GSC BoD Meeting
Thursday, December 7 , 2000
Directors present:
Alex Backer, Jeff Bergthorson, Tanja Bosak, Catherine Cornu, Michael Fleming, Bob Gingrich, Will Green, Serena Guarnaschelli, Anil Hirani, Ying Huang, Michael Johnson, Fok-Yan Leung, Jose Mumbru, Athanasios Nenes, Steve Pracko, Claude Seywert
Directors absent:
Magali Billen, Marco Casari, Will Dunbar, Bob Gingrich, James Harrington, Tobias Kippenberg, Tim Lesko, Nick Pornsinsiriak, Hui Wu
Guests:
Parandeh Kia
Chair Alex Backer presiding.
a. Introduction of guests
Parandeh Kia is here to give us some input on student issues
b. Additions to the agenda
None.
Diego prepared some handouts about the insurance. Currently the cost for spouses is about $450 per month. Some directors inquired how many spouses are actually enrolled with our plan – we will have to research the exact number.
Apparently the postdocs pay less for their spouses. Parandeh explains that both policies are not comparable. The postdov coverage is part of their benefits package whereas the student insurance is fixed through a completely different negotiation. Our coverage is much better (e.g. mental health is included). Our insurance get reviewed every year by a committee on which graduate students are represented (this year we were represented by Emily Brodsky and Martha ?).
According to the administration the Institute already spends too much money on the student policy. Nevertheless HR has looked into the issue of spouses, but since the money is tight it hasn’t really been brought up. The next negotiating round is at the end of winter / early spring. The BOD nominates Diego and Tim to represent us on the committee.
One idea/option would be to move the dependents to the employee plan, the other one (if we decide this is really important) is to wrangle with financial services.
We would like to compare the level of our stipends with those offered at other universities. No official numbers exist. The graduate office doesn’t know either, they only get this data if the incoming students show them the offers from other campuses – in general the stipends are used as a recruiting tool by the different universities. Our stipends should be competitive according to Parandeh – but that’s exactly what we want to check..
Michael has contacted other schools to get some information (they might or might not reply). It is probably easier to just ask each first year student what they got offered from other schools they applied to. Maybe we can also contact the GSC counterpart in other schools to get some data (one problem: we are not allowed to release Caltech internal documents due to legal issues).
The GSC will apply to the Student Investment Fund for $1000 for a mixer and a double CD player (the one we used to borrow from minority affairs is broken).
On the retreat it was proposed that instead of having a GUSH and a ClubGUSH for $250 each month we should alternate and spend $500 on each. That way we could get a band each time, since the GUSHes with bands are much better attended. The proposal was rejected but it was noted that we skipped already quite a few ClubGUSHes (they seem to be more seasonal) so we can use that money to get bands.
III. ANNOUNCEMENTS
a. M/F ratio
Alex had a chance meeting with president Baltimore where they talked about the M/F ratio on campus. A meeting with Miriam Feldblum ensued. Currently about 25% of the graduate students are female but the administration is committed to raise that number. Unfortunately the search for a minority recruiter (who would recruit women too) failed as no suitable candidate applied. For now they will work internally with faculty and grad student recruiters bad as of now there is no systematic way of approaching the problem. Note that there is a ‘James Irvine grant presidential fund’ that can be used for special projects, notably in this area (minorities, women). If someone has an idea please contact Alex.
For the fall recruiting some graduate students will be needed again to help out. Tanja volunteered to contribute to the recruiting effort.
b. Course Evaluation Guide
Will made a survey among the various options. At this point only GPS publishes the answers given by students at the end of each term for the various classes it offers. We want to generalize that and bring our ideas to the next Graduate Studies Committee meeting.
c. Lab Reviews
Jose and Alex have made up a questionnaire. The legal office have approved it. We will wait before we act on it (present it to the Graduate Studies Committee) since we first want to get the Course Evaluation Guide to get started
d. Technique
The Dean is vehemently opposed to make the pay of the editor dependent on his/her performance. However the GSC will get progress reports along the way and we will have to approve those.
e. Sports update
A survey for the music in the gym is out – they will start playing across the board music next term (changing between 5 different stations).
In the near future the Brown gym will get revamped (a varsity locker room, a visitor locker room, a jacuzzi, a family change room, a multipurpose room).
They will also publish a policy booklet about room/filed reservation procedures.
f. Report on ELS
The lecture was great, however the attendance was rather poor. Next time we need to do more advertisement, put the abstract of the lecture on the poster and, most important, make sure that there are no scheduling conflicts (this time the ME72 contest was partly overlapping with the lecture).
g. Report on TTT party, Ice skating
The Ice skating was as popular as ever.
The TTT party was a success but there was only one keg of beer (bad quality too). The hard liquor was all gone by 10, and that even though a lot of money was spend on hard alcohol. The BOD decides that we will not sponsor that much liquor for our next party. Another problem was that the organizers did not stay for the cleaning up.
h. Library
There have been some lightening changes in the SFL library. There has also been some concerns about the noise level in the library. Currently there is a survey being done, in order to make the South side of the 2nd floor a quit area.
As for Millikan, it seems that some floors are going to be removed as library space. Simultaneously fewer books seem to be getting bought. Should the GSC be concerned about those developments? We will keep an eye on it.
i. Catalogue changes for CS
The CS students have written a draft that is now being discussed by the faculty.
j. CHCC update
Once again the composition of the CHCC has changed: Chip Summer and Steve Pracko have joined (so now they are 5!).
The CHCC is trying to get the bike racks in the parking structure moved.
The following social events happened in the last month: a game and desert night (20 participants), a Thanksgiving turkey dinner (50 people showed up), a movie night (50 people) and they cosponsored a Panettone evening organized by the Itailan club.
k. Food at meetings
The BOD voted on whether we should have Pizza at our monthly meetings. Claude and Bob abstained, everyone else was in favor of having food. In order to pay for it the annual banquet will be eliminated.