7/21/08 - July Meeting
GRADUATE STUDENT COUNCIL MEETING NOTES
July 21, 2008
6:00 – 7:00, Medical Research Building III, Room 1220
I. Approval of July Agenda
- Approved
II. Approval of Minutes from June Meeting
- Approved
III. Election of At-Large Members
IV. Officer Reports
A. President: Jon
a. Update on finding a speaker for GSRD
- Have a current list, working on narrowing it down
- Will also take other suggestions
b. GSPPD Update
- Report from Kim Petrie about graduate consortium re: career counseling for grad students
- Consortium about social sciences PhD and 5 year outcomes, counseling resources, and need to bring the programs up to date
- Focus on realistic aspects of professorship
- Campus career center – grad students are not the focus and will not be for a while
- If we want it improved, need to get our deans to work with the career center to get a change
- Presentation on psych & counseling center, don’t forget that they offer some career and aptitude advice/testing as well
- Grant-writing workshop on September 21, dissertation workshop on October 21
B. Vice President of Academic Affairs: Molly
a. Update on planning for next year’s GSRD
- Date is set for Monday, 3/30/09
- Currently inviting faculty to be on guidance panel for GSRD, won’t be making any firm plans until September
C. Vice Presidents of Social Affairs: Megan and Josh
a. Update on past and future summer activities
- Alcohol training seminar was done
- Yazoo Brewery tour was awesome and well-attended
b. Update graduate student orientation
- Moved to Light Hall Atrium, 5-8pm on August 25
c. Upcoming
- Business school interested in doing some events with us in the future
- Sounds game on Thursday, free tickets!
D. Vice President of Community Affairs: Kimberly
a. Upcoming service opportunities
i. Ronald McDonald House Dinner on July 30th at 5 PM
- On 24th (walking distance)
- Will be emailing out (somehow) to all grad students to get as many people as possible involved
- Email Kim if you want to help plan the menu/volunteer
E. Treasurer: Samrat
F. Secretary: Laura
- Will be updating the health insurance guide soon and getting it online/sent out for dissemination
- Thanks to everyone who has been helping with the wiki, keep on going!
G. Honor Council President: Jonathan
- Start investigating first summer case next week
- Will be saying a few words during Orientation about Honor Code as it applies to grad students
H. Webmaster: Alli
V. University Committee Reports:
A. University Parking Committee: Kimberly Boelte, Molly Brown, Samrat Chatterjee, & Jonathan Wellons
B. Student Recreation Center Committee: Josh Brooks & John Mackert
C. Calendar Committee: Jonathan Wellons & Carrie Whiting
D. Religious Affairs Committee : Jennell Talley, Alli Beck, Mekeal TeShome, & Elizabeth Weber
E. Student Insurance Advisory Board: Josh Brooks
F. Graduate Student Professional and Personal Development Committee: Jon Ahlbin, Molly Brown & Steve Smartt
G. University Library Committee: Josh Barnett
H. Center for Teaching Advisory Board: Molly Brown
VI. Old Business
VII. New Business
VIII. Call for Initial Concerns and Upcoming Events
- If you’re interested in helping out the social committee, especially for the orientation party, let Megan and Josh know
A. Call for Announcements:
IX. Adjournment
Graduate Student Orientation
Monday, August 25, 2008 @ 3-5PM at Student Life Center
Food and drinks immediately following in Light Hall Atrium
NO August meeting!
Please pass along the above information to other graduate students in your department.
6/23/08 - June Meeting
GRADUATE STUDENT COUNCIL MEETING NOTES
June 23, 2008
6:00 – 7:00, Medical Research Building III, Room 1220
I. Approval of June Agenda
- Approved
II. Approval of Minutes from April Meeting
- Approved
III. Election of At-Large Members
New reps
- Carrie Whiting – cancer bio
- Steven Vilt - ChemE
- Robin Bairley – bio sciences
IV. Officer Reports
A. President: Jon
a. Update on finding a speaker for GSRD
i.Email jon.ahlbin@vanderbilt.edu for suggestions
b. Reminder about bus program
- Steve is still working on formal approval for the program, although we currently can ride it free
- If you know anyone who is having issues/being charged, please contact Jon so he and Steve can figure out where the kinks are
c. Update on getting meal plan for graduate students
- Jon talked to faculty, they were contacted by Dining Services, not the other way around
- Try to get feedback of how many faculty actually use it?
- Price has risen from $5/meal to $7/meal
- If you’re interested, contact VanderbiltDining@vanderbilt.edu to show that there’s interest
B. Vice President of Academic Affairs: Molly
a. Update on planning for next year’s GSRD
i. Potential dates for GSRD 2009: Monday, Jan. 12th or Monday, March 30th
ii. Forming an Advisory panel of faculty members
1. Email molly.n.fricke@vanderbilt.edu for nominations
C. Vice Presidents of Social Affairs: Megan and Josh
a. Upcoming summer activities
- June 24, 6-8, Happy Hour at Sam’s
- June 25 – Movies in the Park (“Shrek III”) at Centennial
- June 30 – Alcohol training session, RSVP to Josh if you’re coming
- June 24 – Sounds game vs Tacoma
b. Update graduate student orientation
- August 25, email if you want to help out
- Location TBA
c. T-shirts for sale: $5/each. First VU graduate student shirt in history.
D. Vice President of Community Affairs: Kimberly
a. Explanation of position
- Plan community events
- Foster communication with other graduate/professional groups on campus
b. Possible summer service events
- July – Ronald McDonald house dinner – bring food, prepare and serve
- September – Hands On Nashville (9/27?), work in repairing Metro schools
- Email Kim with suggestions for other service events
E. Treasurer: Samrat
a. Budget update
- $21,000 for the coming year – a whole $1000 more!
F. Secretary: Laura
- Let Laura know if you are a new department rep/aren’t going to be a rep for the coming year
- Help work on the wiki! Would like to get done by August
G. Honor Council President: Jonathan
- Two cases in the queue from spring semester
- Normally don’t do cases in the summer, but if there are enough people on campus we might handle the cases this summer
- Email Jonathan if you’re available to investigate or serve on the honor council
H. Webmaster: Alli
- Email Alli for wiki editing privileges if you want to help
II. University Committee Reports:
A. University Parking Committee: Erica Bowton, Molly Brown, & Amy Pyle
B. Student Recreation Center Committee: Josh Brooks & John Mackert
C. Calendar Committee: Amy Pyle & Rory Pruitt
- Carrie Whiting volunteer
D. Religious Affairs Committee : Jennell Talley, Alli Beck, Mekeal TeShome, & Elizabeth Weber
E. Student Insurance Advisory Board: Josh Brooks
F. Graduate Student Professional and Personal Development Committee: Jon Ahlbin & Steve Smartt
G. University Library Committee: Josh Barnett
H. Center for Teaching Advisory Board: Molly Brown
III. Old Business
- Josh should be getting his 14 boxes of transition materials to Jon soon
IV. New Business
V. Call for Initial Concerns and Upcoming Events
VI. Call for Announcements:
VII. Adjournment
Summer meetings
Monday, July 21, 2008 @ 6:00 in Medical Research Building (MRB) III, Room 1220
Please pass along the above information to other graduate students in your department.
4/17/08 - April Meeting
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
3/20/08 - March Meeting
GRADUATE STUDENT COUNCIL MEETING NOTES
March 20, 2008
6:30 – 8:00, Medical Research Building III, Room 1220
I. Approval of March Agenda
- Approved
II. Approval of Minutes from February Meeting
- Approved
III. Election of At-Large Members
IV. Officer Reports
A. President: Josh
a. Upcoming seminar on Sexual Harrassment in April
- Due to large volume of events in early April will be moving seminar to the end of next month
- Women’s Center and ODC have done a lot of work towards it
b. Visit from James Lang, Graduate Student Research Day Speaker 2008
- March 31, 4:15pm, Student Life Center
- Should be a good talk, supposed to be very engaging
- Raised $3000 to help pay for the speaker (food, speaker fee, etc) - Dean Bandas, Grad School, English, Pharm, Robert Penn Warren Center, Center for Teaching all helped
i. Help with the rest of publicity
- Emails have gone out, have posters to hang up on Sunday/Monday
- Each rep will get an email that can be personalized for your department, send it to students as well as administrators
- All department heads have already been emailed
- Postcards should be appearing in mailboxes shortly
c. Goals for the next GSC
i. Review of 2008-2009 Officer Elections
- Jon’s list
- Follow through on Metro bus program
- Finish the Wiki
- Get a grad student meal plan
- More social activities
- Continue to expand GSRD
- May have a meeting or two during the summer, especially to plan the Orientation Party and facilitate summer grad student activities
d. New job available for graduate students
- Graduate Student Coordinator, much like the assistant we asked for to help with grad student affairs
- Will also be working with campus centers
- Well paid, $20,000 plus insurance for 20 hours a week, August to May
- Grab a flyer and apply, due by next Friday! Also help get the word out
- If you haven’t heard from your DGS, ask them about it
e. Update on new housing around campus
- No longer room to have grad students live in the commons, but still working on (paid) positions to work with undergrads there
- Next plan: knock down Kissam, build Commons-like community there with built-in positions for grad students as intellectual facilitators (NOT an RA)
- Gets stipend, free room/meal plan - stay tuned
- According to Susan Barge, grad students are in the long-term housing plans
B. Vice President of Academic Affairs: Sarah
a. Academic Committee
i. Graduate Student Research Day: March 31, 2008 in the Student Life Center
1. http://studentorgs.vanderbilt.edu/gsc/gsrd_abstracts_2008.pdf
- More participation than ever, have rented out the entire SLC
- About 2/3 of departments are represented (31 departments)
- All info is on the GSC website (address above)
ii. Needs from the Academic Affairs Committee
- Still need a moderator for a humanities panel, session from 1:30-2:30 (taken care of)
- Will be door prizes for attending and filling out a survey - gift cards, movie certificates, etc
- Need volunteers to stay and clean up after James Lang’s talk
C. Vice Presidents of Social Affairs: Megan and Josh
- Need help with: carrying kegs, working the door, setup, cleanup, make a flyers
- Starting to organize next year’s welcome event - Monday, August 27 from 5-8om
- Olin Lawn (same place as next year) for now
- Alcohol training session in May, all social committee members and officers need to attend and others are welcome
- Email Megan with your availability
- Contact Megan (megan.johnson@vanderbilt.edu) and Josh (joshua.m.barnett@vanderbilt.edu) if you’d like to help out with social events for the rest of the spring/summer, also contact if there are things you’re particularly interested in helping with
b. Upcoming Happy Hours
c. T-shirts for sale: $5/each. First VU graduate student shirt in history.
5. Rent: March 30
D. Treasurer: Ingrid
a. AcFee Process Update
- Issue with undergrads about who allocates our money has been resolved
- Ingrid has been attending AcFee subcommittee meetings for arts funding allocation, other committee members have been attending other special interest groups
- Asked for $47,000 for next year, remains to be seen how much we’ll get
E. Secretary: Laura
- If you signed up on the committee, please try to get to your assigned articles
- Goal is to finish the wiki this summer
F. Honor Council President: Erica
G. Webmaster: Alli
- Email Alli if you want to work on the Wiki and don’t currently have editing priviledges
V. University Committee Reports:
A. University Parking Committee: Erica Bowton, Molly Fricke, & Amy Pyle
B. Student Recreation Center Committee: Josh Brooks & John Mackert
C. Calendar Committee: Amy Pyle & Rory Pruitt
D. Religious Affairs Committee : Jennell Talley, Alli Beck, Mekeal TeShome, & Elizabeth Weber
E. Freshman Commons Committee: Josh Brooks
F. Student Insurance Advisory Board: Josh Brooks
- Insurance only raising $20 for next year, to $1958
- Preexisting condition clause is now only 6 months instead of existing 12 months
G. Graduate Student Professional and Personal Development Committee: Josh Brooks & Steve Smartt
- Women’s Center is bringing Dr. Sue Rosser, former director of NSF, on April 15 in Stevenson
- Helping to publicize the “We Speak For Ourselves” lecture series from the Robert Penn Warren Center (so post flyers, even if you can’t go) - April 3-4
- Based on a Vandy grad’s book on African-American experience in speaking for themselves
- Warren Center is digitizing the tapes so they’re online
- Speakers on the tapes are being brought to campus to speak on Vanderbilt and civil rights history
H. University Library Committee: Josh Barnett
I. Center for Teaching Advisory Board : Sarah Kersh
VI. Old Business
- Josh is still looking in to meal plan, health insurance issues raised last meeting
- Bus system - currently haphazard, but now doing a cost-benefit analysis of making the program official
- Steve Smartt is working on the report, should hopefully know more next week
VII. New Business
A. The process of GSC Turnover
- Introduction of officers for next year (for those who were not here last month)
- If anyone would like to buy goodbye/thank you gifts for the outgoing officers, Josh Brooks would gladly accept an iPhone, Palm Pilot, etc.
VIII. Call for Initial Concerns and Upcoming Events
A. Susan Barge, from Student Housing, will be speaking next month
IV. Call for Announcements
A. Who Speaks? With the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities
-Thursday, March 27, Antoinette Brown lecture series in Benton Chapel at 7pm (keynote event of Divinity School)
- Sign up for AlertVU if you haven’t already
X. Adjournment
Spring meetings:
Thursday, April 17, 2008 @ 6:30 in Medical Research Building (MRB) III, Room 1220
(Turnover meeting for the 2008-2009 GSC)
Please pass along the above information to other graduate students in your department.
2/21/08 - February Meeting
GRADUATE STUDENT COUNCIL MEETING NOTES
February 21, 2008
6:30 – 8:00, Medical Research Building III, Room 1220
I. Approval of February Agenda
- Approved
II. Approval of Minutes from January Meeting
- Will be approved later via email
III. Election of At-Large Members
IV. Officer Reports
A. President: Josh
a. Upcoming seminars on Sexual Harrassment (co-sponsor: Women’s Center & Opportunity Development Center)
- Right now in Women’s Center’s court
- Busy right now with Eve Ensler stuff
- Planning in March/April, good because new officers will get experience helping
b. Results from the “bus” experiment
- Experimented on Monday, 2/11
- All but one card work, not sure why that one didn’t
- Start using the bus, most should work
- Let Josh/Steve work if it doesn’t so they can figure out whose doesn’t (class thereof)
- Steve’s caveat: there is no official program to cover the fares, but it seems to be working
- If you can’t, raise point that most others can
c. Visit from James Lang, Graduate Student Research Day Speaker 2008
- Capstone of GSRD, 4pm March 31
- Should be an excellent talk, Lang is very engaging and talks about first year professor experience
e. Goals for the next GSC
- Josh has a transition plan to make sure we don’t lose momentum from now to next year
- One big current issue: getting grad student meal plan/cheaper meals on campus
- Keep in mind what we’ve done, where we want to go
- Easier to get things started in the summer when people aren’t as busy
i. Announcement of offices available for 2008-2009 GSC
f. Possible speakers to hear from for rest of year
i. March: Susan Barge, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
- Head of college halls, coming to discuss how to integrate grad students into the new commons and future building/expansion projects
B. Vice President of Academic Affairs: Sarah
a. Academic Committee
i. Graduate Student Research Day: March 31, 2008 in the Student Life Center
- Thanks to everyone who has forwarded the call for abstracts to their departments
- Josh will send out again, please print it out and post it where grad students will see it around your department
- sarah.kersh@vanderbilt.edu
- vandygsrd@gmail.com
ii. ABSTRACT DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 29, 2008
- Already have more submissions for this year than any other year
- Want to have a wide representation of abstracts to showcase quality of grad student work, draw in more people (who aren’t presenting) to attend
- Remember to forward emails to your department!
iii. Needs from the Academic Affairs Committee
C. Vice Presidents of Social Affairs: Megan and Josh
- Great attendance so far this year,
a. Upcoming Preds game
1. March 13th
- Probably selling tickets on March 3rd, same time as Rent tickets
b. Upcoming Happy Hours
- Will email when there are plans, switching between the Flying Saucer, Dan McGuiness, and Sam’s
c. T-shirts for sale: $5/each. First VU graduate student shirt in history.
d. Rent: March 30
e. VandyLAN Collaboration
- This Friday, 2/23, encourage attendance among your department, 7-midnight in Featheringill
- Collaborating with Vanderbilt Computer Society
- Been going on for about 8 years, once a semester - 350 attended in the fall
- Has been mainly undergrads, trying to increase grad student/faculty
- $1000 worth of door prizes (no skill needed), tournament prizes, grand prize is a PS3
D. Treasurer: Ingrid
a. AcFee Process Update
- AcFee application going well so far
- Ingrid attending meetings to find out how to fill out our applications
- Now listed as a Special Interest group, new allocation process
- Final application due 2/28, will get feedback from committee beforehand on ways to improve our application
E. Secretary: Laura
F. Honor Council President: Erica
- Thanks to everyone who served this morning on Honor Council hearing
- If you would like to be on Honor Council core, email Erica to join
- If you’re already on it, help Erica out!
G. Webmaster: Alli
- Abstract submission materials now on the website
- Also GSRD posters on the website, can download from there to post them
V. University Committee Reports:
A. University Parking Committee: Erica Bowton, Molly Fricke, & Amy Pyle
- New F lot open at Natchez and Blakemore
- Street in front of Blair now will be Zone 3
B. Student Recreation Center Committee: Josh Brooks & John Mackert
C. Calendar Committee: Amy Pyle & Rory Pruitt
D. Religious Affairs Committee : Jennell Talley, Alli Beck, Mekeal TeShome, & Elizabeth Weber
E. Freshman Commons Committee: Josh Brooks
F. Student Insurance Advisory Board: Josh Brooks
- Insurance will go up for next year, about 4.5%
- Want input: possibility of choosing changes to plan
1) Cover pregnancies (currently only not covered if you come to school pregnant)
2) Increase outpatient mental health coverage
3) Change preexisting condition waiting period to 6 months
- Decisions will be made next week at meeting, so speak up if you have an opinion
- Email Josh or Alyson
G. Graduate Student Professional and Personal Development Committee: Josh Brooks & Steve Smartt
- Prof 101 (how to prepare for your first year of professorship), received a university grant so will now be offered for the next 3 years
- Expanding into Job 101 for more general job opportunities, how to find a job & apply
- Grant-writing workshop also fully funded to have one each semester, available to all disciplines
- Vandy professionals plus external grant evaluators
H. University Library Committee: Josh Barnett
I. Center for Teaching Advisory Board : Sarah Kersh
VI. Old Business
- Have not yet spoken to director of Student Health about issues, but will discuss at next meeting
VII. New Business
A. ELECTION OF OFFICERS
a. Honor Council Vice President
- Nominated: Jim Segedy (elected)
b. Honor Council President
- Nominated: Jon Wellons (elected)
c. Webmaster
- Nominated: Alli McCoy (elected)
d. Secretary
- Nominated: Laura Williams (elected)
e. Treasurer
- Nominated: Samrat Chatterjee (elected)
f. Vice Presidents, Social Affairs (two)
- Nominated: Megan Johnson (elected), Josh Barnett (elected)
g. Vice President, Community Affairs
- Nominated: Kim Boelte (elected)
h. Vice President, Academic Affairs
- Nominated: Molly Brown (elected), Hui-Yiing Chang
i. President
- Nominated: Kirsten Helmke, Jon Ahlbin (elected)
B. The process of GSC Turnover
- Josh wants this year to be a good transition
- Current officers are currently writing transition documents about their positions
- Also think about who you would like to represent your department (this could be you again!)
- Also extends to currently unrepresented departments, if you know anyone in one of them
VIII. Call for Initial Concerns and Upcoming Events
IV. Call for Announcements:
A. Business cards for graduate students: talk to your DGS!
- Biomedical currently has a good deal, could maybe extend to other departments - $18 for a box of 250
- Have DGS talk to Kim Petrie (kim.petrie@vanderbilt.edu), deal ends March 7
- DGS will get the bill and must guarantee they will pay for any that students are paid for
- From Steve: Graduate Education Week, one morning in April (April 2?) will have a grad student poster session with students from across the state to present results to legislators
- Can have one rep from Vanderbilt
- Anyone who is interested, contact Josh and he will pass it on to Steve Smartt
X. Adjournment
Spring meetings:
Thursday, March 20, 2008 @ 6:30 in Medical Research Building (MRB) III, Room 1220
Thursday, April 17, 2008 @ 6:30 in Medical Research Building (MRB) III, Room 1220
(Turnover meeting for the 2008-2009 GSC)
Please pass along the above information to other graduate students in your department.
1/17/08 - January Meeting
GRADUATE STUDENT COUNCIL MEETING NOTES
January 17, 2008
6:30 – 8:00, Medical Research Building III, Room 1220
I. Approval of January Agenda
- Approved
II. Approval of Minutes from December Meeting
- Approved
III. Election of At-Large Members
IV. Officer Reports
A. President: Josh
a. Upcoming seminars on Sexual Harrassment (co-sponsor: Women’s Center & Opportunity Development Center)
- Aiming for March/April
b. The Vanderbilt “experiment” to determine bus ridership problems
- Have a way to determine who isn’t getting free bussing so we can get it for everyone
- Five groups of people, need volunteers to go try (and have lunch!)
- Josh - US grad students, service free stipend, pilot direct deposit
- Training grant, US, service free - Megan, Alli, Amanda, Laura
- International paid on international payroll through HR - Fazal
- US in TA position paid a TA salary - Isi, Natalie
- RA position on RA grant - Jonathan, Jim, John
c. National Conference on Graduate Student Leadership review\
- Attended in November, reporting now because of long December meeting
- Sarah and Kelly presented, Josh facilitated
- Good experience, renewed sense of what goals of grad student experience are
- Shared ideas with other graduate student leaders, 16 universities attended
- Many have graduate student life centers, people paid to facilitate graduate student programming
- Have since had discussions on how to get a facilitator for us, coordinate things between GSC and varied university offices
d. Increasing participation in the GSC events
e. Update on dining plan options for graduate students
- Introductory offer for faculty/staff has since disappeared
- Now have $6.50 ($7?) meals (instead of $5), may make some headway on getting access
- Can support by emailing/sending letters to dining services showing interest; Josh will email with name of who to contact
- Points to make: faculty have a good offer, grad students can’t afford to eat meals in campus dining facilities
- Do not want it to become mandatory!
- No formal survey of interest has been done, but informal questioning has been positive, brought up by many students in front of the GSC
- Bring it up to your constituents, email Josh as you find results so he can gauge interest
f. Goals for the next GSC
i. Announcement of offices available for 2008-2009 GSC
- Elections for president, VP academic affairs, VP community affairs, VP social affairs, treasurer, secretary, webmaster, president of graduate honor council, vp of graduate honor council
- Some officers are interested in returning but others are not, so there will definitely be room for new officers to continue building the GSC
g. Possible speakers to hear from for rest of year
- Josh attempting to get someone from Dining Services to come and speak (see subheading e above)
- Susan Barge, Associate Provost of College Halls would like to speak
- Gauge interest in being an academic RA - live in dorms, mentor undergrads for upperclassmen
B. Vice President of Academic Affairs: Sarah
a. Academic Committee
i. Graduate Student Research Day: March 31, 2008 in the Student Life Center
- Speaker - James Lang, author of Life on the Tenure Track, March 31, 2008, 4pm
- Start talking up now, will have posters next meeting
- Have help in financing - have over $1000, need $2000
- Also need panel moderators - introductions, facilitate discussion
- Giving away two conference travel grants as door prizes
ii. Upcoming Deadlines
- Deadline is 2/29, can submit for a poster or a presentation
- Presentations are 15 minutes with 5 minutes for questions, if you have multiple related projects can submit as a group to form a panel
- Pass information on to fellow students, DGSs - encourage others to participate!
iii. Needs from the Academic Affairs Committee
- Where to flyer - email Josh and Megan of where your department looks for flyers to make event announcements more effective
- Can also volunteer to help put them up (please?)
C. Vice Presidents of Social Affairs: Megan and Josh
a. Upcoming Preds game
1. January 31
2. Feb. 7
3. March 13th
4. Tickets will be sold in advance to ensure people who want to go can get a ticket; limit 4 per person
- $10, buy next Tuesday 1/22
- Opened up to law and med students
b. Upcoming Happy Hours
- 2/13, Flying Saucer, 5-7 pm
c. T-shirts for sale: $5/each. First VU graduate student shirt in history.
5. Rent: March 30
- Have 75 tickets, 6:30pm matinee, $20 each
d. Other ideas
- Many people got to see Steve Smartt’s band play - maybe set up a group in the future?
- Tickets for Il Travatore in April
- No date yet for spring social
- More: Pool, roller skating
- Next Monday, 1/21 - MLK Jr. candlelight vigil with OBGRADS
D. Treasurer: Ingrid
a. AcFee Needs
- Passed out proposed budget for our AcFee application for next year
- Includes current budget for comparison, asking for increases in many areas due to increasing success of GSC events
- Ingrid would love help with the application (join her committee!), also welcomes suggestions for additional items
E. Secretary: Laura
F. Honor Council President: Erica
- Have two ongoing cases, would like some help
- Investigations, sit on panels
- If you’re on the committee list, respond to Erica’s emails! (or email her to get on the list)
G. Webmaster: Alli
V. University Committee Reports:
A. University Parking Committee: Erica Bowton, Molly Fricke, & Amy Pyle (+1 empty position)
B. Student Recreation Center Committee: Josh Brooks & John Mackert
C. Calendar Committee: Amy Pyle & Rory Pruitt
D. Religious Affairs Committee : Jennell Talley, Alli Beck, Mekeal TeShome, & Elizabeth Weber
E. Freshman Commons Committee: Josh Brooks
- Grad students on the back burner while dealing with admissions
- 16,000 applications for 1500 freshman spots, working on how grad students can help with this
F. Student Insurance Advisory Board: Josh Brooks
a. What isn’t offered that you want to be offered-time to make small changes…
G. Graduate Student Professional and Personal Development Collaborative: Josh Brooks & Steve Smartt
- GradSTEP - Saturday 1/19 - 8am, sponsored by Center for Teaching
- Josh has gone in the past, had good experience and highly recommended
- Future program on dissertation proposal writing (in addition to current dissertation workshop)
- Past success of Prof 101
H. University Library Committee: Josh Barnett
I. Center for Teaching Advisory Board : Sarah Kersh
J. Oak Advisory Board: Josh Brooks
- Committee has been dissolved
VI. Old Business
A. Update from our meeting with the Chancellor and the Provost
- Josh spoke with iChancellor Zeppos to reiterate things brought up last month
VII. New Business
A. Discussing the role of a graduate student government in the development of the graduate community-what is missing from the graduate student experience?
- Think long-term as well - not just next year but coming years after
- Met many current goals of continuing grad student speaker, e.g. expanding and strengthening Grad Student Research Day - where now?
- Will have a discussion of this next meeting
VIII. Call for Initial Concerns and Upcoming Events
- Identity theft concerns - not just the voter laptop theft, but also university systems use SSNs frequently
- Issues at Student Health?
- Divinity school/Dept of Religion fundraiser/party on Feb. 1 at rectory
IV. Call for Announcements:
A. REMEMBER: Elections will be held at the next meeting
X. Adjournment
Spring meetings:
Thursday, February 21, 2008 @ 6:30 in Medical Research Building (MRB) III, Room 1220
(February meeting is Graduate Student Body Elections)
Thursday, March 20, 2008 @ 6:30 in Medical Research Building (MRB) III, Room 1220
Thursday, April 17, 2008 @ 6:30 in Medical Research Building (MRB) III, Room 1220
Please pass along the above information to other graduate students in your department.
12/13/07 - December Meeting
GRADUATE STUDENT COUNCIL MEETING NOTES
December 13, 2007
6:30 – 8:00, Medical Research Building III, Room 1220
I. Approval of Agenda
- Accepted with change to item IV (September to November)
II. Welcome and Introductions
a. Nicholas Zeppos: Chancellor of Vanderbilt University
- Intention to focus on improvement of PhD programs
- Most important part of the university is the quality, diversity, and strength of the faculty
- Thinks we’re doing well in this regard
- Also made great progress in research funding (proxy of faculty quality)
- Put emphasis on placement and future of grad students after leaving Vanderbilt
- Working towards expanding graduate programs, especially interdisciplinary, listen to students to find where interests lie and where professor are going to be needed 20 years down the road
- Do current hiring practices meet student needs re: programs and course offerings?
- What are the knowledge and information needs of the campus and what spaces are needed to meet them?
- Use of Commons as a space for discussion and sharing of ideas
- Racial diversity in PhD students and tenture-track positions
- Taking an aggressive stance in recruitment and retention in these positions
- Working with departments, curriculum and academic culture must support this diversity
- Working on “increasing the pipeline” to recruit from a broader spectrum of candidates
- Graduate student community building
- Any plans for getting a centralized space?
- Buttrick Hall space doesn’t seem to be drawing people, so not sure how it will work
- Possibility of building in to revamped library plan
- Interested more in building a physical graduate student residential community
- How can graduate students make their voices heard?
- Both Zeppos and Hall open to contact from students
- GSPPD exists as a resource to make things happen for grad student concerns
- Believes campus has become more centralized, not less
- High expectation for accountability of programs, want departments to take responsibility
- Focus on building great programs, getting students to completion, and getting good jobs
b. Dennis Hall: Associate Provost for Research and Graduate Education
- Oversees research, libraries, university press
- Update on graduate education at Vanderbilt
- Overall and minority applications are up (6.6% and 63% from last year, respectively)
- Number of grad students, PhDs awarded, and external funding up, admissions more selective
- Every PhD-admitting college has increased numbers
- Number of earned doctorates comparable to Washington University
- From these numbers, if we had double the resources, would we double our PhDs?
- Probably not, put more effort into what we have than into expansion
III. State of the University presentations by Chancellor Zeppos and Provost Hall
- Under item II
IV. Approval of Minutes from November Meeting
- Approved
V. Election of At-Large Members
VI. Officer Reports
A. President: Josh
a. Discussion of changes to the Activity Fee allotment process
b. Free-Ride Bus System Progress—the experiment
- Testing next week to find out exactly who can ride
c. Changes to the Graduate Student Council Speaker
- Not Frank Warren
- Have a list of names, going through schedules now and will announce when we know who it is
d. Seminars on Sexual Harrassment in February (co-sponsor: Women’s Center)
- Getting information together now, planned for mid-February
- Intra-student and professor-student situations
e. Seminar on Filing Income Taxes in January (co-sponsor: Graduate School)
- GS will actually not be co-sponsoring because they can’t give tax advice
f. National Conference on Graduate Student Leadership review
a. Updates from the delegates
- Discuss more next month after full comes out
g. Update on progress regarding protection of Student Academic Contributions
h. Elections ‘08
- Will need a new president especially, but welcome to run for any office
B. Vice President of Academic Affairs: Sarah
a. Academic Committee
i. GSRD: March 31, 2007
ii. Reaching out to different departments to increase attendance
- Help Sarah get a list of department heads so people can find out about what’s going on
- Spread the word yourself to members of your department
- Trying to get university community as a whole to recognize grad students and contributions
iii. Call for abstracts going out in January; due Feb. 29, 2008
- Papers and posters
- Email Sarah if you have questions
C. Vice Presidents of Social Affairs: Megan and Josh
a. Recap of November/December events
- Since last meeting, have had Preds game, bowling, tailgating, and Happy Hour
b. Plan for Spring Semester 2008
- Already a bunch planned, dates will go out next semester
c. Ideas for next semester from the representatives
- Making tshirts so we can be more easily recognized at events
- Passing around an order form, please note your size and check your department
- Should be available at January meeting
D. Treasurer: Ingrid
- Attended AcFee meeting last night to ensure that we have funding for next year
- Committee members (still space on it!), Ingrid will be contacting on meetings next semester
- Trying to get our funding changed so it’s not allocated by undergrads through AcFee anymore
E. Secretary: Laura
- If you said you’d write any articles for the Wiki, please do it.
F. Honor Council President: Erica
G. Webmaster: Alli
- Busy getting hitched – congratulations Alli and Jake!
VII. University Committee Reports:
- Tabled until next semester
A. University Parking Committee: Erica Bowton, Molly Fricke, & Amy Pyle (+1 empty position)
B. Student Recreation Center Committee: Josh Brooks & John Mackert
C. Calendar Committee: Amy Pyle & Rory Pruitt
D. Religious Affairs Committee : Jennell Talley, Alli Beck, Mekeal TeShome, & Elizabeth Weber
E. Freshman Commons Committee: Josh Brooks
F. Student Insurance Advisory Board: Josh Brooks
G. Graduate Student Professional and Personal Development Committee: Josh Brooks & Steve Smartt
a. Be on the lookout for “Job 101”
H. University Library Committee: Josh Barnett
I. Center for Teaching Advisory Board : Sarah Kersh
J. Oak Advisory Board: Josh Brooks
VIII. Old Business
A. The use of the faculty/staff meal plan at Peabody (and in general)
- Talking to Dennis Hall and dining staff to get it worked out
- Need manpower and people willing to follow up on things
B. Intellectual property updates next semester
IX. New Business
X. Call for Initial Concerns and Upcoming Events
XI. Adjournment
Spring meetings:
Thursday, January 18, 2008 @ 6:30 in Medical Research Building (MRB) III, Room 1220
Thursday, February 21, 2008 @ 6:30 in Medical Research Building (MRB) III, Room 1220
Thursday, March 20, 2008 @ 6:30 in Medical Research Building (MRB) III, Room 1220
Thursday, April 17, 2008 @ 6:30 in Medical Research Building (MRB) III, Room 1220
Please pass along the above information to other graduate students in your department.
11/08/07 - November Meeting
GRADUATE STUDENT COUNCIL MEETING NOTES
November 8, 2007
6:30 – 8:00, Medical Research Building III, Room 1220
I. Approval of Agenda Agenda
- with addition to Honor Council section
II. Approval of Minutes from October Meeting
III. Election of At-Large Members
Amy McLachlan – Anthropology
Dominik Stich – Physics
Macy Loveless – BME
Nathan Mutic – IGP
Stephen Killingsworth – Psychology
IV. Officer Reports
A. President: Josh
a. Upcoming seminar on sexual harassment
- Elizabeth Vargas helping Josh Brooks and the Women’s Center to put it together
- Narrowing down a date for next semester
b. Income Tax Seminar
- Next semester (January) will have IRS agent and tax specialist in grad student taxes on panels
c. Reaching out to underrepresented departments
- Making progress
- Continue to work to get people to come from other departments or at least ask people in those departments if they have any concerns so they can be represented
c2. Still working on getting Frank Warren for GSRD, not looking likely due to funding
- Have other people in mind, let Josh Brooks know if you have any suggestions
- May try to get Frank Warren some other time if we can find the money
d. National Conference on Grad Student Leadership
- Josh Brooks, Sarah Kersh, and Kelli Richardson are going, this weekend
- Same topics from last month’s meeting, let Josh know if you have any questions or particular areas of interest
- They will be taking plenty of notes to pass along to us when they get back
e. Increasing participation
- Met goal of increasing participation and getting more people at meetings
- VPs are doing a great job of getting events planned and getting the word out
- Please offer to help with events when asked, more events means more people are needed to help
- Building momentum, so let’s keep it going!
- Where do we want the GSC to go in the future?
f. Goals for next semester
- GSC elections will be in February, start thinking now if there is a role you’d like to play
- Like to have a smooth transition
- Talk to officers if you have any questions about what each office does
B. Vice President of Academic Affairs: Sarah
- GS research symposium on 3/31/08, all-day event, poster sessions, speaker at noon, oral paper presentations
- To be held at the Student Life Center
C. Vice Presidents of Social Affairs: Megan and Josh
a. Recaps
- Corn Maze – 40-50 people came, try to do again next year, much fun
- AHA heart walk, GGSC helped sign up many people for volunteer list before the walk
- Fall Social last week, raised $200 for Second Harvest food bank plus donated food
- 10/24 had 75 at Predators game, 11/15 game – email next week about 50 tickets
b. Upcoming events
- Tailgate this weekend for Vandy UK game with Owen, in tailgating lot by football stadium, GSC will provide food and drink, will email
- Preds game tickets sell fast, $5 per person
- Happy Hour last night, try to get other grad schools involved in the future
- Bowling in early December with the med students
D. Treasurer: Ingrid
- Budget still on track
E. Secretary: Laura
- Wiki making progress, please continue to contribute
F. Honor Council President: Erica
- Guest speakers, Maddy Clark and Jennifer DeBoer on Intellectual Property Rights for grad students
- Spurred by current Vandy student who had his work “borrowed” by a professor while working on his masters at another university
- Professor published the work without crediting the student or asking permission
- Vandy currently has no guidelines in place outside the honor code, so trying to be proactive instead of reactive before it becomes a problem
- Honor code applies mostly to undergrads, grad students don’t have to sign it but it states that students will not plagiarize or cheat on assignments, does not offer protection against others taking credit for student work
- Honor code is very explicit with regards to cases and punishments, so model what we do on this so there are consequences for violation
- Faculty have honor code manual as it pertains to students, but do not explicitly have their own code, there is a violation reporting website but is very student-focused
- Proposed protection code: more than just requiring compliance, rather enumerate a value regarding academic integrity for all involved in the university, include principles and broader policy implications, would also include specific descriptions of what a violation entails and violation reaction procedures/accountability
- Used examples from other schools that currently have explicit policies
- History exists at many universities of litigation resulting from violations
- Where do we go next and what do we want?
1) Is there a place for this here at Vandy? Definitely!
2) Intellectual Property code should contain….
- Consequences? kick offending person out of the university, legal action – what is the jurisdiction? issues with being a private university
- Evaluate where existing models have succeeded and failed when deciding what we want
- What currently exists varies wildly from place to place, depends on what the university sees as “theirs”
- Individual contracts versus overarching policy implications
- What are the school/department-specific issues? Some department policies in place
- To adapt, need to change depending on type of work being done
- Technology transfer office with engineering school provides protection? Able to keep detailed dated notes on progress, patents, royalties
- Easier to track than theoretical articles
- Consider financial issues
- Consider punitive vs preventative, code should keep many instances from happening but what are repercussions for if it happens
- University does not have an ombudsman to mediate conflict resolutions independent from the university
- Potentially contact the university legal council/person in the law school who teaches intellectual property
- Could contact Office of Compliance, they currently don’t work with students but could expand the role
- Also go to the Faculty Senate, won’t get off the ground unless the faculty are involved, Honor Council is student run so need faculty support
- Just because it hasn’t been reported doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened here, maybe need to start at reactive instead of preventative
- Main goal in coming tonight was to make sure there is general interest in pursuing, will continue to investigate, frame as preventative as to not put the faculty on the reactive
- Steve Smartt is interested in helping make it happen, agrees that honor council and office of compliance are not the best venues
- Suggests talking to Kevin Davis, associate council in general council office
- Please let Josh Brooks know if you would like to help out and he’ll put people in contact with each other
- Should put up some of the examples and cases of what has happened before and what Vandy currently has in place
G. Webmaster: Alli
- Send Alli department email lists if you haven’t done so
V. University Committee Reports
A. University Parking – Amy Pyle
- Will not be handicapped access to new pedestrian bridge until mid-late December
- Meter spots across from Ben & Jerry’s on 21st now an extra hour
- New spots for F Permits (undergrads, we think)
E. Freshman Commons
- Haven’t met, but general interest in how to integrate graduate students into filling gaps in the commons
F. Student Insurance – Josh Brooks
- Locked into plan with Koster for 3 years, met with Theresa Koster last month
- We still have “wibble” room even though we have a plan, let Josh or Steve Smartt know if there are benefits we’d like to see
- Contact Jennifer Swails-Wenger on campus for policy questions jennifer.swails@Vanderbilt.Edu
G. GSPPD – Steve Smartt
- Met last month and next week as well
- May be able to help with sponsor for Frank Warren talk
- Conducted dissertation writing seminar 75-80 people came, generally positive reviews
- GradStep from Center for Teaching in January
- Working on grant writing and professorial track seminars as student resources, may not make it until next academic year
- Susan Kuyper in Buttrick Hall is currently a resource for this, look at GSPPD website from main Grad School website
H. University Library
- Haven’t met, chancellor search theme was improving Central Library – thoughts?
- New head librarian after this academic year, so now is a good time to make changes
-Bring up thoughts to Dennis Hall next month
- Have new search engine on library website, try it out, called AlphaSearch
J. OAK Advisory Board
- Haven’t met because OAK is being upgraded, changes are forthcoming
VI. Old Business
A. Meal Plan
- Josh contacted Dining Services about getting students onto the faculty/staff meal plan, work is being done
- Problem is figuring out who would subsidize it
- Don’t really want a special meal plan, just a discount like faculty/staff get
VII. New business
A. What is missing with the graduate student experience and what can the GSC do?
- Chancellor search committee theme was that G education isn’t as high as the rest of the university
- Nick Zeppos and Dennis Hall will be here next month, so think about things we’d like to discuss with them about how to make grad school more “fun”
- Housing around campus, i.e. we can’t afford to
- Childcare for grad students
- Places for grad students to hang out, meet with students, work – GS “space”
- Make time to come in December, bring people with you because of the guests
B. Still working on the Free Ride situation
“The person who controls your life is your mentor, obviously, and your committee chair.” – Josh Brooks
10/11/07 - October Meeting
GRADUATE STUDENT COUNCIL MEETING NOTES
October 11, 2007
6:30 – 8:00, Medical Research Building III, Room 1220
I. Approval of Agenda
II. Welcome and Introductions
a. Mark Bandas: Dean of Students
- Office is in 310 Sarratt
- Office provides many non-academic student services
- Health services, housing, conduct, assessment, international student services, service learning, student programs and activities, support student organizations
- Would like to get grad student concerns for Chancellor search
- Common issue brought up in the search meetings in improving the quality of the graduate research programs
- Aerobic programs diminishing, fewer classes available, grad students can’t afford to teach them anymore – any way to get more classes and better pay for student teachers? (not under Dean Bandas’ purview)
- Dining services – also not under his jurisdiction
- Are there other sources of funding outside of AcFee? – talk to Dean Bandas about Central Programming Budget (large donation to support Jorge Cham talk last year), also talk to associate provost, academic departments for co-sponsorship
- Re: housing – grad student housing was run down so that’s why it was razed, interested in getting reasonably-priced graduate student housing close to campus, housing office is currently outpacing itself so building new dorms raises the cost of housing for everyone
- Possibility in future of turning some undergrad apartments into grad housing (no plans as of yet)
- Could there be an improved system of affordable apartment referrals for grad students? Currently mostly word-of-mouth, could be made more systematic if we can tell him what is needed
- Could he also improve current search screen to make search options more useful? Website is old, needs updating for functionality; be careful of off-campus referrals to avoid scammers
- Grad student social life – possibility of getting GS happy hours and trivia nights at the Overcup Oak Lounge
- Will raise the issue with head of dining services
- Child care center – not enough availability
- Student Health Center – helps keep our insurance rates down
b. Lori Groves-White: Director, Leadership Development & Interecultural Affairs and GSC Advisor
c. Anyone else we’d like to hear from, especially in November? Email Josh
III. Approval of Minutes from September Meeting
IV. Election of At-Large Members
- Approval of new at-large – Jeff Green, Comp Sci
V. Remarks from Dean Bandas (see above)
VI. Officer Reports
A. President: Josh
a. Problems with the Student Recreation Center
- Already discussed with Dean Bandas
b. Changes to AcFee
- Being broken down 5 subcommittees based on the type of the organization who will decide on allocations for that type
- 1 grad student per subcommittee plus one on the overall AcFee committee, so 6 grad students (instead of just 1) will have a say
- Streamlines process, reflects changes to the undergrad governance structure
c. Free Ride Program
- Faculty Senate is now on our side for getting it (new ally!)
- Bruce Barry, president of the Faculty Senate, is helping it along
d. Graduate Student Speaker
- Possibility of getting Frank Warren! We have him booked, just need to find the funding to pay for him – we’re up to $5,000 (help from Dean Bandas), working with other offices to get more
- Will be inserted to Grad Student Research Day to get more people interested in the research posters
e. Chancellor Search and the Role of the GSC
- 20 or so grad students (no professional students) showed up at the chancellor search meeting, thanks to those who came and/or filled out surveys
- Main issues – improving libraries (vision to plan new library), looking for intellectual leader who is available and open
- Will be releasing a search ad soon
f. Upcoming Seminars on Sexual Harassment (co-sponsor: Women’s Center)
- Also with Occupational Health, date(s) TBA
g. Income tax seminar
- Still working to get it set up, co-sponsored with the Grad School
- Trying to get someone who has dealt with these situations before, specialist
h. Underrepresented Graduate Departments
- If you know people in departments without a rep, try to get them to come
- Remember, need rep signature to get a travel grant
i. National Conference on Grad Student Leadership
- Josh and Sarah are going
- Entirely student-run, will be coming back with many ideas
- Topics: Balancing demands with rest of life, ethical behavior, affording grad education, smooth transition to life after grad school, inclusiveness and diversity, meaning and role of the grad student community (Josh is leading!)
- Send Josh your requests and ideas
j. Health Insurance Document
- Has been unofficially approved by Student Health, pass the document around
- Put on the GSC website/wiki?
B. Vice President of Academic Affairs: Sarah
a. Academic Committee
i. Grad Student Research Day
- Student Life Center, Monday, March 31
- Incorporates Frank Warren talk
C. Vice Presidents of Social Affairs: Megan and Josh
a. Recap: Octover Happy Hour @ Sam’s
- About 30 people came, hard to know who were grad students
b. Update: My Fair Lady
- Tickets sold out, will be doing a TPAC event next semester as well (Rent)
c. Upcoming Events
- Corn Maze – October 20, 7-10pm, Rippa Villa Plantation, $1 for grad students
- Bring own flashlight, email Josh Barnett if you’re coming
- Heart Walk – need volunteers to help with registration (before 9am), then can participate in the walk after
- will be getting email soon, want 50 volunteers, pass it around to your department
- Happy hour
- Next time – be more identifiable, have more mingling between departments, invite people from the professional schools
- November – Flying Saucer, 11/7, 5-7 pm (Fire Sale Special, get to keep the glass!)
- Next up – Predators game on 10/25 vs. Atlanta Thrashers
- 10/31 – Commodore Trot 5K, $10 registration ahead of time, $15 day of
- 11/15 – Fall Social
- 11/10 – Tailgating with Owen before Vandy/UK game
- Will hopefully be getting a calendar with the rest of the semester’s events soon
D. Treasurer: Ingrid
a. Changes to how we make purchases
b. Spending report
- Spending money but staying within our bounds – yay!
E. Secretary: Laura
a. Updating our GSC listserves
- Keep sending in departmental email lists
b. Survival Guide
- starting work on the wiki
F. Honor Council President: Erica
- sign up if you’re interested, contact Erica or Alyson
G. Webmaster: Alli
a. Website updates
VII. University Committee Reports
A. University Parking Committee: Erica Bowton, Molly Fricke, & Amy Pyle (+1 empty)
- New pedestrian bridge is open – where does it start and finished
- Van pool available with parking spots available, can get a van (Traffic & Parking website) and carpool from home to campus
- Lots of interesting people on the committee if you want to join
B. Student Recreation Center Committee: Josh Brooks & John Mackert
C. Calendar Committee: Amy Pyle & Rory Pruitt
D. Religious Affairs Committee: Jennell Talley, Alli Beck, Mekeal TeShome, & Elizabeth Weber
E. Freshman Commons Committee: Josh Brooks
F. Student Insurance Advisory Board: Josh Brooks
- Meeting 10/26, Josh Brooks transitioning off, Alyson Dickson coming on
G. Graduate Student Professional and Personal Development Committee: Josh Brooks & Steve Smartt
- Grad school putting on dissertation writing workshop, Tuesday, 10/23, must register, limited to 70 students
- preference to people currently writing or writing before 10/08
H. University Library Committee: Josh Barnett
- Common theme in the chancellor search meetings has been improving library systems, make more inviting as Center for Academics
I. Center for Teaching Advisory Board: Sarah Kersh
J. Oak Advisory Board: Josh Brooks
VIII. Old Business
IX. New Business
A. Extend of the faculty/staff meal plan to grad students
X. Initial Concerns for Next Month
A. Dissertation Writing Workshop on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 from 1 - 4:30pm
B. Trying to get grad students on security alert email list
- Can sign up individually on VUPD website
- Can also opt-in to text message alert system
9/13/07 - September Meeting
GRADUATE STUDENT COUNCIL MEETING NOTES
September 13, 2007
6:30 – 8:00, Medical Research Building III, Room 1220
Congratulations to all who won elections, thanks for being willing to serve at-large or as a departmental rep
I. Agenda approved
II.a Steve Smartt
- What is the Graduate School? Grad programs nested within departments and scattered across university. GS is an umbrella over 8 of the Vandy schools and colleges (all except Blair)
- All PhD plus a few others are part of GS, no matter what college your “school” is the GS, will grant degree
- Direct deposit – pilot testing for stipend checks, currently not available for most stipends
- Anna and Steve organizing
- Part of an overall pay system overhaul
- What is a stipend? Generally used as all payments to grad students, but distinguish between service and service-free
- Paid in three ways
1) US citizen in anything but the med school paid on 10th, not allowed to d.d.
2) US citizen in med school program, paid on 30th, can’t d.d.
3) International citizen no matter where, paid on 30th, paid through payroll so can d.d.
- Pilot programs – pharm, LPO, sociology, Robert Penn Warren Center, and history currently available
- All citizenships (including internationals), paid on 30th
- Currently 130 enrolled, hope to move up to all 2000 people who get stipends
- Also consolidating all stipends (multiple sources) into one check
- Extra benefits- those previously on the 10th now getting their checks sooner (but same amount of money and same number of payments)
- Includes paying new students a month sooner than they would otherwise
- Currently watching multiple pay cycles, hope to have recommendation ready by end of October regarding timing for full rollout
- Could be any time between Jan 1 and next school year
- Most likely a matter of “when” not “if”, likely to happen for all departments (paperwork issues to work out)
- Current individual tax situations will not change
IV. All at-large members accepted
V.A President’s report
a. Priorities
- Facilitate communication – from GSC to departments and from students to the university (faculty/staff)
- Have representatives on all university committees
- Act as a forum for issues, discussions, and complaints
- Provide opportunities for presentation of original research
- Supply travel grants for attendance at recognized conferences
- Serve as a liaison to the National Association of Graduate and Professional Students
- Co-sponsor seminars with other university departments
- Serve as a volunteer organization
- Sponsor graduate student social events (e.g. welcome event)
- Provide the graduate honor council
Duties of reps
- Serve on standing committees
- Passing around sign-up sheet
- Provide personal communication on events and issues (give a face to your department for the GSC)
- Bring student concerns to the body at large
- Sign off on travel grant applications starting today – must have rep signatures
- Not eligible if department does not have a rep!
- Send general university concerns on to students in your department
Committees
- University Affairs – Chair: Josh Brooks
- lectures and special talks (e.g. tax information)
- Academic Affairs – Chair Sarah Kersh
- GS research day organization
- Social and Community Affairs: Chairs: Megan and Josh Barnett
- Activity Fee – Chair: Ingrid
- Help set up application for AcFee, any other monetary concerns/allocations
- Editorial – Chairs: Laura and Alli
- Updating the Survival Guide
- Honor Council – President: Erica
- Handles cases of investigating and make decisions regarding punishment for alleged violations of the honor code
- May help to investigate or serve on jury
V.A.c Many handouts, take IM schedules to pass out, look at budget info from Ingrid, brochure from the Center for Teaching
- Pass info on to departments!
- Robert Penn Warren center events
V.A.e New tailgating policy
1) No liquor, kegs, or drinking games
2) No glass containers
3) Access to tailgating area opens four hours before the game (not 6)
4) Must attend the game (or at least can’t stay in the tailgating area after the start of the game)
- Possibility of having separate area for grad/professional tailgating (hopefully not)
- Request for volunteers from the GSC to be on tailgating Party Patrol
V.A.f Professional school outreach
- Megan (and Josh Brooks) working on arranging joint events so we can mingle to build up grad/pro environment
V.A.g. Chancellor search
- Lowest response rate on chancellor search questionnaire sent out a few weeks ago via email
- Trying to figure out what the community is looking for
- Will be receiving a reminder email soon, PLEASE fill it out
- Having a grad/professional student forum with search committee to make sure voices are heard
- Probably be a Tuesday from 4-5:30
V.A.h Travel grants
- Remember to get rep signature, can email Josh Brooks if there’s a problem
V.C.
- Welcome Party
- Will email raffle prize winners
- Lots of ideas for social events, need lots of help so sign up for committee
- Can help out with events/bring ideas even if you don’t want to be on the committee
- Juvenile Diabetes Walk, contact Louisa Morrison, Sept 25
- Goal for this year: Provide a greater variety of events as well as opportuniti8es to meet people outside your department/school and in the professional schools
- Will start having tailgate parties with Owen in a few weeks, they have the alcohol if we’ll bring food and people – more info forthcoming
V.D. Treasurer’s report
- Passed out budget as compared to last year
- Help Ingrid with AcFee!
- Look in folder for relevant monetary forms
- Make sure to use tax ID if you’re buying something for GSC use because Vandy will not reimburse sales tax
V.E. Secretary
- Finally have GSC listserve
- Will hopefully be passing out insurance guide via listserve soon
V.F Honor council
- Heard 3 cases last year
VI. Committees
University Parking – add Jonathan Wellons
VII.A Free Ride resolution
- Trying to get free MTA rides for grad students (like faculty/staff)
- Previously passed but want to resubmit to new interim chancellor/Board of Trust
- Accepted with changing of name from Gordon Gee to Nick Zeppos
VIII. New business
- Any way to get treated more like staff, like the Faculty/Staff Meal Plan?
IX. Initial concerns
- Does the GSC have a harassment plan?
- Could we have a seminar?
- Maybe with the Psychological Counseling Center
- Campus event email system
- Still trying to get email notification from police department when things happen (like undergrads have)
Other
- Next meeting 10/11
- Hand out folder info to your departments
- Sign up for at least one committee!
Josh’s contact info: josh.brooks@vandy
- Office: Sarratt 353, Josh will have office hours Monday 8-10am
Raffle Winners: Kate Pride-Brown, Al Dunn
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