Difference between revisions of "GSA Minutes 2009-01-29"

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GSA meetin minutes 2009-01-29
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GSA Meeting Minutes
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01 January 2009  
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[[GSA]] Meeting Minutes<br>
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'''01 January 2009 '''
  
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Contents [hide]
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==Officers' Reports==
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1 Officers' Reports  
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1.1 Adam Wilson(Graduate Student Symposium Committee)
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1.2 Nic Tippery(GSA Treasurer)
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1.3 Tsitsi McPherson (Welcome Committee)
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1.4 Kat Shaw(T-shirt committee)
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1.5 Maxi Polihronakis (Grad-Invited Seminar Committee)
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1.6 Sarah Treanor (Monday Evening Seminar)
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1.7 Vanessa Boukili (GSS Representative)
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1.7.1 Graduate Student Unionization
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2 Other Business
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===Adam Wilson (Graduate Student Symposium Committee)===
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2.1 Carrie Fyler 
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Based on the survey sent out to students, March 21st was selected as the date for the symposium. Nineteen grad students replied. This did not coincide with the preferences of the faculty. In response to the survey, the faculty gave reasons why they didn't come last year: family commitments, it should be during the week, it should be during spring break. Another suggestion was to present some kind of faculty award. This was discussed as a possibility.
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2.3 Jessica Budke
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2.4 Susan Herrick
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[edit] Officers' Reports
 
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[edit] Adam Wilson(Graduate Student Symposium Committee)
 
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Based on the survey sent out to students, March 21st was selected as the date for the symposium. Nineteen grad students replied. This did not coincide with the preferences of the faculty. IN response to the survey, the faculty gave reasons why they didn;t come last year: family commitments, it shoudl be during the wekk, it should be during spring break. Another suggestion was to present some king of faculty award. This was discussed as a possiblity.
 
 
We should encourage undergraduate participation.
 
We should encourage undergraduate participation.
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There was not much interest, so far, in the speed presentations.  
 
There was not much interest, so far, in the speed presentations.  
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There was a suggestion about having a "recycled" poster session at the symposium.
 
  
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A budget has been submitted to the GSS for next year, asking for funds to support 70 attendants because of the trend of increasing attendance.  
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There was a suggestion about having a "recycled" poster session at the symposium. This would be an opportunity to use all the amazing posters grad students have presented throughout the year and hang them up for all to see. We need to find a way to display them, possibly renting easels? The committee will look into it.
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[edit] Kat Shaw (GSA Treasurer)
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We have no pizza today because we are in the red from purchase of t-shirts.  
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A budget has been submitted to the GSS for next year, asking for funds to support 70 attendants because of the trend of increasing attendance.
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Our balance is approximately -$76. There was a $30 donation just now that brings us up to -$46. Buy t-shirts to complete our fundraising effort!
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Some money is still owed by grads for t-shirts picked up but not paid for at the Graduate Student Symposium.  
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In an effort to get a spatial display of where EEB gradate students do work, a survey was sent out. People have been entering hometown and field site info. There were a few problems, however, and a new system will be mailed out. A Google Earth widget will be used for people to add their field site to a map. This map will be continuously updated. An email will be sent out with the new information.  
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[edit] Tsitsi McPherson (Welcome Committee)
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Four people were welcomed at the Graduate Student Symposium. Three of the four are coming as of now. The last one was not enticed by wild and crazy Storrs.  
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===Nic Tippery (EEBedia Club)===
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Tsitsi searched for 1.5 hours to find exciting things to do in Storrs to include in the welcome packet.  
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The EEBedia club has suggested a student website design contest. The best graduate student page will be voted on by a survey. The top five will give short presentations at the gad student symposium. An email will be coming soon about the contest (after the EEBedia club meets again). This is a great way to encourage student webpage design and to highlight our efforts.  
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Tsitsi now has a list of people coming in the fall.
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[edit] Nanci Ross (Faculty Representative)
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It was suggested that Paul Lewis get the special faculty award at the symposium for all of the work he has done for EEBedia and for highlighting the work of grad students.  
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Nanci just sent an email about the faculty meeting this week.  
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[edit] Summer Funding
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===Tsitsi McPherson (Welcome Committee)===
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One question was asked, can we find out earlier about summer funding? The answer is no, because that funding depends on making sure students don’t already have summer funding.
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Who updates the grad student handbook on EEBedia? It was discussed that here and there people make changes to the handbook as they notice something should be changed. If a major overhaul needs to be done, the EEBedia club can look into it.
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There was mention of encouraging grads to help mentor honors undergrad students in exchange for summer support. There are lots of honors undergrads and not enough labs for them to work in. The incentive was given as $1500 per undergrad, but this is still a work in progress.  
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Tsitsi: What if, for example, you’re going to Belize for the summer?
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===Nic Tippery (GSA Treasurer)===
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Nanci thinks the money could be deferred, or undergrads could be employed while the advisory grad student is away, doing unsupervised work.
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There is currently $488.42 in the budget.  
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Susan Herrick: Does this include SURF funding? Can we take on SURF undergrads for the $1500 incentive?  
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The money should still be available for grads who mentor SURF undergrads.
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===Kat Shaw (T-shirt Committee)===
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Nic Tippery: Where does the money come from?
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Kat and Frank would like to abdicate their positions on the T-shirt/shwag committee. Suegene was selected as a new member of the committee. She was not present due to a teaching conflict. That being said, new designs and items to sell were discussed. Beer mugs and coffee mugs were suggested. In honor of Darwin's 200th birthday, a Darwin theme was generally thought a good idea. Another logo contest was suggested. Since the Green Grads group recently purchased a silk screen and ink, it was decided that we could use this to make our own design and print it on anything. If people bring their own item, it would cost $% to print. We could also provide new t-shirts. Everyone liked the organic cotton T's from last year. Nic/Kat will look into purchasing plain t-shirts from the same company. An email will be sent out about the logo contest.  
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Nanci: The powers-that-be have been touting the honors program, but they have no place for them to work. The money would come from the honors program.
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Nanci: Grads should push for this program. Undergrads need a faculty mentor to conduct summer research, but faculty are often too busy to sign on. Grads could bridge the gap and be the effective mentor for these students.  
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Kat Shaw realized the terrible mistake she had made and nominated herself to re-join the t-shirt committee.  
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40% of honors undergrads are Biology students. MCB doesn’t invite honors undergrads like we could.
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Nanci reminded us that this is currently just an idea that Janine Caira is kicking around, and it is not yet full-fledged.
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===Sarah Treanor (Monday Evening Seminar)===
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[edit] Building Update
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Last semester there was little interest from students in presenting an MES. It was unanimously agreed upon that Sarah was not pushy enough. There are currently 3 students scheduled for this semester. Suggestions were made of others who could be forced into presenting. An email reminder will go out Monday.  
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Building update: TLS will not be torn down. There is the potential for a new EEB building where the greenhouses are currently, but it won’t be very big.  
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[edit] Admissions Update
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===Vanessa Boukili (GSS Representative)===
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Admissions update: There will be 10 new students in the fall.
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Vanessa presented the final results of the survey about graduate students unionizing. 44% were pro union, 19% were not interested in unionizing, and 37% didn't know, but wanted more information. While this looks pro-union, it will be a while before any real action to unionize can begin. Let Vanessa know if you want to report anything to the senate. Eric Schultz was instrumental in recommending that students with research funding be allowed to keep their tuition waivers. We currently have $1017.00 for the GSA symposium. We also have approximately $300 for this year's spring gathering. The budget for next year will be submitted to the senate sometime in March or April.
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We’re a bit over budget for supporting grad students. We’re often over budget, so no worries.  
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The university approved a 3% grad pay raise. Be glad because it almost didn't happen, but letters of support had already been sent out.
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===Tsitsi McPherson (Spring Gathering Committee)===
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At the same time they hired 300-400 new administrators.  
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Tsitsi: There were some opinions last year that people didn't like to crawdads or that they were flown in.  
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[edit] Graduate Student Unionization
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There is a bill in the Connecticut legislature now to allow graduate students to unionize (mentioned by Carl Schaefer). The bill is expected to pass. If it passes, afterwards we will have the option to form a union at some time in the future.  
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Vanessa Boukili liked biting their head off and sucking the meat out. We can do yet another survey to see what people in the department would be more interested in. It was suggested that the theme be more New Englandy. Maybe a clam bake? Details from the committee will come later.
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The AAUP has offered, if we want to unionize, to help us set up and organize.
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Nanci, who has a strong pro-union stance from growing up in Detroit, thinks unionizing is important. For example, she remembers the cohort of 2003, when people were talking about how great the grad student health insurance was. Shortly thereafter, grads were not considered state employees in one crucial component, for the purpose of health insurance. The university saved us in the end, but having a union could have been effective in that situation.  
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Krissa: There was talk then (in the GSS) about forming a union. But at the time it was illegal.
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Susan Herrick: It could cost us.
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Minutes recorded by Sarah Treanor.
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Nanci: At the University of Michigan, grads were able to bargain for 12 months of pay, and a maximum of two semesters teaching for their entire tenure.
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Nicola Plowes: Less time as a TA could amount to shorter tenure as a grad student, thus less cost for university overall.
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[[Category:GSA Minutes]]
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Amanda Wendt: What is the status of the bill?
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Nanci: It should sail through, but it wouldn’t hurt to contact your legislators.  
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Krissa: UConn would oppose a union.  
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Susan Herrick mentioned she is part of AAUP because of her job at ECSU. There are two points to consider:
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The union takes their costs out of every paycheck.
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The union will defend horrible employees with the same force as good ones.  
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Susan also mentioned that technically we’re not full time employees but temporary, as far as the state is concerned.  
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[edit] Maxi Polihronakis (Grad-Invited Seminar Committee)
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There have been 10 nominated speakers. Nominations will be accepted through tonight.  
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Em Komisky: Will you send the list around?
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Maxi: Yes, next week.
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The schedule for spring next year is already filling up. It could be the next fall before the speaker could come, in which case Maxi would not be able to coordinate his/her visit.
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Em: How does the selection/arrangement process work?
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Maxi: 1. We vote to choose the person. 2. The person confirms that he/she will come. 3. We arrange a date for the seminar. If any of these steps doesn't work out, we take our second choice, and so on.  
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Andy Bush is covering the seminar coordinator position for Bernard Goffinet.
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[edit] Diego Sustaita (Monday Evening Seminar)
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The final MES of the semester will be on April 30. The speaker will be Ivan Castro-Arellano, a postdoc of Mike Willig. The MES still needs to find a faculty home to host. Mike Willig has not responded yet, and he lives pretty far away.
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Em mentioned that she has a home too, but it's far away also.  
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[edit] Tsitsi McPherson (Curriculum Committee)
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There was a change discussed for Cindi Jones' EEB 276 (Plant Anatomy) class. There is a wish to change the number of lab hours. Currently, the lab for this course meets twice per week for 2 hours each time. The proposal is to change this to one lab session per week, with the total time reduced from 4 hours to 3.5 hours. The single longer lab period will allow more thorough investigation of the material presented.  
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[There was confusion at the meeting of this announcement being about Cindi Jones' Developmental Plant Morphology class, which Jessica Budke and Em Komisky refuted.]
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[edit] Krissa Skogen (Center for Conservation and Biodiversity)
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The CCB co-sponsored the Teale lecture by David Sibley.  
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Bioblitz is coming up, June 8-9 in Middletown, CT.
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Dave Wagner is the local contact, he can put you in contact with your respective person.
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[edit] Jason Hill (GSS Representative)
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Jessica: Was our Graduate Student Symposium budget voted on?
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Jason: Not yet. Not sure why.  
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Nic: What budget?
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Jessica: The budget for next year's Graduate Student Symposium.
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[edit] Other Business
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Latest revision as of 14:25, 27 April 2009

GSA Meeting Minutes
01 January 2009

Officers' Reports

Adam Wilson (Graduate Student Symposium Committee)

Based on the survey sent out to students, March 21st was selected as the date for the symposium. Nineteen grad students replied. This did not coincide with the preferences of the faculty. In response to the survey, the faculty gave reasons why they didn't come last year: family commitments, it should be during the week, it should be during spring break. Another suggestion was to present some kind of faculty award. This was discussed as a possibility.

We should encourage undergraduate participation.

There was not much interest, so far, in the speed presentations.

There was a suggestion about having a "recycled" poster session at the symposium. This would be an opportunity to use all the amazing posters grad students have presented throughout the year and hang them up for all to see. We need to find a way to display them, possibly renting easels? The committee will look into it.

A budget has been submitted to the GSS for next year, asking for funds to support 70 attendants because of the trend of increasing attendance.

In an effort to get a spatial display of where EEB gradate students do work, a survey was sent out. People have been entering hometown and field site info. There were a few problems, however, and a new system will be mailed out. A Google Earth widget will be used for people to add their field site to a map. This map will be continuously updated. An email will be sent out with the new information.

Nic Tippery (EEBedia Club)

The EEBedia club has suggested a student website design contest. The best graduate student page will be voted on by a survey. The top five will give short presentations at the gad student symposium. An email will be coming soon about the contest (after the EEBedia club meets again). This is a great way to encourage student webpage design and to highlight our efforts.

It was suggested that Paul Lewis get the special faculty award at the symposium for all of the work he has done for EEBedia and for highlighting the work of grad students.

Tsitsi McPherson (Welcome Committee)

Who updates the grad student handbook on EEBedia? It was discussed that here and there people make changes to the handbook as they notice something should be changed. If a major overhaul needs to be done, the EEBedia club can look into it.

Nic Tippery (GSA Treasurer)

There is currently $488.42 in the budget.

Kat Shaw (T-shirt Committee)

Kat and Frank would like to abdicate their positions on the T-shirt/shwag committee. Suegene was selected as a new member of the committee. She was not present due to a teaching conflict. That being said, new designs and items to sell were discussed. Beer mugs and coffee mugs were suggested. In honor of Darwin's 200th birthday, a Darwin theme was generally thought a good idea. Another logo contest was suggested. Since the Green Grads group recently purchased a silk screen and ink, it was decided that we could use this to make our own design and print it on anything. If people bring their own item, it would cost $% to print. We could also provide new t-shirts. Everyone liked the organic cotton T's from last year. Nic/Kat will look into purchasing plain t-shirts from the same company. An email will be sent out about the logo contest.

Kat Shaw realized the terrible mistake she had made and nominated herself to re-join the t-shirt committee.

Sarah Treanor (Monday Evening Seminar)

Last semester there was little interest from students in presenting an MES. It was unanimously agreed upon that Sarah was not pushy enough. There are currently 3 students scheduled for this semester. Suggestions were made of others who could be forced into presenting. An email reminder will go out Monday.

Vanessa Boukili (GSS Representative)

Vanessa presented the final results of the survey about graduate students unionizing. 44% were pro union, 19% were not interested in unionizing, and 37% didn't know, but wanted more information. While this looks pro-union, it will be a while before any real action to unionize can begin. Let Vanessa know if you want to report anything to the senate. Eric Schultz was instrumental in recommending that students with research funding be allowed to keep their tuition waivers. We currently have $1017.00 for the GSA symposium. We also have approximately $300 for this year's spring gathering. The budget for next year will be submitted to the senate sometime in March or April.

Tsitsi McPherson (Spring Gathering Committee)

Tsitsi: There were some opinions last year that people didn't like to crawdads or that they were flown in.

Vanessa Boukili liked biting their head off and sucking the meat out. We can do yet another survey to see what people in the department would be more interested in. It was suggested that the theme be more New Englandy. Maybe a clam bake? Details from the committee will come later.

Minutes recorded by Sarah Treanor.

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