GSC BoD Meeting
Thursday, January 11, 2001
Directors present:
Alex Backer, Jeff Bergthorson, Tanja Bosak, Catherine Cornu, Diego Dugatkin, Bob Gingrich, Will Green, Serena Guarnaschelli, James Harrington, Michael Johnson, Tobias Kippenberg, Fok-Yan Leung, Melvin Leok, Timothy Lesko, Jose Mumbru, Nick Pornsinsiriak, Steve Pracko, Claude Seywert, Hui Wu
Directors absent:
Magali Billen, Marco Casari, Michael Fleming, Anil Hirani, Ying Huang, Athanasios Nenes
Guests:
Benedict Hebert, Benjamin Rahn
Chair Alex Backer presiding.
I. PRELIMINARY BUSINESS
a. Introduction of guests and new directors
Melvin Leok is new director for CDS. He will substitute Will Dunbar. Benedict Hebert and Benjamin Rahn are new students and might be interested in joining the BoD.
b. Additions to the agenda
Alex has three additions to the Announcements section: Stipends raise, Women in Science, and Sports update. Claude added to the Announcements section: Fridgemaster.
II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
No vote was done on the December 2000 minutes.
III. ACTION ITEMS
Catherine said that four good proposal for the new edition of the Technique have been received. Volunteers are needed to help Marco and Catherine reading the proposals and interviewing the candidates. One thing that has changed this year is that the editor(s) will have to report every two months to GSC on their work in order to be paid. Alex has also contacted the Arts Center. Three replies have been received. The candidates for the editor position have been notified of the possibility of collaboration with people from the Arts Center, although not all are interested in that.
Thanos is in charge of organizing the trip. Unfortunately he could not attend the meeting. Bob had also volunteered to help organizing. He said that not much has been decided yet. Alex suggested they send him an email with an update on this issue.
In front of an apparent lack of GSC activities during this period, the ice-cream social seemed a good idea. No date has been decided yet. Steve will organize. Nick and Benedict will help him.
Company visits need to be organized again this year. Alex said that he got favorable comments from students about the JPL visit and that a contact at the Alumni Assoc. said we could do it again, perhaps once every two years. The Alumni Assoc. are very interested in having some more direct interaction with graduate students, so they might help with the visits. Tim accepted being the organizer. Interaction with CDC and Alumni would be desirable.
IV. ANNOUNCEMENTS
Jose takes the position of secretary after Claude since he will be graduating soon.
The Course Evaluation Guide was presented at the faculty GSC meeting. In order not to duplicate surveys, GSC will have access to the results of the evaluation surveys that are performed at the end of each term. The option representatives accepted that these surveys are on the web provided that access it restricted to Caltech. Will has contacted the Division Chairs to ask for approval to release the surveys, but apparently the Option Representatives do not have the authority to do it and the Provost’s authorization is required. The Dean has been notified at this respect. The Lab Reviews have been postponed for strategic reasons.
Diego did not have news on this topic yet. Alex said that this issue has been presented as a concern to the Alumni and Trustees.
The telephone in the penthouse will be disconnected. The reason is that the telephone line is not a campus extension and CABS paid its annual cost until now. However, from now on GSC should pay for it. Since it is very seldom used, it will be disconnected and the GSC contact phone will be the same as the one of the GSC chair. The contact information on the GSC web page will have to be changed.
A good way to manage this equipment is needed. During the retreat it was discussed the option to give it to the Caltech Y. Fok and Catherine suggested that all the equipment should be marked, and make a checklist sheet with all the items. It was suggested as well to have a second contact person to take care of the equipment. Benedict volunteered to do it.
The books found in the penthouse have been partially inventoried by Steve. It looks like they have been there for 10 to 15 years. There was consensus to donate them to the library.
Steve submitted a proposal asking for $1,000, last year GSC received $750, to organize Gradiators and the company visits. However they have doubled their contribution so GSC has received $2,000 this year. The Alumni in their Quarterly Board of Directors meeting expressed their interest in a higher level of interaction specifically with graduate students.
Alex explained that they were very interested in the quality of life of students. Alex talked to them about implementing a shadowing program in collaboration with CDC. They were receptive to this idea and asked for a report for their next meeting (in summer). Volunteers to organize this activity are needed. Alex also told them about the Lab review initiative and Health Insurance for dependents. He suggested that they could help students interested in starting up companies, in some similar way as the ERC awards their Entrepreneurial Fellowships, and provide assistance to implement ideas from students. If anybody can think of any other way in which the alumni could help graduate students, he can tell Alex.
Diego updated on the activities for January. The bike racks will be installed this month. They are planning an ice-skating trip at the Staples Center, a dinner to celebrate the Chinese New Year, a movie night, a BBQ on Superbowl Sunday, and a ski trip during February. Jeff pointed that the quarter machines in the laundry rooms run out of change often.
Alex said that Graduate Office is seeking an increase of the stipends for students. The GRA/GTA will increase 6%, while the fellowships 8%. This can however be washed out by an increase of the graduate housing of 5.8% for next year.
Currently about 25% of the graduate students are female but the administration is committed to raise that number, which is below the national average of 33%. Unfortunately the search for a minority recruiter (who would recruit women too) failed as no suitable candidate applied.
Tobias commented on two items: First the Athletic Department has started admitting proposals for funding of sports clubs. The second topic was that the survey on the music preferences in the gym is finished and the music has already been changed according to the results.
Claude has been until now in charge of refilling the fridge with sodas. Since he is graduating soon, Nick will do the honors.