get involved more deeply because of the repeat offenses.
  • For serious cases of academic dishonesty such as outright cheating, stealing, falsifying work, etc., Judicial Affairs will instigate an investigation.
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What do I do if a student breaks down in my office hours or during class? Can I ask a student to leave?

  • Faculty are often the first people to realize that a student is in distress or even in crisis. You see students in your classroom on a regular basis. Don't hesitate to ask for help if you are concerned for a student's well-being. Cal Poly Pomona's Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS) is available to students. If you are worried about a student, contact CAPS and ask for some guidance.
  • Here is a detailed resource from CAPS concerning students in distress: http://public.dsa.csupomona.edu/caps/Helping_The_Emotionally_Distressed_Student.pdf.
  • The Violence Prevention & Women's Resource Center provides support to students who have experienced domestic or sexual violence.
  • If you feel that a student is an immediate danger to himself or others, call campus police (909-869-3070 from a cell phone, 9-1-1 from a landline). If you feel that YOU are in danger, get away.
  • You can ask a student to leave class if he or she is being disruptive. You do need to follow up this action with an official (but not burdensome) report. See http://dsa.csupomona.edu/judicialaffairs/exclusion.asp for details.
  • CAPS, Judicial Affairs, and the University Police work very closely together to identify students who are at risk, are in crisis, or who may disrupt the University community. “PolyCARES” is the name of the process by which these units work together. See http://www.csupomona.edu/~polycares/ for details.
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University policies regarding teaching

Where can I go to see ALL the University policies relevant to teaching & faculty evaluation?

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What has to be in my syllabus?

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What office hours are required?

  • See the full University policy regarding office hours at http://academic.csupomona.edu/faculty/docs/section302_1.pdf: “Full-time faculty members shall hold office hours totaling at least 5 hours per week. Office hours shall be scheduled on at least 3 weekdays at times that adequately serve the needs of students….Office hour schedules (in terms of number of hours and number of days) shall be commensurate with the teaching fraction for part-time faculty. Problems that are related to office hour schedules are to be resolved by the dean or director in consultation with the department chair.”
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How is my teaching evaluated?

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Can I take students on field trips?

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How do I handle it if students complain about their grades?

  • The best way to head off grade complaints is to have clear, fair, well-thought-out policies in your syllabus. See above for information about the Cal Poly Pomona syllabi.
  • The full grade appeal process may be found at http://www.csupomona.edu/~academic/programs/docs/Grade_Appeals.pdf. Students are supposed to approach you, the instructor, first. If they cannot resolve the matter to their satisfaction with you, they may go on to the department chair and the dean.
  • If a student does approach you for a grade appeal, verify that there was no mistake in assigning the grade. Verify that the grade was assigned fairly. Communicate your decision courteously and inform the student that if they wish to, they may appeal to a higher level.

If the grade was fairly and correctly assigned, your decision will be supported by your department chair and dean. It is very unusual for a department or college to overturn an instructor's decision regarding assigned grades.

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Campus emergencies
The emergency number for campus FROM A CELLPHONE is 909-869-3070 (goes to campus police). From a landline, call 9-1-1.

How does the campus handle emergencies?

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How are we notified when there is an emergency?

  • You should enroll in the University Emergency Notification system. You will receive cell phone text messages, phone messages, and emails when there is an emergency. See http://www.csupomona.edu/~publicaffairs/emergency/alert.shtml for directions on how to enroll.
  • Emergencies will also be announced on the University website home page, the digital marquees, through department phone trees, and by building marshals and safety officials.

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What should I do in class if there is an emergency or fire alarm?

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Personnel resources

Am I eligible for benefits? If so, how do I sign up?

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Who do I talk to if I am having problems in the department?

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What campus policies do I need to be aware of, such as the drug-free policy?

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