President Miriam Makhyoun Called the Meeting to Order at 5:30Pm. Secretary Brandy Hopkins

GSAS Meeting

November 3, 2010

5:30pm Raley 4017

President Miriam Makhyoun called the meeting to order at 5:30pm. Secretary Brandy Hopkins began with role call.

1. Grant Guidelines

Treasurer, Kyle Nelson, introduced the GSAS Grant Guidelines revisions. The major changes are requiring a personal letter from the student and instituting a penalty for not spending by the deadline. Brandy Hopkins recommended adding required documentation such as conference registration to the bulleted list at the beginning of the guidelines. Kris Dearmin recommended the hotel clause be clarified to explain that only members of the same sex are expected to share a room. Miriam asked for clarification regarding the penalty and it was explained that should something unexpected arise, the grantee can inform the treasurers in advance and bypass the penalty.

1. Service Task Force

Chair Carole Deans discussed the upcoming event, AppKids. It is a large time commitment but there are other positions available as well. The experience is very enjoyable and rewarding. She will be sending a finalized list by noon tomorrow (Thursday, November 4th). So far, she has 12 volunteers. The event will be held November 9th, Friday, from 7:45am to 4:00pm. AppKids is directed at employees but it would be great for us to show involvement with this. A senator inquired if it was possible to just show up.Carole informed the group that is not really possible because you are paired with a young person in advance. Conversely, please show up if you have volunteered. If you have any questions, you can reach Carole at . Another senator asked if there willbe a brief orientation that morning.Carole wasn’t sure but assumed so and reiterated that this is an awesome opportunity to mentor and show the value of giving. The group will meet at Broyhill at 7:45am. It sounds like volunteers will be driving the students in their own cars with another shopper and student. They are also accepting donations and Janice Voss can be contacted with additional questions.

1. Endowment Fundraising Task Force

Chair, Matt Hepler, reported that he met with Crystal Woessner and they have looked into an online Paypal method for faculty donations. Miriam Makhyoun reported that they are checking into the logistics of this. There is also interest in a music type event. Many in the group expressed interest as well. Another idea is an auction. These two events could be done simultaneously. Matt explained that a pie auction he was involved with in the past at Virginia Tech brought in $2,000. A venue needs to be decided on. Brandon motioned, Dave seconded to have event and the vote passed unanimously. Many metioned that we should still ask for donations face-to-face. Kyle explained that if we ask for money now and have the event later it gives us the ability to double dip and explain who we are, what we do, and the benefits of donating. Kyle explained that unspent departmental budgets may be another source of funding.

Discussion ensued regarding the timing and location of the event. Some thought the event should be held before Spring Break while others thought it should be held after Spring Break. Most everyone agreed it should be held at night on a Thursday. Suggestions for venues included Boone, Char, Legends, and the Armory. A senator informed the group that the Armory is bad for sound and too far off the beaten path. Matt agreed to thoroughly investigate three options and dates and report back. The group agreed that the event should be targeted to both Faculty and students. Miriam mentioned that Trustees and alumni should be invited as well. The consensus was that doing it in the beginning of April will give us ample time to make it good. Matt mentioned that we will need an MC for the auction who will keep people entertained. Another senator inquired about a silent auction. Another senator mentioned auctioning pies to be thrown at faculty members. Matt will report back with available dates for each venue.

1. Graduate Student BOT Representation

Next Miriam discussed the issue of graduate student representation on the BOT. She began with reading the cover letter that Charles Gibson drafted. The group expressed support and Miriam recorded minor changes in the original document. She explained that she wishes to collect pictures and stories about how graduate students make a difference. On November 18th, Miriam will be meeting with Janine Underdown Collins, the BOT chair, the SGA President and the Chief-of-Staff to discuss this issue. She would like to have stories ready for this meeting. In the next couple of weeks, senators need to try to find people in their departments who are giving back to the community. A senator said he feels like faculty would have the best input. We can ask faculty members how graduate students benefit them, the community, and the department. Jack said he will design a Forum online to aid with collecting these responses. It was discussed and determined that a student forum and a professor forum would be established. We were reminded that we want to be transparent so we should let faculty know that we are seeking greater representation. Also, if we do an electronic survey we should introduce it with a cover letter that will engage faculty support.

It was mentioned that Charles’ cover letteris a great formal document but what we send to faculty should be much more brief. Miriam asked for volunteers to draft the faculty letter in a Google doc so everyone can edit in different colors. Dave Lee and Jack agreed to draft this letter by Monday, November 8th. We need to remind faculty members that this will only be presented to the Trustees. There are professors that agree with us and we need to find them. Due to this, the issue of graduate student representation should be first in the letter to gain faculty support. Many graduate students do not even realize they are not represented. Maybe we should also explain this in a student letter.

Another senator suggested we do a petition.Miriam followed up and promised that by Monday, she will email a Graduate Representation Kit that includes a student letter, a faculty letter, and a petition. A senator suggested that Facebook could be used to aid with the petition. Many disagreed and stated that Facebook is too public and only graduate students should sign the petition. Discussion ensued as to the format of the petition, online versus paper. A vote was held and the online only petition received 9 votes, the paper only petition received 8 votes, while doing it in both forms received 2 votes. A senator suggested that individual senators make the decision for their specific departments. Another senator suggested we start with an online petition and then follow-up with a paper one if we do not get an adequate response. Another senator suggested the kit include pointers for discussion as well. Kyle made a motion to develop both an online and paper version of the petition, Dave seconded the motion, and the vote was unanimously approved.

It was suggested that the kit would include an introduction to the petition, two letters, and a fact sheet. Another senator suggested that we could do one letter to both faculty and students that is very basic that asks what graduate students are doing for the community. Another senator saidwe also need to ask faculty in what ways graduate students are valuable. Another senator suggested we send the letter to staff as well since graduate students also work for staff. It was concluded that one letter would be sent to students to find out what they do and to introduce the petition. Another letter would be sent to everyone else explaining the issue and asking what students do. We can also ask directly if they think graduate students deserve representation and if they have graduate students working for them. A SurveyMonkey survey will be drafted to accomplish this. A rough draft will be sent to all for approval.

1. Webmaster’s Report

Jackreported that we are not getting an ASULearn page but an email list is being compiled for all graduate students. He asked for opinions on how often this should be used to send out mass emails. Brandy suggested that we do want to make the university aware of our presence but we do not want to send something just for the sake of sending it. We need to have something to say and need to be able to show what we have accomplished. Jack also informed the group that we desperately need pictures for the website. Please send these or anything else you would like added to . He asked for a volunteer that has experience with PhotoShopto help with graphics and banners to decrease the boringness of the site. Erica Lowe,, volunteered to work on the homepage by the next meeting.

1. Vice President’s Report

Vicki reported that there are five committees left, requiring graduate students, thatstill need people: University Awards (for faculty), Teaching Enhancement, University Bookstore, and Registration & Calendar. Kyle Nelson,, agreed to serve on the committee for University Awards. Dave Lee agreed to serve on the Registration & Calendar committee again this year. Brittany Smith agreed to serve on the Bookstore committee. Brandy suggested inquiring about an optional graduate textbook rental system.

1. Reminders

Wasteland will be shown Tuesday, November 16th, at 7:30pm in the Farthing Auditorium. Admission is $5 and will be used to support Brazilian wastepickers.

Following this reminder, Kyle Nelson motioned to close the meeting, Dave Lee seconded, and the vote unanimously passed. Miriam closed the meeting at 6:30pm.