@csun.edu January 28, 2002 Vol. VI, No. 9 INSIDE THIS ISSUE Web Registration Feature Offers Customized Class Schedule CSU System and CSEA Reach Agreement for Staff Raises Fallen Journalists Memorial Finds New Home on Campus Northridge Wins $6 Million for Biomedical Research New Dean Names for Health and Human Development Governor Proposes Increase in CSU General Fund Budget Academic Affairs Director-Spring 2002 Geological Sciences Hosts First-Ever Joint Convention Overnight Electrical Shutdowns Scheduled on Campus NCOD Director Names to Independent Living Council For Your Information Calendar http://www.csun.edu/~hfoao102/@csun.edu/csun01-02/csun0128_02/csun0128.html[6/4/2012 9:53:38 AM] @csun.edu January 28, 2002 Vol. VI, No. 9 ITR¹s new Class Schedule Planning System is making it easier for Northridge students to create personalized class schedules via the web. From left to right are Bob Stark, ITR director of application development; Phil Chan, project manager; and Michael Lazar, the web developer who created the program. Web Registration Feature Offers Customized Class Schedules Students Can Select Desired Courses and Time Constraints, and Online Program Will Do the Rest Registering for classes at Cal State Northridge has just gotten a whole lot easier, starting with the spring 2002 semester. University officials have launched a new web registration system, billed as the only one of its kind in the country, that can tailor students¹ class schedules to their work and personal needs with the touch of a button. "What we have put together is a program that allows students to give us a list of the courses they want to take, and whatever time restrictions they want, and the program will come up with as many alternative class schedules as it can find that meet students¹ needs," said Bob Stark, director of application development in the Information Technology Resources division. "The students can review all the alternatives, find the one they like, hit a button, and they are registered for those classes with a guaranteed seat," Stark said. The new system, available to students through the university¹s web portal at my.csun.edu, is getting its first test this semester with registration for spring classes. http://www.csun.edu/~hfoao102/@csun.edu/csun01-02/csun0128_02/web.html[6/4/2012 9:53:38 AM] @csun.edu Northridge students have the option of registering for classes on the web or by using a touch-tone telephone. Those choosing to register on the web now have the additional option of using the new Class Schedule Planning System to meet their specific scheduling needs. "With almost no publicity, we had more than 1,200 individual students use the scheduling program during the month of December alone," Stark said. Student Tracy Talaid, a senior majoring in communications studies, said she was "wowed" as the new system was being demonstrated. "It¹s an excellent program that caters to students¹ needs, especially if they need to schedule classes around their work schedules," Talaid said. Stark said the idea grew out of suggestions made by students in a CSUN computer engineering class last year. "They had a good idea, but what they proposed was too complicated and didn¹t go far enough," he said. University web developers then created a program that tapped into the university¹s schedule of classes and, at the same time, is able to monitor when a class is full and no longer available for enrollment. "It was inevitable that somebody would eventually come up with something like this," said the program¹s designer, ITR staffer Michael Lazar. "Computer geeks at colleges across the country have been dreaming of creating something that would make getting your classes easier. I know I did. The problem was, in school, I didn¹t have access to all the university information, and I didn¹t have time to do it." Stark and Lazar said they ran the system by a couple of student focus groups before it was launched to get student feedback, and will continue to monitor how the system is used so they can continue to refine it as student use grows. They are also in the process of copyrighting the system. @csun | January 28, 2002 issue Public Relations | University Advancement Home | CSUN A-Z | New Sites | People Finder | Calendar | News & Events Students | Faculty/Staff | Parents/Prospective Students | Alumni | Business & Government | The Community http://www.csun.edu/~hfoao102/@csun.edu/csun01-02/csun0128_02/web.html[6/4/2012 9:53:38 AM] @csun.edu January 28, 2002 Vol. VI, No. 9 CSU System and CSEA Reach Agreement for Staff Raises Two Percent General Pay Increase Due to Arrive in Early February Paychecks The California State University has reached agreement with the California State Employees Association (CSEA) to provide a 2 percent general salary increase retroactive to July 1, 2001 for staff employees in the 23-campus system. Both parties will continue, meanwhile, to negotiate the terms of a new contract to begin in fiscal year 2002-03. "We are extremely pleased that both parties worked so hard to reach an agreement and that we will now be able to get this pay increase to our deserving employees," said Jackie McClain, the CSU¹s vice chancellor for human resources. "We will process the retroactive checks as quickly as possible." CSU officials said employees represented by the CSEA can expect to see the new 2 percent pay raises reflected in their paychecks arriving at the beginning of February. CSEA represented employees should receive the retroactive portion of the pay raise no later than the middle of February. Systemwide, the 2 percent increase totals about $10 million. It will be distributed among the some 12,000 CSU employees in the four CSEA bargaining units (Unit 2Health Care Support; Unit 5Operations and Support Services; Unit 7Clerical and Administrative Support; and Unit 9 Technical and Support Services). All other staff unions have agreed to and received a 2 percent salary increase, and the same increase was provided to campus managers, administrators, and presidents. The CSU and CSEA originally had been working on a three-year contract, but decided to finalize a short-term agreement to ensure that CSEA employees would receive this year¹s salary increases. The new agreement, which includes an extension of the terms of the prior bargaining agreement, will run through June 30, 2002. The two sides will continue to negotiate on terms that would take effect after June 30, 2002. A mediator has been appointed to oversee those negotiations, which are at impasse. The California Faculty Association (CFA) now is the only remaining CSU bargaining group has not accepted the 2 percent salary increase that the CSU was given by the governor and the Legislature in the 200102 state budget. The CSU and the CFA also remain at impasse, with no new bargaining sessions scheduled. @csun | January 28, 2002 issue Public Relations | University Advancement Home | CSUN A-Z | New Sites | People Finder | Calendar | News & Events Students | Faculty/Staff | Parents/Prospective Students | Alumni | Business & Government | The Community http://www.csun.edu/~hfoao102/@csun.edu/csun01-02/csun0128_02/staff.html[6/4/2012 9:53:39 AM] @csun.edu January 28, 2002 Vol. VI, No. 9 Northridge Journalism Department chair Cynthia Rawitch and Coe Wilkins of the Los Angeles Press Club (top) unveil the Fallen Journalists Memorial at its new home in Manzanita Hall. At bottom, KCET news anchor Jess Marlow (right) emcees the rededication of the memorial. Fallen Journalists Memorial Finds New Home on Campus News Executives Attend Rededication Ceremony in Manzanita Hall, Home to Northridge Journalism Program A bronze and wood memorial dedicated to California journalists who lost their lives while on the job has found a new, permanent home at Cal State Northridge. The Los Angeles Press Club's Fallen Journalists Memorial was formally rededicated in a place of honor in Manzanita Hall, the home of the university's nationally recognized Journalism Department, during a special ceremony in late November. http://www.csun.edu/~hfoao102/@csun.edu/csun01-02/csun0128_02/journal.html[6/4/2012 9:53:40 AM] @csun.edu During the ceremony, an 18th name was added to the memorial, that of Los Angeles Daily News reporter James Bertken. The Cal State Northridge alumnus was swept overboard while covering a sports fishing story off the central California coast in 1995. The ceremony was attended by an array of California journalists and news executives, along with friends and family of the fallen journalists, students and faculty. "We are proud to have been chosen as the memorial's permanent home, sharing the tradition of outstanding California journalism with future generations of students," said Journalism Department chair Cynthia Rawitch. Rawitch, also a member of the Fallen Journalists Memorial Committee, said the group is planning to add a 19th name to the memorial later this spring. That will be Ken Inouye, a foreign correspondent killed in a 1950 plane crash in Korea while returning from Japan to cover the Korean conflict. The Los Angeles Press Club created the memorial in 1979, a year after three California journalists were killed in an ambush in Jonestown, Guyana. At that time, the Press Club's Board of Directors decided it should include the names of all Californians killed while on assignment. The Press Club enlisted the aid of the Associated Press, United Press International and the California Newspaper Publishers Association in identifying journalists to be included on the memorial, the only one of its kind in California. Founded in 1946, the Los Angeles Press Club is a service organization devoted to improving the spirit of journalism and journalists, while strengthening the integrity and improving the reputation of the industry.