Senate Meeting

GPSG Minutes April 3, 2007

Groups in attendance:

Present	ABGS, ACGS, AGITS, ASPE, ED-LEAD, EGSA, GASP, GPPA, GSA, GSWA, IOPGA, MASS, MGSA, MPASG, MGSO, OSGA, SPIE, SPO, HPGSA
Absent	CIGSPA, EMGT, GHA, GPHA, GTU, MBAA

Motion to waive the reading of the minutes: APPROVED

Motion to accept the minutes as written: APPROVED

Treasurer’s Report:

All requests for line-item transfers have to be in by Wednesday April 11
All paperwork must be in by May 11 (expect a delay for paperwork turned in after April 26).

After July 1, all travel will be counted as part of the 2007-8 school year, and will be counted for next year’s budget.

Remember to submit travel authorizations by May 11, and, as always, turn in your paperwork for reimbursement ASAP.

There was a budget hearing March 23; All four divisions (GPSG, CAB Student Media, and SGA) presented their requests.
GPSG requested $122K total, which is a $30K increase from this year’s budget
As for budget requests, SGA requested a $30K increase to accommodate for the significant increases they have had from their student organizations. Increases for student stipends are also included in this figure.
CAB requested a $10K increase from their budget this year to pay for GA positions, and to pay for increases in travel and summer staffing as well.
Meeting for Student Media, Leadership, GPSG budget cuts is on 4/16

If your organization does not anticipate spending your entire budget, please consider transferring extra funds back to GPSG (please make sure it is a group decision!).
If your organization needs more money for the remainder of the school year, we might be able to reallocate excess from other orgs.

Grad Council Report: Wes Williams

As of December graduate students make up 22.4% of the student body
25 doctoral students graduated in December, making 245 doctoral graduates since 1997
A PhD program in NanoScale Sciences was approved
PhD students are not prohibited by the graduate school from taking 6000 level courses for credit toward there degree. There department may limit the number of 6000 level courses that they can take for credit but that may be worked around through the use of independent study of topics courses.
If you are taking a cross listed course (grad/undergrad) then you should be getting a separate syllabus detailing the different expectations/grading scale for the graduate section of the course

Working to clarify some poorly defined requirements in curriculum and course proposals. Examples include capstone papers for certificate programs and required seminars for proposed interdisciplinary programs which were well intentioned, but initially had ambiguity that would make it difficult for a student to be certain they were meeting the requirement/expectations.
In discussions regarding criteria for being a graduate faculty member, I have stressed the importance of a proven track record of scholarship as well as teaching, particularly for faculty who are brought in without the terminal degree (Ph.D. or Masters) in their program.

Fines:

Three groups had 2 absences this week, and the senate voted on a $50 fine for each:

ED-LEAD explained that their senator was defending her dissertation during the last senate meeting, and that nobody else from their organization could have attended because of class/scheduling conflicts.
Senate overturned the fine

New Charters:

• New Charters for Next Year:

– ASEM (Engineering Management)

– CSGSO (Communications Studies)

– HPGSA (Health Psychology)

GPSG Officer Nominations/Election, 2007-8 school year:

Because we did not have nominations for the Treasurer and President officer positions before the meeting, the senate decided to hold back on voting until the next senate meeting on 4/17/07. By the end of the meeting, however, we did have at least one nomination for each category:

Spring Schedule:

Motion to Adjourn: APPROVED

Recorded by Liz Smith, Secretary

Voting: