GSS Meeting – September 12, 2001 Minutes 1. Attendance 2. GSS Executive Committee Appointment 3. GSS Stipend Committee 4. Budget 5. Committee Reports 6. Veale Center Hours 7. Motions 1. Attendance Colleen Nardi Carrie Coutts Cari Corrigan Emily Dakin Juilee Decker Jon Silva Gayathri Krishnamoorthy Maddalena Fanelli Ned Powley Mike Malone Didier Alexandre James Laird Angela Ciccia Aditya Kukday Jenny Swiatek Alexandra Bohne Kim Hyde Eric Kendall Will Millhiser Meredith Crosby Kathy van der Wee Raja Ghanem Tom Hund Rich Charnigo John Martin Mike Grossner Tammy DelVallie Dean Lenore Kola Patricia Adler 2. GSS Executive Committee Appointment Colleen Nardi and Will Millhiser volunteered to join the Executive Committee, which already includes the GSS officers, as well as James Laird and Cari Corrigan. The membership of the committee was approved unanimously. 3. GSS Stipend Committee Graduate student compensation is an issue that we all can agree is very important. GSS supports efforts to increase the competitiveness of the Graduate School at CWRU. Kim Hyde and Eric Kendall are forming a committee to address this issue. (Motion #2001.06 to form the committee passed with 18 votes for and 1 abstension.) The initial goal of this committee is to get a rough idea of the stipend of current CWRU graduate students through a survey. If you are interested in helping them out or have ideas and comments on the issue, please email Kim (kxh46@po.cwru.edu) or Eric (emk12@po.cwru.edu). 4. Budget The 2001-2002 budget was approved unanimously. It includes a reduction in appropriations to NAGPS (National Association of Graduate and Professional Students) and extra funds for activities. For questions regarding the budget, email the GSS Treasurer, Tom Hund (tjh4@po.cwru.edu). 5. Committee Reports A) V-Fund Raja Ghanem, chair of the V-fund committee, reported on the latest efforts in the appeal to increase the endowment. The V-fund award is offered to graduate students each semester to fund miscellaneous expenses such as thesis binding and conference presentations. Currently, the awards are given from the GSS annual budget. The plan is to increase the fund in order to make the awards from the interest on the account, freeing money for other GSS ventures. The current effort includes a brochure designed to solicit funds and a web page (http://home.cwru.edu/CWRU_GSS/vfund/) where online donations are possible. For more information visit the web page or contact Raja at rng@po.cwru.edu. B) Activities Cari Corrigan relayed information on activities for the semester. The first event of the year, the Ice Cream Social, was a great success; with more than 300 students attending, we went through 15 gallons of ice cream in 90 minutes! The next event sponsored by GSS is the "Play with your food" sculpture contest (http://www.cwru.edu/artsci/bakernord/food.htm) at Thwing on Thursday, September 20, at 11:30am. Co-sponsored by the Baker Nord Center for the Humanities, this event is part of Humanities Week (http://www.cwru.edu/artsci/bakernord/humweek/index.html). The deadline to register a team for the contest is Monday, September 17. You may register online or email Juilee Decker at jxd59@po.cwru.edu. Other upcoming events include a pumpkin carving get-together (along with the International Buddy Program) on October 29 and a Jillians canned food drive party in November. The Activity Committee needs help! Email Cari (cmc19@po.cwru.edu) or Mike (mtg4@po.cwru.edu) if you're interested. We need to come up with some innovative ideas for events and we're always ready to listen. C) International Buddy Program (IBP) The IBP is rolling along well thanks to Carrie Coutts. An article in the upcoming CWRU magazine will increase the exposure for this valuable endeavor. The IBP pairs incoming international students with students familiar with CWRU and the Cleveland area. This allows the new students to learn useful things such as where to shop, how to ride the RTA, or what to expect from an academic advisor. If you are interested in being a buddy, contact Carrie at cac33@po.cwru.edu. D) Organizations and Allocations This committee, chaired by John Martin, recognizes graduate student groups and distributes funds accordingly. Contact John (jcm2@po.cwru.edu) if you are interested in participating. 6. Veale Center Hours Some students are concerned about availability of the Veale recreation center. During undergraduate breaks, access times to the facility and swimming pools are shortened. Even during the semester, some students find the hours lacking. A petition for increased hours from some Weatherhead School of Management students was turned down because of inadequate funding for keeping the center open. If there is enough interest in this issue, it is a possibility for GSS to ally with other groups (perhaps faculty and staff?) and present it's case through the appropriate channels at CWRU. This will most likely be an ongoing discussion throughout the semester, so please solicit the opinions of other graduate students in your department. 7. Motions ===================== Motion #2001.06 Title: Formation of an Ad-hoc committee on Graduate Student Stipends Sponsors: Kim Hyde (ARTH), Eric Kendall (HIST) Whereas the Senate would like to explore increasing graduate-student stipends at CWRU in an effort to equalize TA/RA compensation between departments and remain competitive with other universities Let it be resolved pursuant to GSS Bylaws Article II, Section E, Part 4 that an ad-hoc Graduate Student Stipend committee be formed. --- Michael Grossner CWRU Chemical Engineering Cleveland, Ohio 44106-7217 (216)368-4425