Fall Town Hall 2020
Fall Planning Resources
Planning for the quarter ahead? Cal Poly’s Roadmap can help point you in the right direction. Students, parents, faculty and staff can find links to virtual resources and updates on campus operations you’ll need for a successful fall.
General Faculty and Staff Resources
From RPT policies to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion modules, CLA-specific faculty and staff resources can be found here.
Diversity Action Plan
Both data-driven, and vetted by members of our diversity community, the CLA's Diversity Action Plan will guide us for the next five years as we work toward creating a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive college across several fronts. View the Diversity Action Plan.
Department Chairs
New Faculty and Staff
The College of Liberal Arts is excited to welcome the following new faculty and staff to Cal Poly.
New Tenure-Track Faculty
Linh Dao
Assistant Professor, Art and Design
Specialty: Design/Visual Communication
Ramón Esquivel
Assistant Professor, Theatre and Dance
Specialty: Creative Writing/Playwriting
Jessica Lee
Assistant Professor, Social Sciences
Specialty: Sociology
Casey McDonald
Associate Professor, Journalism
Specialty: Public Relations
Allison Myers
Assistant Professor, Art and Design
Specialty: Art History
Ahmed Sagarwala
Assistant Professor, Graphic Communication
Specialty: Digital Media
Jesús Serrano-Careaga
Assistant Professor, Psychology and Child Development
Specialty: Social Psychology
Jacob Sparks
Assistant Professor, Philosophy
Specialty: Philosophy/Ethics and Ethical Theory
Robert Wallace
Assistant Professor, Philosophy
Specialty: Philosophy/Metaphysics
Ava Wright
Assistant Professor, Philosophy
Specialty: Philosophy/Ethics and Ethical Theory
Hocheol Yang
Assistant Professor, Graphic Communication
Specialty: Mass Communication
New Staff
Krysia Hall
ASC, Interdisciplinary Studies
Jen Jacobsen
ASA, Political Science
Denna Zamarron
ASC, History
New Lecturers
Full-time Lecturers
Darvell Hutchins - Communication Studies Department
Erin Zamora - Communication Studies Department
Brett Savage - Political Science Department
James Ward, Visiting Professor - Political Science Department
Part-time Lecturers
Madeleine Ignon – Art & Design Department
Danielle O'leary – Communication Studies
Caleb Nichols – English Department
Isabel Garcia – English Department
Katrina Prow – English Department
Jamie Ding – Ethnic Studies Department
Brian Stephens – Ethnic Studies Department
Claudia Lodia – Interdisciplinary Studies in Liberal Arts Department
Alba Cancél Bigay – Music Department
Laura Gaynon – Music Department
Michael Whitson – Music Department
Paul Woodring – Music Department
James Anthony – Psychology & Child Development Department
Kathleen Helm – Theatre & Dance Department
Hala Baki – Theatre & Dance Department
New Promotions and Tenure
Promotion to Professor or Librarian
Brett Bodemer (Academic Services)
Fernando Sánchez (World Languages & Cultures)
Promotion to Associate Professor
Martin Battle (Political Science)
Bethany Conway-Silva (Communication Studies)
Jennifer Denbow (Political Science)
Ryan Hatch (English)
Lauren Kolodziejski (Communication Studies)
Silvia Marijuan (World Languages & Cultures)
Chelsea Milbourne (English)
Mira Rosenthal (English)
Tenure
Martin Battle (Political Science)
Coleen Carrigan (Social Sciences)
Jennifer Denbow (Political Science)
Sara Frantz (Art & Design)
Ryan Hatch (English)
Ryan Jenkins (Philosophy)
Lauren Kolodziejski (Communication Studies)
Chelsea Milbourne (English)
Taylor Smith (Psychology & Child Development)
Dean's Office Contacts
- Philip Williams — Dean
Academics
- Debra Valencia-Laver — Associate Dean for Administration
Debra handles lecturer and staff recruitment, hiring, and evaluations; teaching allocations and course enrollment tracking; summer term planning; technical and space needs; travel and assigned time, and more. - Penny Bennett — Associate Dean for Student Success
Penny is responsible for student-related issues such as academic advising, academic probation/disqualification, change of major, graduation initiatives, new admissions/re-admissions or any other issues related to academic success. This can include updates and clarification of policies and procedures as well as coordination and processing of a variety of forms that include substitution forms, grade change forms and many more. - Jennifer Teramoto Pedrotti — Associate Dean for Diversity and Curriculum
Jennifer’s job is focused on all initiatives related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts in the college. In addition, she is responsible for all curriculum issues in the college, including development of new courses, programs or minors, course and program edits, and the curriculum process at large. She also supervises and runs the Intergroup Dialogues program and course. - Josh Machamer — CLA Director of International Initiatives
Josh provides leadership for the support, development and advancement of internationalization efforts in the college, currently including: coordination of current and new international initiatives; building capacity in emerging areas of direct and virtual exchange; communication of internationalization opportunities/development for students, faculty and staff. Email Josh. - Dawn Neill — CLA Director of Research Engagement
As the inaugural Director of Research Engagement, Dawn will provide information, guidance, and support to faculty and students across areas of scholarship and creative activities within the CLA. Her main goals for the upcoming year include expanding awareness of opportunities, enhancing a culture of scholarship, promoting diversity, equity and inclusion, and broadening access to resources to support scholarly engagement. Email Dawn.
Administrative Support
- Heidi Velasco — Receptionist
Heidi oversees the daily operations of the Dean's Office and is the primary contact for phone calls and office visitors which include students, staff, faculty, parents, and community members. Heidi also coordinates several College of Liberal Arts and campus events throughout the year. - Lynne Ricard — Assistant to the Dean
Lynne provides administrative support for the dean, which includes all scheduling. She assists the three associate deans with calendaring appointments, committee meeting preparation, scheduling, agendas, minutes, communications from the dean and more. She also provides planning coordination for several college-wide events. - Margie Valine — Faculty Recruitment and Contract Analyst
Margie processes all Tenure Track hire letters and documents; monitors contracts and offers for part-time lecturers and works closely with the budget analyst and associate dean to review workload and assigned time for faculty in the college. She also works closely with the CLA Tech team as their administrative support. - Melissa Bodin — Faculty Analyst and Staff Evaluations
Melissa manages/coordinates all retention, tenure, promotion, post-tenure and lecturer evaluations. She helps faculty with development of their Interfolio Working Personnel Action File (eWPAF), answers all evaluation related questions during the review process, and processes all dean’s funded travel. - Joy Sisler — Finance and Budget Analyst
Joy provides strategic direction and oversight of the state budget, expendable foundation funds, endowment funds and fee-based corporation funds. She serves as a primary resource in the college for budgeting, accounting, payroll, procurement, auditing and financial support.
CLA Development
- Adam Jarman — Assistant Dean for Development
Adam is responsible for creating and maintaining external relationships and partnerships with alumni, donors, parents, friends and other supporters of CLA. As the college’s fundraiser, he is the primary point of contact for all philanthropic activity. - Debi Schwartz — Administrative Coordinator for Advancement
Debi processes all incoming gifts received through department offices, sends weekly donor acknowledgement reports to chairs, works with department ASCs to obtain donor information, processes department advisory board member nominee submissions, and is the contact for any donor/alumni record (information) updates.
CLA Communications
- Rachel Schultz — Communication Specialist
Rachel oversees production of the college magazine titled “Impact,” the “Quarterly Brief,” and weekly college announcements. She works with University Marketing and Communications to promote CLA-related awards and events to the campus community and the media. Contact her to share stories of faculty, alumni or student success.
CLA Advising
The CLA Advising Center is available to help undergraduate students with a wide range of topics, including academic advising/planning, registration, understanding academic polices and procedures, change of major and general student success. We encourage students to meet with an advisor at least once a year to ensure good progress towards graduation.
- Sabrina Canady — Lead Academic Advisor
- Alejandra Cebreros — Multicultural Academic Advisor
In addition to academic advising, Alejandra supports the Underrepresented Students Network (USN) and coordinates the Multicultural Scholars Program (MSP) with the purpose of creating a diverse and inclusive educational community. As part of the MSP, students from historically underserved populations can find a sense of belonging and support and be connected with resources designed for personal, academic and professional success. - Katie Harris — Academic Advisor
- Alec Koehler — Academic Advisor
- Neela Koduri — Graduate Intern
CLA Computer Support/IT Services
The CLA Tech Team is committed to providing expert information resources and technology support services to CLA faculty, staff, and students. We keep current with campus and CSU policies and procedures, especially with regard to data security, and provide hardware, software, infrastructure, and web accessibility support in accordance with these policies and procedures.
- Jennifer Hodges — IT Technician
- Scott Kraczek — IT Technician
- Velanche Stewart — IT Technician
- Jeff Yeackle — IT Technician
CLA Campus Connections
- Brett Bodemer — CLA Librarian
You can basically ask Brett anything library-related, and he will direct you to the right place. He provides course-related library instruction, and supports students and faculty alike through individual consultations. Email Brett. - Laura Hunkler— CLA Career Counselor
Laura spends much of her time meeting 1:1 with students helping with anything from exploring career possibilities to the job or grad school application process. She is also available for classroom presentations on topics such as job/internship search, career exploration, building connections, and writing resumes. Email Laura. - Taylor Law — CLA Employer Developer
Taylor spends her time researching potential employers, doing outreach, and meeting with employers looking to hire College of Liberal Arts students. She helps facilitate communication between departments and employers, as well as collaborates employer events. Email Taylor. - Steve Lerian — Cal Poly Arts Director
Cal Poly Arts provides most of the professional touring performances at the Performing Arts Center and in Spanos Theatre, including national tours of Broadway shows, renowned music artists, dance companies, comedy, family programs, speakers’ series, and Met Live in HD simulcasts from the Metropolitan Opera. With our full-time staff of five, we typically present 40-50 live events each year. However, with no end to restrictions on public gatherings in sight, it’s unclear how many of our scheduled performances we’ll be able to bring to campus this year. In response to that uncertainty, watch for a number of online and alternate location event options that we will announce as the year unfolds. Email Steve.
Faculty and Staff Awards
Watch videos celebrating the 2019-20 award winners.
Staff Awards
- Outstanding Staff Award for Career Achievement: Jeff Yeackle (CLA Tech)
- Outstanding Staff Award for Continuing Excellence: Whitney Haas (Art and Design)
Faculty Awards
- Early Career Award for Achievement in Teaching: Kelly Bennion (Psychology and Child Development)
- Early Career Award for Achievement in Scholarship: Jenell Navarro (Ethnic Studies)
- Early Career Award for Achievement in Service: Jenell Navarro (Ethnic Studies)
- Outstanding Achievement in Teaching by a Lecturer: Anne Regan (English)
- Diversity Award: Grace Yeh (Communication Studies and Ethnic Studies)
- Douglas L. Epperson Innovation Award: Catherine Waitinas (English)
Faculty Award in Memoriam
- Outstanding Achievement in Teaching by a Lecturer: Teresa Downing (Social Sciences)
Richard K. Simon Awards
- Outstanding Career Achievement in Teaching: Joel Orth (History)
- Outstanding Career Achievement in Scholarship: Robert Schaeffer (Social Sciences)
- Outstanding Career Achievement in Service: Kathryn Rummell (English)
Congratulations to the 2019-20 faculty and staff award winners!
Health and Wellbeing Resources
Mandated Use of Face Coverings
As of June 18, 2020, the California Department of Public Health has mandated that people must wear face coverings when outside their homes in specific circumstances. There are also exceptions to the new rules. The state mandate applies to the Cal Poly campus.
Visit the Prevention page for an overview of situations when face coverings should be used on campus, and some of the exemptions that may apply to Cal Poly community members.
COVID-19 Information
Please visit the official Cal Poly coronavirus website often for critical updates and advisories.
Public Health Resources
- Cal Poly Campus Health & Wellbeing
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- World Health Organization (WHO)
- San Luis Obispo County Department of Public Health
- SLO County Public Health daily press briefing (live Facebook feed)
- San Luis Obispo County Emergency Information
- CA Department of Public Health
Mental Health Resources
Faculty and staff can contact the Employee Assistance Program for confidential counseling services (available to employees and their families) at 800-367-7474, or visit https://afd.calpoly.edu/hr/employee-resources/work-life.
Cal Poly students can contact Cal Poly’s Counseling Services and 24/7 hotline at 805-756-2511.
Basic Needs for Students
Visit Cal Poly's Basic Needs website for food and housing resources. It includes information on the Cal Poly Food Pantry, Cal Poly Cares Grant, CalFresh Outreach, and more.