CSU Bakersfield’s President, Lynnette Zelezny, started by congratulating CSUB for being a top university in the United States. She also congratulated the Engineering department for being a part of the “top 100th program” in the nation.  

Zelezny also told students to be advocates and tell future graduates to apply for graduation before the deadline. Students can apply for graduation through the MyCSUB website. 

The 50th anniversary of CSUB will be on Oct. 1, and Zelezny says she looks forward to celebrating it. 

Maria Espinoza, the Vice President of Student Affairs, mentioned that ASI are planning on doing a survey for how students are feeling about in person classes as opposed to virtual learning. Espinoza said that ASI plan on asking why students feel stressed so that ASI can see whether to advocate for zoom classes for semesters coming forward.  

Vernon B. Harper, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, said that the education center is going through change. The question of whether in person courses are better than virtual learning is beginning to arise.  

Harper also stated that Ethnic study courses will be a requirement in the fall of 2021. This will only apply to incoming students for the fall 2021 semester.  

Faust Gorham came to give IT updates. Gorham encouraged more CSUB students to check out Chromebooks if students need them. Gorham mentioned that students were wanting laptops, but the issue was that students were not picking them up.  

“15 percent of the people that wanted a laptop are not picking them up,” Gorham stated.  

The next discussion that came was the issue of courses being offered on Canvas and Blackboard.  

Gorham said that 1,200 courses are being used on canvas as of the fall 2020 semester.  

“It was a huge shift from spring to fall,” Gorham said. 

Gorham also mentioned how Zoom has played a key role in the transition to online learning.  

 “Over 1,600 meetings have happened in under four weeks of the semester,” Gorham said. 

Jacob Richardson, Director of Transfer Students, talked about the struggle students are having with their courses being offered on Blackboard or Canvas. Student’s classes are being offered on either one, and it would be easier to have all classes on one site.  

 “Will there be a push for all classes to be on Canvas in Spring?” Richardson asked. 

“There are only 300 courses left in Blackboard and by June 30 2021, Blackboard will be gone,” Gorham said. 

Luis Mejicanos spoke about the Student Recreation Center (SRC). He said that the SRC will be starting two virtual challenges.  

The first one is “Runner Recess” where SRC staff will encourage participants to upload their outdoor activities on their link in their social media bio to interact with other CSUB students. Students can win SRC swag and prizes by uploading pictures, according to Mejicanos. 

The second one is their Fall Fitness challenge where students log on their fitness activities through the Google form through social media.  

 “With this, we will email you tips to survive the semester, and you can also win prizes,” Mejicanos said.