GPSG Minutes September 12, 2007

Groups in Attendance:

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

Motion to waive the reading of the minutes: APPROVED

Motion to accept the minutes as written: APPROVED

President’s Report:

Allie introduced the idea of adding two new committees to GPSG and a new officer position. The new committees would include a social/outreach committee for graduate student life; and a special projects committee, which would take on a new GPSG project or continue an old one.

GPSG also has a new posting-board discussion group through the 49er Express application, designed as an open forum for graduate students to discuss relevant university events and practices, and to voice needs and concerns. To join, log into 49er Express, and click on the “Groups” button. Search “GPSG” in the group search field, and join from there. Some of the topics Allie has posted for discussion include our role in SGA, event planning, and the volunteer point system.

Allie also asked the senate to consider where the GPSG is heading, and what our future plans and goals might be.

Transparency is one of the goals Allie has for GPSG. She stressed that she wants the executive committee and senate to work collaboratively rather than have the senate merely react to the suggestions and plans of the officers. The group posting board is just one way Allie plans to achieve transparency over the course of the year.

GPSG will be taking on a graduate assistant to help in place of the salary GPSG support position that was implemented in years past. Finance Committee will be working on numbers for salary, etc.

Secretary’s Report:

Liz explained the details of what a GPSG Mentoring Program might look like should the senate agree to take on the project. For this year, she suggested voting in a core group of 6 members who would be active in both mentoring, and establishing connections on campus for mentoring possibilities. She suggested that both McNair and the BEST program on campus might be good places to start, as both are comprised of either first generation college students, or students who come from minority backgrounds.

Vice President’s Report:

Cathy’s survey revealed that most people would prefer the GPSG Research Fair to be held on Saturday.

Treasurer’s Report:

Organizations who don’t re-register with Student Organizations by September 14 will lose their budget for this year. Josh went through a list of orgs who were not recorded as of registering by the meeting.

Josh will be making some updates to the GPSG website regarding funding issues, and will post a flowchart designed to simplify the travel funding process.
Finance Committee

Josh described the responsibilities of the finance committee as established by the by-laws, and read the received nominations: Sarah Birdsong, Kristin Walker, and Chase Woodall.
Heather Sullivan was nominated at the meeting as well.
The senate unanimously approved the four nominations for finance committee.

Guest Speaker: Dr. Arthur Jackson, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs

Dr. Jackson addressed the senate about his recently accepted position as the new Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs. He expressed his interest for creating a greater sense of student community, and for further development of a graduate presence or culture on campus. As a step towards this goal, Dr. Jackson discussed the possibility of creating a physical space dedicated to graduate culture on campus, where facilities like health services, counseling, leadership, and student accounts/records might be conveniently grouped together.
Dr. Jackson described his position as one of a liaison between graduate students and student affairs, and said he was interested in hearing what the specific needs of graduate students are. He suggested the possibility of hosting some open forums/luncheons throughout the year for graduate students to communicate these ideas, and so he can better understand how to develop programs tailored to the needs of graduate students. He can be contacted by email, at a.r.jackson@uncc.edu

Special Orders:

Allie explained some of the functions the prospective new GPSG committees might serve, and asked if there was a motion to vote the committees in. The senate requested that voting be tabled until the committees were more clearly defined.

The senate proposed that the newly proposed GPSG officer position, which was currently identified as an “International Officer,” be renamed to “Outreach Officer,” as that title would be more inclusive. If voted in, the GPSG Outreach Officer will work closely with the committee for graduate student life, and increase awareness and participation from international graduate students.

Motion to Adjourn: APPROVED