AGENDA
GRADUATE AND PROFESSIONAL STUDENT ASSEMBLY
2004–05 Organizational Meeting
Big Red Barn Graduate & Professional Student Center
Greenhouse
May 17, 2004
5:30–6:30 p.m.

1. Call to Order - B. Holmes
2. Open Forum
3. Overview of Summer Preparations for 2004–05
   • Communications Committee - H. Etienne
   • Elections Committee - J. Nelson
   • Events Planning Committee - B. Holmes
   • Funding Policy Committee - K. O’Neill
   • Internal Operations Committee - T. McConnochie
4. Brainstorming for 2004–05 - H. Etienne
5. Adjournment - followed by time for members who are leaving and continuing to connect with each other on unresolved issues and new ideas

COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
chaired by Harley Etienne (hfe2@cornell.edu)

The Communications Committee’s charge is to maintain a strong communication link with the graduate and professional student bodies at large, other campus governing bodies and the Cornell community. This includes the distribution of news, events, meeting announcements, election dates and procedures, and other information related to Cornell’s graduate and professional student bodies. Working in tandem with the GPSA’s Secretary and University’s Office of the Assemblies, the Communications Committee also encourages the publication of agendas, minutes, and resolutions to appropriate listserves and newsletters. The committee will also maintain ties to Cornell related media, such as the Cornell Chronicle and The Cornell Daily Sun.

The Communications Committee for 2004 - 2005 will be revamping the GPSA’s current communications infrastructure and identify ways of distributing information to the graduate and professional student community. Over the summer, the Communications Committee will work to develop new formats and content for the GPSA’s website and listserves.

ELECTIONS COMMITTEE
chaired by Joshua Nelson (joshuabnelson@aya.yale.edu)

The primary charge of the Elections Committee is to oversee elections of GPSA members in the spring and to verify the election of Council of Representative (CoR) seats. In the Spring of 2004, this Committee’s purview was expanded to include the continual placement of students in CoR seats as they become available.

Every graduate field must elect its CoR rep(s) for the year in the fall; in the past, many of these seats have not been filled. Thus, over the summer, the Elections Committee will plan a recruitment effort to be undertaken in August (just before and after the start of classes) to ensure that students from all fields may have full access to participation in GPSA; the committee will ask any available GPSA and CoR members to help with this unprecedented outreach.

EVENTS PLANNING COMMITTEE
chair TBA; contact: Brian Holmes (bth8@cornell.edu)

The Events Planning Committee was formed last year, organizing ice time at Lynah Rink, a holiday food drive, and other GPSA events. This committee gives Assembly and COR members (beyond the officers) a direct role in planning GPSA-sponsored events for graduate and professional students. Funding for these events comes from the GPSA budget and must be approved by the Funding Policy Committee or the Assembly (depending on the amount).

Over the summer, the Events Planning Committee will explore the possibility of having a GPSA event (such as a reception for new and returning students) during orientation week and coordinate a GPSA presence at other orientation and start-of-year events, such as the first TGIF. This committee will also work with the officers to develop plans and ideas for a possible Assembly retreat (in late August) and a retreat for COR and committee members (in late September). Members could communicate mostly by e-mail in June and July, but would work more intensively in the last two weeks of August.

FUNDING POLICY COMMITTEE
chaired by Kevin O’Neill (oneill@cs.cornell.edu)

The Funding Policy Committee monitors the budget of the GPSA, approves funding requests up to $500, and recommends requests of $500 or more to be voted on by the Assembly. Over the summer, as orientation or other events are planned for the start of the school year, funding requests will be submitted to the Funding Policy Committee by e-mail for approval. There will be at most a few (two or three) such requests, but it is important for members to check e-mail regularly in case they come up.

INTERNAL OPERATIONS COMMITTEE (IOC)
chaired by Tim McConnochie (mcconnoc@astro.cornell.edu)

The Internal Operations Committee (IOC) is charged with overseeing the internal operation of the GPSA. A specific duty of the IOC is that it recruits and appoints the members of all other GPSA committees, as well as GPSA representatives on University Assembly committees. (These appointments are subject to review by the GPSA officers.) As part of its broader mandate, the IOC might also review and suggest changes to the GPSA charter.

Over the summer, the IOC needs to accomplish two specific things: 1) appoint the members of the Communications Committee and of the Elections Committee ASAP, as these committees also have work to do over the summer. 2) Make plans for recruiting and appointing the membership of the rest of the committees in the first few weeks of the fall semester. This might involve, for example, revamping the committee application forms, and working with Communications Committee to spread the word.