Strategic Planning Process put in motion last fall, will be submitted this august
Involvement of parents, faculty, staff, students (1 undergrad, 1 grad (Darden)
Workgroups: Faculty, What it means to be a public university, resources, Streamlining, Synergy, Student life, technology
Why are we here?
Would like us to use our time to think about what would make (for us and future grad students) the best possible grad experience, grad life, best preparation for whatever you want to next in your life?
Might be about advisor, social, postdoc, how to prep for what you want to do next
Want to have us submit a summary of the needs of students in GSASC (esp. Humanities and Social Sciences in addition to Natural Sciences)
Send either directly to him (Milton@virginia.edu) or to any of the individual workgroups (contact on web)
Important for our voices to be heard, wants our advice
Q: Should these be reasonable or shoot for the moon type statements? (Emily Gravett)
A: Long-term statements are ok, but try to include a 3-5 year option (almost a more short term fix)
Q: Is TAing something that should be discussed here? (Kate Sanger)
A: This is applicable to many workgroups, student life most prominently
Wants TRC to have more resources allocated to accommodate increased demand (Adam Lees)
Q: Should discipline-specific (groups of disciplines) concerns be included? (Ellie Kaknes)
A: These concerns should be things that span GSAS, not necessarily discipline-specific, but if it applies to multiple disciplines (eg. TAing) this would be relevant
Website/Membership (Ben):
Verify that all members present have nametags with correct spelling of names and departments
Departments without voting Reps:
Clinical Research, Drama, East Asian Studies, Linguistics, Math, Microbio Immunology and cancer bio (BIMS), Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics, neuroscience, public health, Slavic languages and lit, stats
Website:
General updates- design, committee page, membership page, movement of news feed
Check emails on membership page
Co-Chair Nominations:
Social- Mike LaForest
Unanimously voted to approve
Initiatives- Amy Grady
Unanimously voted to approve
Constitution and Bylaws Changes:
Changes- allows us to meet during the summer, and allows us to nominate new chairs/co-chairs
Voted to approve unanimously
Honor Committee (Katie Schiermeyer and Noah Egge):
Proposed Reforms-
Jury Reform:
Requires that juries be made up of 5 highly trained honor committee reps, as opposed to a choice of student panel and mixed student/committee panel
From experience, all committee juries tend to ask more direct questions, dedicated to the case regardless of how long it takes until they are confident in their verdict
Committee jurors are also already familiar with the system, leads to a more efficient trial
Informed retraction:
Allows student an extended time to come forward and admit guilt (even after being accused), results in leaving the community of trust for 2 semesters and then being allowed to return
Can be voted on in the spring ballot
Initiatives (Kate Sanger):
2/23- Habitat for Humanity build
2 shifts, email Crystal for more info
Dissertations:
Masters theses are also required to be submitted online
Copyright fee: optional $35 fee, but the rest of the process is completely free
Cheaper than the previous $70 required fee
Prof. Dev. (Madison Stellfox and Ellie Kaknes):
Kate will be doing Brown Bag lunch panel on womens, minorities, and LGBT issues
If you have contacts in any of these areas, send Kate the info
Ellie is organizing a 5k, if you are interested in helping plan, email Ellie
Next meeting: 2/12 6-7 PM Location TBD
Research (Kaycie Tayler):
Huskey 3/27 in Newcomb
Exciting keynotes
Funding is all set
Several departments have posters that need to be distributed
Social (Trish Lauck):
2/15 Stoplight Party at Escafe
DJ, drink specials, food, mardi gras beads, generally a good time!
March: St. Patrick’s Day happy hour at the Horse and Hound
Budget (Mike Schreck):
Funding Req’s:
Poetry Workshop
Req. $1000, committee voted not to fund
Council voted unanimously not to fund
Biosciences Spring Symposium
Req. $500, budget committee: $500
Approved
Grad intramural support
Req. $500, budget committee: $500
Approved
Classics Grad Colloquium
Req. $900, budget committee: $500
Approved
German Studies Grad Conference
Req. $350, budget committee: $350
Approved
Feb Happy Hour
Req. $425, budget committee: $425
Approved
UVA Space Sciences Symposium
Req. $200, budget committee: $200
Approved
Tuition:
Budget committee has been working w/ Dean Zelikow on this concern, esp. Those grad students who were admitted before this change
Goal is to grandfather in legacy students, so the new reqs will not affect them
Looking to approve a motion of intent to formalize our concerns
Meeting is scheduled, will have more info soon
Feedback is appreciated through the gradcouncil.com blue button (if give email, they wil get back to you)
Q: Is the ideal outcome that we would set a target year that starts the “legacy” period? (Emily Gravett)
A: Yes, but Zelikow needs to figure out logistics of this
Q: Do non-legacy students feel any opposition to this idea? (Kate)
A: Not particularly
Q: What defines a “legacy” student?
A: basically, anyone who was admitted without knowing of the new tuition structure
Q: Are the proposed changes going to affect anything other than tuition (eg. TAships)?
A: If there are specific concerns, let us know
Closing (Ilon):
All contact with administrators should go through exec members so they can allocate resources appropriately, and so they can avoid bombardment of the administrators.
Post-Meeting:
Strategic Planning:
Contact Initiatives (Kate)
Email with more info coming soon
Honor Committee Formal Statement:
Since this is an individual voting process, we don’t need to make a formal statement on whether we support it or not at this time
Grad Prom:
Oat has delegated this to social for now
Since external funding is uncertain, Social should just treat this like an amped up Halloween party sort of event
This has been decoupled from Phil Trella’s award ceremony, so we need to look for alternative sources of funding
Look to use Alumni Hall/Newcomb (Cheap) or Jefferson Theater (Expensive)
There is a possibility of doing this inexpensively
Only positive feedback from other professional schools
Social is willing to take this on if they can delegate grad days social events to grad days
We likely have money for this, we need to book a venue ASAP
