GPSG Senate Meeting Minutes: January 23, 2008

Groups in Attendance:

Present

ABGS, ACGS, ASPE, CIGSPA, ED-LEAD, EGSA, GASP, GHA, GPHA, GPPA, GSWA, GTU, HPGSA, IOPGA, MASS, MGSA, MPASG, OSGA, SPIE, SPO, SMBAA

Absent

AGITS, GPPA, ANGS, SON-GSO

 

Motion to waive the reading of the minute: APPROVED

Motion to accept the minutes as written: APPROVED

 

President’s Report

·         We have a new GA!  Avni Arora can be reached by e-mail at gpsg@uncc.edu or phone at (704)687-3231.  If you are uncertain as to who to contact for GPSG matters, Avni will direct your emails and questions to the right person.

·         Raghavan Raghuraman (Rags) was nominated to run for Outreach Officer.  He told the senate a few things about himself that he perceives qualifying him for this position.

o        As an international student participating in organizations with other international students, Rags believes he has some built in connections to reach out to more a diverse population of graduate students.

o        Rags also mentioned that he has lots of time to invest in this position. 

o        The senate unanimously elected Rags to the Outreach Officer position.

·         Sylvio Lynch, from MASS, is running for a spot on the Research Fair committee.

o        The senate unanimously elected Sylvio to the committee.

·         Graduate Life Center

o        Allie introduced the Graduate School’s proposal to begin a new Graduate Student Life Center, asking the senate whether or not this is something GPSG should back and support.

o        Questions were brought up about placement on campus and how the center would be funded.  Allie said that, currently, the proposal does not include any extra fees for graduate students, and listed some ways it might be funded, including: alumni, a one-time entry fee through the Graduate School, fees from Graduate School applications, or selling services out of the Graduate Student Life Center (such as a student pub).  As for space, there were a few possibilities including the current SGA space in the Cone Center, but ideally the Graduate Student Life Center would be located in the same place as the GPSG office.

·         Parking

o        In response to GPSG’s latest turned-down parking proposal, Allie discussed a new proposal that would look into gating the uncovered parking lot by the Cone center for GA use.  In this proposal, GPSG would determine how the parking lot would be divided, and would likely sell gate cards to the lot on a first-come first-serve basis. 

§         There was a suggestion to look into the lot by Burson for a similar parking setup. 

·         Upcoming Events:

o        Graduate Student Appreciation Week – March 10-15

§         The Graduate School has asked GPSG to take on one day (Monday March 10) of Graduate Student Appreciation Week, and to plan some activities throughout the day.  Groups can earn volunteer points for helping GPSG with this (talk to Liz, secretary). 

o        Student Organization Excellence Awards – this is an annual event that gives awards for standout organization participation.  In the past, GPSG orgs have not been active in nominations, and Allie encouraged everyone to think about group nominations, and to tell her if anyone thinks she should nominate any groups in particular.

o        GPSG and SGA elections will be coming up soon.  Remember, graduate and professional students do have a vote for SGA elections.  Please spread the word about GPSG elections and help us get some nominations.

·         Dr. Silvia

 

Secretary’s Report:

·         Liz reminded senators that the deadline to commit to their 2 volunteer points is February 6.  According to the by-laws, groups who have not at least committed to their volunteer points will not be able to submit a budget.

·         Organizations can submit a proposal for how they would like to earn their volunteer credits, or can choose from the following list of GPSG activities:

o        2 points - Joining a committee, such as Research Fair or Special Projects.

o        1 point – Volunteering the day of the Research Fair (one person).

o        1 point – 8 hours of volunteer work—can be divided amongst different people and time slots.  We’ll try to work with your schedules.

o        1 point – Bring 5 or more graduate students (from any organization) to the Chancellor’s Forum.

o        1 point – Promote graduate culture by joining the GPSG officers at the Flying Saucer after senate meetings.  You can earn the point either by having perfect attendance from your organization, or by having 5 people come (can be broken up on different nights).

 

Vice President’s Report:

·         Graduate Research Forum

o        Volunteering

o        Submissions—Deadline is Friday

 

Finance Committee Report:

·         Travel Applications from last semester are due by January 31st at 5:00pm.

·         Plan for Spring ‘08 Spending—put off until next senate meeting

·         New funding proposal for next year and where it stands now

 

Survey:

·         Who are our graduate students and what do they want?

 

Motion to Adjourn: APPROVED

 

 

Voting Record:

Organization

Raghavan Raghuraman (Rags) for Outreach Officer

Sylvio Lynch (MASS) for Research Fair Committee

GPSG support for the Graduate Student Life Center proposal

ABGS

Y

Y

Y

ACGS

Y

Y

Y

AGITS

Absent

 

 

ASPE

Y

Y

Y

CIGSPA

Y

Y

Y

ED-LEAD

Y

Y

Y

EGSA

Y

Y

Y

GASP

Y

Y

Y

GHA

Y

Y

Y

GPHA

Y

Y

Y

GPPA

Absent

 

 

GSWA

Y

Y

Y

GTU

Y

Y

Y

HPGSA

Y

Y

Y

IOPGA

Y

Y

Y

MASS

Y

Y

Y

MGSA

Y

Y

Y

MPASG

Y

Y

Y

OSGA

Y

Y

Y

SPIE

Y

Y

Y

SPO

Y

Y

Y

ANGS

Absent

 

 

SON-GSO

Absent

 

 

SMBAA

Y

Y

Y

 

Recorded by: Liz Smith, Secretary

 

 

 

Volunteer Points proposal:

 

Bumping the number of volunteer points up would help GPSG make sure that the participation requirements reflect better equality.   Should we move the volunteer credits from 2 to 8? 

 

Additionally, we have run into the problem where some organizations (like those of the officers) don’t have to do anything because the officer fulfills the volunteer requirements.  For this, I recommend we divide volunteer opportunities into three categories, and require participation in at least two of them.  Requiring one of these categories to be “GPSG related goals and activities” would ensure that organizations are making impacts on both GPSG, and promoting positive impacts on the university/community.  

 

One possibility to encourage participation in the GPSG would be to have an annual award for outstanding volunteer service.  If possible, I think it would be great to add a small monetary reward to the winning organization’s proposed budget for the following year.   

 

 3 Proposed Categories:

Positive impact on the University

·         Hosting an academic conference (6 points)

·         Mentoring projects (varies)

o        ex. GHA’s participation with the Learning Community

o        ex. GTU’s participation as volunteer tutors in Geography

GPSG related goals and activities

·         Serving as a GPSG officer (8 points)

·         Serving on a committee (Finance Committee, Special Projects, Research Fair) (varies, 6-8 points)

·         Volunteering for the Research Fair (4 points)

·         Promoting graduate culture (varies)

·         Serving as a proctor at SGA senate meetings (6 points)

·         Joining various boards and councils, such as SAFC or Graduate Student Council (varies, 4-6 points annually?)

Positive impact on the Community

·         Fundraising for Charity

o        ex. IOPGA having 100% organization participation in the MS Walk; fundraising goal $1200.

·         Volunteering in the community

o        ex. ACGS judging Senior Exit Projects, demonstrating science experiments in a local elementary school

o        ex. GPHA sponsoring events throughout American Public Health Association’s NPH Week (April 7-11); panel discussions, eco-awareness on campus, movie night to inform students about climate changes and consequences.