December 6, 1999
Call to order: ~ 7:35 p.m.
Agenda:
I. Visitors
- Josh Kavalovski, German Department Funding Request
II. Secretary's report
III. Treasurer's Report
IV. President's Report
- Spring meeting schedule
- Web page tie with GSAS -we need help!
- Fellowship list so far
- Fellowship Forum
- New Student Activities Building
- Married student housing
- Research Exhibition
V. Honor and StudCo Reports
VI. Old Business
- Thank you note
- Spring funding solicitations
VII. New Business
VIII. Departmental Concerns
I. Visitors
Josh Kovalovski, German Department Funding Request
Josh Kavalovski, representative from the German Department, presented a funding request for the Seventh Annual German Studies Conference, a conference the GSC has funded in the past. This conference is among the largest graduate student conferences in the country, in part due to the fact that the conference organizers welcome presenters from a number of different disciplines.
The purpose of the conference is to:
1) Facilitate discussion among different disciplines;
2) Form a forum for graduate students to present papers and get concrete
feedback, in other words, it presents a place for people to test their
ideas;
3) An opportunity for graduate students to acquire professional
experience;
4) This conference is important for the History and German Department as
well as for the University itself. Publications indicate that this
conference has helped polish the reputation of the University.
This year the theme of the conference is time. Twenty five to thirty papers will be presented, another ten to fifteen people will be present for discussions but not presenting, and of the total number of people participating in the conference, one third will be from UVa.
The funds requested will be used towards travel expenses. The goal of the conference organizers is to fund up to fifty percent of the travel costs of the participants.
Chris pointed out that the GSC has limited funds this year. Josh Kavalovski expects to receive funds from Dean Huskey and the German Department as well. A number of people made suggestions and asked questions about this conference. Among these, Patrick, Oliver (who was not present but emailed his suggestions to Patrick), Chris, Krishna, Rich, and Elena. From the answers to the questions asked we found out that the conference will be ninety nine percent in English, and that all UVa students are invited to the conference. For additional monetary resources the GSC members suggested going to the English Department. Because of the large number of graduate students in the English Department the visitor thinks the conference could easily become overwhelmed by this one discipline. Thus he chooses not to contact the English Department. The visitor agreed that a way to enhance the event is to increase attendance, and invited the Religious Study Department to join the conference as well. So far, there had been no response from the latter. Given that the event has established a reputation and that it is organized on a regular annual basis, it was suggested that the conference organizers try to become a CIO, and thus have access to additional financial resources.
Todd motioned to fund the conference with $1100, it was seconded by Krishna. The motion passed by unanimous vote.
II. Secretary's report
The GSC approved all minutes of meetings held until so far this academic year. Nicole Zehfuss posted these minutes on the GSC www site.
III. Treasurer's Report
1. 1998-1999 carryover: +$3,677.29
2. Fall 1999 Appropriation (prelim.): +$3,500.00
3. Spring 1999 (carryover) - Airfares for Michael Lambeck: -$660.83
4. September 1999 - pizza: -$41.19
5. September 1999 - orientation social: -$205.54
6. October 1999 - Chris Palma (pizza): -$49.62
7. November 1999 - Student Fees correction: -$163.60
8. Anita Poletti-Anderson (CENTROPA): -$963.41
9. Women's Center (Betty Williams): -$300.00
Total Additions: +$7,177.29
Total Expenditures: -$2,384.19
This puts our current account balance as $4,793.10
(Note: This figure does not include funding allocations to student groups
from last semester that have not yet been debited from our account.)
(Note: This balance does not include our Spring appropriation of
approximately $3,500.)
IV. President's Report:
Spring meeting schedule
Chris suggested that we meet at the same time and place. This is to be decided once the spring semester begins.
Web page tie with GSAS -we need help!
The University will use the GSAS web page as the "link of the month." Chris asked for suggestions to improve the page and help in implementing these changes. Josh, Nicole, Todd and Elena made a few suggestions. Chris from Asian studies offered to help with artwork. Todd will work on summarizing the work on health insurance; Chris offered to include a description of the Research Exhibition on the web page.
Fellowship list so far
Chris mentioned all the information he received so far and asked people who have not contributed any information on this topic to do so. Chris plans on posting the current list of fellowships on the GSC web-site.
In addition, Chris mentioned that Dean Huskey does not support the idea of hiring a graduate student as an assistant in seeking outside funding. Dean Huskey finds that what is truly needed are, " people encouraging people to fill-out the applications, not an extra person distributing applications." Who can argue against this?
Fellowship Forum
Chris was thinking about having a Fellowship Forum in which Kobby Hoffman, Dean Huskey, and representatives from our departments would participate. All supported this idea. It remains for Chris to contact Kobby Hoffman and learn how realistic the execution of this idea will be.
New Student Activities Building
The undergraduate Student Council is in the process of planning a new Student Activities Building (SAB). Chris emphasized the GSC has NO space whatsoever. Thus, he thinks that the StudCo should include graduate student space in their plans as well. All agreed. Josh and Rich made a couple of constructive critical points regarding this issue, for example the suggestion that we keep our focus on health insurance and allow the StudCo to handle the new SAB issue.
Married student housing
A person from Rich's department complained about the married housing benefits at UVa. The University Housing permits people to change apartments only under the condition that there is a change in the actual size of the family. In addition, there is an application fee AND a transfer fee when changing apartments. These benefits cannot be compared at all to the benefits one gets by living in an undergraduate dormitory. Chris suggested that Rich bring-up this issue with the undergraduate Council. Rich agreed that StudCo might be in a better position to act upon this issue.
Research Exhibition
Chris distributed a handout/proposal for the First Annual UVa Graduate Research Exhibition. He suggested that we, the GSC, not predetermine the prizes, but that we allow the exhibition judges to decide how to distribute the available prize funds. The Exhibition will take place during two half days, one of which will be a Saturday, in mid-April. The judging committee will consist of graduate students and faculty members. Chris hopes the full cost of the event will be covered with funds from Gene Bloch's office.
All agreed to have this proposal submitted officially. Mike emphasized the need to have the talks given during the exhibition clearly defined. Josh suggested that we have the winners spotlights in "Explorations," while Pat thinks that we should also publish a summary of the exhibition results.
V. Honor, Judiciary and StudCo Representatives Reports
During the past StudCO meeting a number of issues were discussed, including some issues relevant to wide population of the USA. Of the issues discussed related directly to graduate students at UVA was the Health Insurance Resolution written by Patrick McGuinn a year ago. Rich thinks we should prepare for the upcoming QualChoice meeting given that QC failed to addressed any of the issues mentioned in the Resolution. He suggested that we talk with Dr. Turner who acts as the liaison between QC and the student body.
Rich also plans to mention at the next StudCo meeting the relevant points discussed here regarding the Student Activity Building.
Unannounced Funding Request
Two people walked into the meeting during Rich's report. They were representatives from the Classics Department seeking funding in the amount of ~ $1,500. The event is scheduled for February 19. The visitors/event organizers have not submitted a formal funding application. The event is expected to attract a large number of people, given that the keynote speaker is a well-respected member of the Classics community. They expect approximately fifty graduate students to participate in this event, including graduate students from top Classics programs in the country.
The GSC decided to make an exception by accepting a late electronic application and voting on it electronically. It also directed the visitors to Dean Huskey's office.
VI. Old Business
1. We need to get a thank you note out to the person who has helped us out in writing the questionnaire regarding health insurance. Todd will take care of this one.
2. We would like to see the GSC more actively solicit funding requests. This implies a need for a larger operational budget. Chris suggested trying to tap into the undergraduate Student Council budget. Patrick offered to write an official request to Dean Huskey for an increase in the budget, possible by increasing the graduate student activity fee.
VII. New Business
Question from Todd: "Will we have a tax forum?" Reply: "We don't know yet."
Social events-we have talked in the past about enhancing the graduate social life at UVA. Todd is indicating we should take action regarding this idea.
VIII. Departmental Concerns
Electronic evaluations: it is the concern of graduate students that only disgruntled students will log-on to fill in the e-evaluations. Chris suggested that people pay attention to systematic changes, shifts in the evaluations to determine whether they are realistic or not.
The meeting adjourned at 8:25 p.m.