By Javier Valdes
Editor-in-Chief
CSU Bakersfield has hired 33 new tenure-track faculty members and 10 full-time lecturers, making it the largest group of faculty to be hired at CSUB in over a decade.
The faculty attended a new-hire orientation on Monday and Tuesday were they talked policy and procedure.
Presenters spoke to the new faculty about service learning, community engagement, curriculums, grants and research.
Vice Provost David Schecter said that the new hiring was mostly to fill positions on campus that were left vacant due to faculty retiring.
Schecter said that some positions were created to meet the demand of the growing departments on campus, such as the Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Engineering department, where there has been an increase of computer science and engineering students over the past few years.
Other positions were filled in an attempt to increase tenure track density, as some departments at CSUB have seen a decline in tenure-track faculty said, Schecter.
During the orientation, the new faculty also had the chance to meet with administrators and with their departments to get acquainted before the fall semester began.
Child, Adolescent and Family Studies professor Elaine Correa joins CSUB from Canada and has so far been impressed by how nice and how welcoming her team has been.
“Already in my first few days at CSUB, I have been impressed by the welcoming I have received,” said Correa.
Correa is looking forward to CAFS opening doors for the students and is hoping to build upon past successes to move her program forward.
CSUB will also welcome back fellow alumna’s Lindsay Davis and Sweden native Isabella Kasselstrand.
Kasselstrand received both a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in sociology from CSUB.
Kasselstrand joins CSUB as a sociology assistant professor and hopes that her prior experience gives her a better understanding of the university and student experience.
“While I am starting a new position, I already have an established connection to this institution and community, and I am committed to giving our current students the same positive experience that I had,” said Kasselstrand.
Davis will be teaching criminal justice at both CSUB and Antelope Valley Center. After graduating from CSUB, Davis is glad to be back and hopes that her experience at CSUB can make her more approachable to the students.
“I believe it (being an alumna) will help me in establishing rapport and a relationship with incoming students,” said Davis. “I look forward to engaging with and guiding students, as well as being the person to represent the criminal justice department (at AV campus.)”
