February 2024 General Body Meeting

Feb. 5th, 2024, 6:00-7:30 PM
Alderman Library, Room 323

1.     Call to Order and Remarks (Max Schnidman, 1 Minute)

a.     Max opened the meeting.

2.     Discussion on Career Services (Nicole Hall, AVP Career and Professional Development, 15 minutes)

a. Nicole Hall - career development for graduate students

i. She's been here for 10 months and believes that there is a rumor that they are not geared towards graduate students, which is not true.

ii. Whole goal: what is most helpful to graduate students.

iii. “How many people have engaged in anything with the career center?”

1. One

iv. “How many people have engaged in Ph.D.+?”

1. Ten

v. “What career resources are most important to you (graduate students)?”

1. Ian: salary negotiations

2. Physics: Networking events either with alumni or potential employers

3. Zoe: keeps an eye out on Handshake – seems geared mostly towards undergraduate students, or make messaging clearer that graduate students are welcome

4. Nicole, “How many have used Handshake”

a. ~7

b. Agrees with Zoe that they need to clear up the language

5. Social Chair: how to navigate industry jobs

6. History Rep: When the information goes out, it is more geared towards each department. One more vague email does not register with graduate students. Maybe personalizing the email or having a point of contact in each department will help personalize it.

a. Nicole: had a similar set-up at other schools.

7. Ian: For examples of other career options in GSASC, there is a graduate consulting club, which feeds into the business side for all the school's students. However, it would be helpful if there was an alert of a Darden job fair, and maybe cross-list resources across schools/colleges.

a. Nicole: has regular contact and seems receptive

8. Jemima: how to get graduate students to work experience without violating our contracts

a. Nicole is working on getting us mini-internships with companies and structuring the structure to allow us to get paid. Nicole will follow up so we can get a precise solution.

9. Louisa: Some disciplines have really helpful "industry boot camps" or partnerships in place for PhD students, and I think it would be great if career services could help us maintain access to those in some way. Not sure if this looks like sponsoring prolonged partnerships between the school and these programs, or even just having grants for students to use to attend/participate in programs (e.g., The Erdos Institute, and the IMA math-to-industry boot camps)

10. Rep: how to find post-graduate postings that could be tailored or all in one spot for each discipline

11. Rep: working on materials and having examples and guidelines (could be PhD+) that are easily available for graduate students

vi. Would virtual sessions or in-person, weekends, during the day be preference for students?

1. In-person events

2. Or in the week

3. Gillian: food would entice. A ~little~ treat

4. Zoe: hybrid is nice – especially when factoring in how hard it is to park at UVA

5. History rep: yes, please hybrid, especially if it’s on the opposite side of the campus

6. Physics: nighttime, most parking

7. Rep: daytime/working hours –especially for commuters

8. Gillian: Not weekends. Work/balance is important. A Google Calendar invite would also be amazing for organizational purposes.

vii. Nicole wants to personalize and tailor this to graduate students and will bring this up to the college Dean next week.

3. Discussion on Alderman Library and the Grad Lounge (Mary Ann Lugo, Library Coordinator, 15 minutes)

a. Mary Ann Lugo, lugo@virginia.edu. She is the Main Library Coordinator & Graduate Student Lounge Coordinator for Alderman Library. In her graduate career, she represented 10,000 graduate students for the Library Council. She is very open to having conversations.

i. Goals to bridge between graduate students and the library with the goal of helping graduate students create a safe, inclusive, and productive space for connection, productivity & growth at UVA

ii. Policies for the lounge: this will be fairly common sense – the building is still under construction. Mary Ann is willing to work with us in developing these policies and how the noise level can be

iii. The real library opening will be at the end of the semester – currently in a soft opening.

1. Please be considerate regarding:

a. Noise, food/smells

i. Noise level can be an ongoing conversation

ii. Use headphones

iii. Don’t make it a social space

2. Lounge will NOT be reservable space for events

3. Kitchenette policies:

a. For day-of storage and pre-prepared meals and drinks (non-alcoholic).

b. Microwave will be used for heating up pre-prepared meals that won’t create lingering smells

c. Keurig/kettle are okay as long as graduate students are willing to commit to maintaining them.

b. Shelves for reserves

i. There will be 60 shelves available for reserve to graduate students

1. The shelves have been numbered & processed, so they are almost ready to be assigned.

ii. Will be on a first-come, first-served basis

iii. Shelves will become available once the swipe access is resolved

iv. Shelves are reserved for a semester at a time. Renewals will be easy

c. Ideas for the lounge!

i. What would graduate students want there?

1. Puzzles, art supplies etc…

2. Bulletin board for event postings? Or resources for graduate students?

a. Resources for things you might not know you need until you need

3. Plants?

a. Ian: get larger plants, since smaller ones might get taken

b. Mary Ann: we did have a plant budget, but it was taken away :(

4. Writing days – or set writing hours in the morning or evenings a week

d. Feedback on lounge:

i. TCA: have a few materials orientated for children since some graduate students have children

1. Mary Ann: may not have them at the lounge to respect other graduate students – however, there is a children’s book section at Clemons, and they are welcome there

ii. Gillian: printer paper

1. Mary Ann: This is not an option—we don’t have a budget for it. But she can work with graduate students to find funding.

iii. Max (feedback from A school):

1. interested in slate coasters for the lounge

a. Lots of graduate interest

2. sizing of the table relative to the chairs sometimes makes it difficult to work – lovely chairs, but they aren’t good for working on a computer for

a. MA: this can be changed later. There are not enough outlets in the kitchenette either, so she wants to move stuff around

3. 7 Society gave $777.777 to GPC to potentially support the library, but it's not a given yet.

iv. Zoe backed different types of quiet times and having set writing times

v. TCA: do you want individual students to give feedback

4. Council Business

a. Updates on Outstanding Issues (Max Schnidman, 5 minutes)

i. Food Trucks and Dining

1. Talking with Jared Hardy, and they created an advisory council for students to give feedback. Asked Jemima to sign up for the next one, but anyone can sign up

2. Karl hasn’t heard anything from the undergraduate council.

a. Max: lots of UVA place/dining locations have become cashless, with the rest of them to become cashless by the end of the year. Grubhub is a secondary issue

ii. Housing and Residential Life

1. Phil Trella update: any who currently lives in Copley and who signed up for housing next year was able to get housing for next year. Max suspects this will affect incoming students next year.

a. Art history rep: 8 buildings?

b. Max/TCA: is 8 buildings

2. The Charlottesville city council accepted the new zoning along with the construction of two new living centers which will be sky high towers – UVA was not happy (per the Daily Progress)

3. Darden (separate from MacIntire School of Commerce) is going to get dorms around it – will house half of Darden graduate students only. Will cost 115-130 million – is going to board first for approval.

a. TCA: Darden has no land though?

b. Max: it would be towards the back, by the library.

c. Everyone: why?

i. Max: premium for Darden students

4. Art History: has UVA proposed any new graduate housing for the wider students?

a. Max: no but there are “long-term” plans

iii. Summer Assistantship Changes

1. Will affect mainly lab sciences. Starting this summer, the university will count anyone with summer assistantship to register for summer classes. They will get gym access now. The department/PI must foot the bill for this – NOT graduate students.

2. Tyler: is there anyway to advise students to talk to their advisors or departments about this now?

a. Max: for Envi sci, it was at a faculty meeting. Max will email Dean China to send out something to wider faculty and departments.

3. TCA: if you’re teaching or working over the summer does this mean you are considering a summer assistantship?

a. If you’re a instructor, that is not a summer assistantship.

b. If you are a GRA over the summer, that is a summer assistantship.

b. GPC Updates (Max Schnidman, 1 minute)

i. Working on having a formal scheduled for 4/20 - looking at the Forum as a potential venue

ii. The university is doing an assessment to normalize security & access across schools

c. Policy Review discussion (Max Schnidman, 10 minutes)

i. Tyiesha is conducting a policy review and going through all department and GSAS policies to make it all consistent and to cover any gaps

1. Two things from us:

a. Codes of Conducts

b. Holiday Leave Policy for Lab sciences.

2. After talking with Exec, there are two others that Max wants to bring up:

a. Milestones for graduating

i. Ex. Envi sci – publishing a paper, Classics also had a change

ii. Not grandfather clause

iii. Any changes to milestones need to be communicated to graduate students and have a grandfather clause.

1. Art History: agrees

2. Gillian: comes in with an expectation and a contractual obligation, but they change it and essentially void the contract. They also don’t do this to undergraduates

b. Release some clear policy handbooks

i. No university graduate student policy handbook – nothing universal or consistent.

1. Tyler pointed out that there is no clear communication or guidelines. It is Calvinball-esque

ii. Next steps: Tyeisha is compiling everything and will reach back out to us around Spring Break

d. Coordinating Meetings with Dean China (Ian Winchester, 5 minutes)

i. 7 people have reached out for meetings with Dean China

ii. 2 have gotten responses

1. Tyler had to re-follow, and they asked, “What would be best for you and your department?” Tyler is now asking if we should do that

iii. Max: follow-up if they haven’t.’

iv. Ian has been handling a policy for the lab science level. All lab sciences, please reach out to China for a meeting and ask for leave, it would look more united if they do this as a group

1. Ethan: Envi Sci did a survey of the dept of taking leave and found that most grads did not.

2. Tyler: I am tied when contacting China for a meeting. A leave policy is always given when negotiating a job. Why is it not for us? What is expected of us? Maybe all departments should inquire about a leave policy—even the more flexible departments—because even normal jobs have a flexible leave policy.

a. Ian: Just starting a larger conversation about vacation days

3. Physics rep: Since scheduling meetings with Dean China is a problem, maybe having a collective meeting from lab sciences would be more helpful.

a. Ian: would this be helpful, Max?

b. Max: not individual students. Departments are meeting with Dean China.

c. Tyler: Dean China has asked to meet with the graduate students in each department, not individual level meetings.

i. Max: reach out to Andie

5. Committee Business

a. Research Committee (Zoe Robertson, 3 minutes)

i. Main focus is Huskey. Location has been determined. Tentatively scheduled for 2pm at Thursday March 14th. A bit shorter than prior years. Once the program is available, please send out to your departments. Ethan created printed out flyers for each department. Trying to advertise.

b. Finance Committee (Tyler Barnes, 5 minutes)

i. Four requests this month.

1. Two of the requests are for reimbursements for IM: one for a single semester ($15) and one for both semesters ($25).

2. Two different event requests

a. Environment Science is asking for $300 for their annual research symposium, Enviroday, specifically for catering.

b. GSASC Research Committee – requesting $300 for Huskey for catering.

3. Max motions for all approve requests, Erins seconds, all passes

c. Grad Ed Committee (Aaron Thompson and Ian Winchester, 3 minutes)

i. Currently working on formulating a conference (might have a name!) for spring 2025, for a speaker for the event (and they are flexible)

1. Jemima: what is the difference from Huskey?

a. Ian: cross-campus event. Incorporating diversity and wellness. The health of being a diverse campus and different topics will take place every year on how to make this campus better

ii. Aaron: over the next month, I will be talking to China about curricular recommendations that began last semester. They will be coming back for ways to streamline/make better graduate education.

1. Max: meeting with DGS over this topic

2. Tyler: When Barnaby started, he mentioned that there should be good information about graduate education there. He has a huge Excel sheet with information from departments.

d. Social Committee (Gillian Courtney, 2 minutes)

i. Chat Cafe, has put a budget for snacks and drinks. Potentially, Feb. 22nd around 3 pm. If you have any idea where, please let Gillian know!

ii. The prom is still happening! Ours will be better than GPC since theirs is for networking. Location potentially Alumni Hall. Gillian wants to reach out to other schools still, so please send her contacts (Max will). Gillian put in a budgeting request for Chat Cafe today.

1. “Prom is Coming”

6. For the Good of the Order

a. TCA: History is one of the few departments that has moved from a 5-year plan to a 6-year plan for graduate students. This approach is flexible, so students can go on research leave. The problem is the loss of teaching relief fellowships and their conflicting with other leave. This makes everything more flexible.

b. Natalie: Has a workshop next Monday geared towards graduate students (mainly CTE). Wants to collect TA policies (with expectations duties) and, anonymize them, and put them on the CTE website to read and normalize TA duties across departments. Will be up quickly for creating policies for departments that don’t have any.

c. Max: Christa Acampora is coming this month. She is two steps below the President. First Monday after spring break. She will be talking about funding. All meetings will be back at Newcomb.