BGSO's Open Meeting, 2/26/09 12:30 pm, MGB 125
In attendance were:
Rachel Schroeder
Ashley Lavender
Lara Orenksy
Shelley Sullivan
Tony Matthews
Julie Ray
Corey van Vlymen
Michele Tisdale
Sushi Paudyal
Matt Muller
Nathan Bowman
Matt Semcheski
Todd Egerton
Carrie Gurnee
Allison Cooper
Charlotte Grizzard
Mark Prinz
Shab Mohammadi
Lory Scott
Jennifer Bowman
Beth Polidoro
Jonnell Sanciangco
Jeremy Raynal
Mia Raynal
Shannon Hensley
David Ingersoll
Among the topics discussed were:
- BGSO Art contest
48 people showed up and voted for the BGSO Art contest. 1st place ($75) went to Marc Milne for "Bowl & Doily". 2nd place ($50) went to Julie Ray for "Save our Frogs". There was a tie for 3rd place ($25) going to Todd Egerton for “Actun Loch Tunich – Cayo, Belize”, and Shab Mohammadi for "Canada Geese". Honorable mention also went to Charlotte Grizzard for "White Perch Key" and "Pete, the penguin", and Angela Mojica for "Green Tree Snake". The art from the contest will remain on the wall for a year, and be taken down during the next contest, which has been suggested to be held in the Fall instead of the Spring. Voting could possibly be held online next time, please contact Rachel Schroeder at with any suggestions or comments about the art contest. Thanks to all who participated!!
- T-shirt contest
The deadline for the submissions of t-shirt designs is Wednesday, March 18, 2009. If you are interested in submitting a design for this year's contest, please have them submitted by then. You can place them in the BGSO mailbox in the main office. Please specify on your design if it is the front or the back of the t-shirts. Cash prizes will be awarded for the best front ($75) and back ($50) design. Your t-shirt should also say "Biology Graduate Student Organization 2009" on it somewhere. Voting for the t-shirts will he held on Thursday, March 19, 2009 at BGSO's next open meeting. Lunch will be provided.
- Spring Symposium
The BGSO annual Spring Symposium will be held on Saturday, March 28, 2009 at 9:00 AM in Kaufman Hall 100. We will provide breakfast and lunch, and the day will start with a presentation about thermal biology and foraging ecology of leatherback and diamondback terrapins by Dr. Amanda Southwood from the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. Cash prizes will be awarded for the 3 best Masters' student presentations, $100 for 1st, $75 for 2nd, and $50 for 3rd, and the 3 best Ph.D student presentations, $100 for 1st, $75 for 2nd, and $50 for 3rd. Presentations should be 10-12 minutes long, with 3 minutes for questions. If you wish to present, please have the title of your talk presented to me by Monday, March 16, 2009 at 5:00 PM. You will need to have your powerpoints submitted to me by Thursday, March 26, 2009 at 5:00 PM so I can load them on the computer in Kaufman 100. This is a great opportunity for graduate students to practice their talks, and it counts towards one of the presentation requirements for non-thesis masters students.
- Department reminder
If you are having problems with your graduate experience here, there are people you can go to address your concerns. Examples include advisor issues, things not getting processed in a timely matter, etc. Your first point of contact should be your graduate program director. For masters students, you should contact Dr. Ratzlaff. For Ph.D Ecology, you should contact Dr. John Holsinger, Ph.D Biomed is Dr. Swanson. If you don't want to speak with your GPD, you can talk to Dr. Deborah Waller, and then finally Dr. Wayne Hynes. They wish to remind you all that your concerns will be heard, and that they are here to help us all.