GSA Meeting Minutes
Thursday, October 6, 2005
Page 3
Members present: Dave Razidlo, Harini Chakravarthy, Robert Arpke, Agnes Constantino, Laura Groening, John Eggers, Ted Bartoletti, Carunda Moore, James Randazzo, Paula Richards, Aaron Mercer, Miriam Menezes, Briana Ormsbee, Mike Gleason, Brad Creamer, Aishwarya Prakash, Carmen Brindeiro, Heidi Johnson, Mario Fernandez
Introductions
Announcements: First Annual Post-Doctoral Symposium
This will be held on Monday, September 11, 2006 from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in the Durham Research Center Auditorium. Speakers titles include:
Would You Hire This Person?, We Were All Post-docs Once, Extremem Makeover – Post-Doc Edition, and Scientific Attitude and Mentor/Student Relationship. Graduate Students are also invited to attend.
Shared Resources - Core Facility Day
This will be held on Wednesday, September 13, 2006 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Durham Research Center Atrium. You can meet representatives from more than 20 campus core facilities and learn about how these services could benefit your research.
MD/Ph.D. Scholars and Graduate Student Symposium and Career Workshop
This will be held on Monday, October 2, 2006 from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Eppley Science Hall Ampitheater with a social hour to follow in the Private Dining Rooms from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Speakers will be covering the following topics: How to Get Your First Grant; What Skills Do You Need?, State of Federal Funding for Research, Promoting Clinical and Translational Research, and Careers in Pharmaceutical Industry. To register, contact Sonja Cox by phone or e-mail.
Approval of minutes from August 8, 2006 meeting – executive approval
Old Business: GSA E-mail List
The e-mail list is up and running. It will be used to inform the graduate students about upcoming GSA sponsored seminars and events as well as a way for the Graduate Studies Office to inform graduate students about upcoming opportunities and important deadlines.
Orientation
Mario said that Graduate Student Orientation went well. He asked each of the students what they saw themselves doing after graduation with their Ph.D. Answers were wide ranging including academia and industry and will be useful information for potential speakers that GSA brings to UNMC to give seminar.
Fall Barbecue
113 people attended the Fall Barbecue out in front of DRC, a very good turnout. Mario suggested that this become an annual event each fall.
New Business: Patti George’s Seminar
Patti will come give her talk about Student Health Insurance at noon on September 21, 2006 in Wittson Hall 3010. All graduate students are invited to attend and is especially recommended for first year students. Mario and Heidi will take care of ordering food for the seminar.
Update on Upcoming Seminars
Dr. Steven Projan: works for Wyeth and can talk about working his way up in industry, but also was a professor in academia. Heidi has invited him to give a seminar, most likely in the spring on a date TBA.
Dr. Ellen Brisch: an associate professor at Minnesota State University-Moorhead where she teaches as well as has a research lab. Mario has invited her to give a seminar, probably either the first or second Thursday of November.
Third Speaker Suggestions: Ph.D. Comics possible for Fall of 2007. There may be a limitation due to the amount of honorarium that has been requested by this speaker. Mario will talk to Dr. Crouse about the money for the honorarium. Bringing in a successful woman scientist was also mentioned again. No suggestion as to a potential speaker for this topic was made.
Fall Event: Hayrack Ride/Shady Lane Ranch
Ashwarya is organizing this event because it was well received last year by all the graduate students that attended. It will be October 20, 2006. The bus will leave from the Student Life Center parking lot at 5:15 p.m. The hayrack would be at 6:00 p.m. GSA will supply the hot dogs, schmores ingredients, soft drinks and water. People can bring their own beverages. Graduate students will be notified via the e-mail list and asked to RSVP to Ash.
Suggestions for Other Fall Activities
Possibilities mentioned included a cultural night, a move night either at a movie theater or a drive-in in the spring.
Pre-Matriculation Website
Mario asked what needed to be updated or revised on the site. A discussion group with possible housing available to new students is needed. It was suggested that helping new international graduate students when they first arrive was needed.
GSA Letter/Survey
Mario had planned to send out an informational flyer/letter to all graduate students with information about GSA and what GSA does instead of a survey. Dr. Crouse mentioned that he would like to see GSA send a survey to all graduate students. The survey would be mailed back to the Graduate Studies Office for confidentiality purposes.
Background Checks
This will cost $50, and will be required of all students. Fee will be waived in certain circumstances
UNMC Fellowship/Assistantship Competition
There have been problems with the reviews that students receive at the end of the competition. Some had very little comments or suggestions. One possible fix would be to hire a company to review the applications, however this would cost a fellowship and a half. Suggestions from those attending included: make the form that reviewers more specific to encourage increased written critique; make sure reviewers know the requirements for the research proposal; and create a committee to initially review the research proposals.
Blogging
Theresa Cassidy from UNMC Public Affairs Office contacted Mario. She would like to start a graduate student “blog” at UNMC. She and Mario are looking for two or three students (one in their first or second year, and another student a year and half or two years from graduating) that would be willing to post information of their experiences as a gradutate student and other graduate students would be welcome to post comments and share their experiences. Let Mario know if you are interested.
Other Business None
Respectfully submitted,
Robert Arpke