GRADUATE STUDENT COUNCIL MEETING NOTES
April 17, 2008
6:30 – 8:00, Medical Research Building III, Room 1220
I. Approval of April Agenda
II. Approval of Minutes from March Meeting
III. Election of At-Large Members
IV. Steve Smartt and Anna Letcher to discuss graduate stipends
– Update on direct deposit for stipends (different from wages for TA/RA)
– Five department pilot program has been successful, piloted of 130-ish students among different areas of the university (about 80% of people in pilot have opted in)
– Online application, online payment history, has been very popular
– Will be extending to all grad students
– Will hear in a month or so for a report to make sure everything has/will work
– Hope to transition in mid-summer for the fall
– Will be paid on the on the 30th of the month for everyone (including those currently paid on the 10th of the month, will get it 10 days sooner, NOT 20 days later)
– Payment can go into any American-based bank, so you can get your paycheck even if you’re doing work outside of Nashville
– Thank you to Erica Bowden for presenting at Graduate Education Week at the TN Capitol
V.A President report
a. Sexual harassment seminar will be in the end of April (yes, during finals)
– Has been put together by the Women’s Center (yay for them!)
b. James Lang talk was well-attended, discussed what we can expect during academic careers on the tenure track
– Spent next day doing podcast for Center for Teaching (on their website), talked to junior faculty
c. Collecting information about other grad student organizations
– Looking to get officers/contact names so we can collaborate with them
d. Also a sheet for department rep names for next year (if known yet)
– If you don’t know now, email Jon when you do
– Will be having a few summer meetings/events to have fun, plan for next year/orientation while people have a bit of extra timme
e. Goals for next year
– Molly will discuss later
V.B VP Academic Affairs report
“This is the first PowerPoint I’ve made. I’m in English and we don’t use this sort of new-fangled technology” – Sarah Kersh
a. Thank you to everyone who helped with GSRD – committee, volunteers, attendees
– 86 presentations (21 posters, 65 oral, 12 moderators) – 29 departments represented (20% more than last year)
– 103 attendees to oral presentations, does not include posters
– Heard mostly through email (59%) and word-of-mouth (44%), flyer was last (20%)
– Had good ratings for room setup, technology (with thanks to the Comp Sci department)
– Start looking forward to next year!
V.C VP Social Affairs report
a. Spring social
– Thanks to everyone who helped flyer, get food, clean up
– High attendance
b. Summer fun ideas
– 4/22 April Happy Hour
– 5/31 Jesus Christ Superstar at TPAC
– Emails will be going out for more events as they are planned
V.D Treasurer report
– Still waiting to hear about our AcFee application
– Will email when we get the allocation
V.E Secretary report
V.F Honor Council report
– Can always use more people for Honor Council core, so sign up with Erica if you’re interested in serving for next year
V.G Webmaster report
– Working on updates to the website
– New WordPress format, adding an RSS feed
VI.A University parking committee
– ZipCar coming to campus next year
– Membership fees, cheap car rentals by the hour
– Meeting in a few weeks, will send out a detailed email at that time
– Would like input on models of cars desired
VI.B Calendar committee
– Meeting in the beginning of May to decide on 2010
VI.D GSPPD
– Discussed how to improve faculty attendance for GSRD
– Mona Fredericks suggested having a faculty input board, won’t give away control but make it more attractive to faculty, hear about it from other faculty
– Will be having Prof 101 again next year, grant writing workshops in fall (9/20/08, hope to have NSF representation) and spring (both for students and for faculty to teach students)
– 10/21/08 will be dissertation writing workshop (this year includes proposal writing in addition to actual dissertation writing)
– Had 13 people apply for grad student assistant position, interviewing now
VII. Old business
– Jon and Josh have been working to transition ongoing issues from this year on to next year
VIII. New business
A. Official turnover to new officers, last meeting for several people
– Thank you for service to Alyson, Erica, Alli, Ingrid, Laura, Josh Barnett, Megan, Sarah, Josh Brooks
B. Remarks from Jon (via Molly)
– Want to wrap up Free Ride program, direct deposit for stipends
– Want to accomplish getting a maternity policy for all women grad students, meal plan option for grad students
– New position for coming year of VP Community Affairs, goal of at least one service project per month, strengthen relationships with other professional schools
– Overall, want more participation at meetings/social events/GSRD
– Tentative meeting for June planned
“I’ve obviously been doing this since God was four.” – Josh Brooks
IX. Announcements
– Keep a watch for summer activities
– Pass along names of department reps as they come in
– Email Jon Ahlbin with any questions, concerns, and issues
– Orientation party is August 25