MINUTES
Graduate and Professional Student Assembly
October 7, 2013
5:30pm - 7:00pm
Bache Auditorium, Malott Hall

I. Welcome and Introductions

The meeting was called to order by M. Dumas at 5:30 pm.

Voting members present: D. Bunck, M. Carignano, M. Chen, G. Danies Turano, J. De Castro, M Dumas, S. Hsieh, A. Moore, E. Murnane, E. Newbury, A. Powell, T. Sorg, A. M’nebhi, Ann Bybee-Finley

Voting members absent: Chelsea Morris, Christine Yao, Dana Westgren, Maggie Zou

• Gregory T. Eells, Director, Counseling & Psychological Services, 30 min.

He informed the GPSA that Gannett is invested in graduate and professional student care whether it be psychological, emotional, or physical. 92% of graduate students, 77% of undergraduate students, and 78% of professional students come to Gannett at some point in their years here. Counseling services are also offered; 15% of professional students and 19% graduate students have used the counseling service.

The center is open till 7pm Monday through Thursday. They are open on Saturdays as well. Appointments can be made online or on the phone. Center is open over break although counseling is not available. Assessment and referrals are available along with emergency service. This method was started 3 years ago and is increasingly popular.

Someone is available at the VET and the law school on site for students who have scheduling conflicts.

Eating disorders, substance abuse, psychiatry are special areas of care offered. They also work closely with the Student Disability Office. Help is also available for students who are off-campus but still registered as Cornell students. While it isn’t direct help from Gannett itself, hey work with the Student Insurance Office to get them a referral in their current place of residence. Urgent care is offered based on phone assessment. Immediate care is also available for someone who needs it. There is no limit on the number of counseling sessions offered to students. Budget is a a factor holding back their growth.

He finished his presentation by thanking the GPSA for their time and attention.

II. Approval of the Minutes from September 23rd, 2013, 1 min.

The report under New Business was named the ‘Incident Management Team Report.’ After three more minute changes, the minutes from September 23rd were passed.

III. Reports of Officers and Committee Updates, 15 min.

1. Executive Committee (M. Dumas)

• Ivy+ Summit & NAGPS conferences

M. Dumas informed the assembly that the National Association for Graduate and Professional Students (NAGPS) will be held November 7th through November 10th. It will be held in Kalamazoo, Michigan and will be hosted by Western Michigan University. It is a good opportunity to network with people with similar interests.

The Ivy Summit will be hosted by Columbia University this year and the GPSA will send a couple of representatives. She asked the members to contact Elizabeth or herself by Tuesday if interested.

Committee staffing is in progress and is going well, according to E. Newbury. Website will be updated soon regarding available committees. Meanwhile, new committees-Charter Day Steering Committee, Curatorial Committee, Learning Technologies Governance Committee, and Financial Literacy Steering Committee- have also come up. Anyone interested should contact Xine Yao.

The Office of Graduate Students has two new programs- Perspective and Transitions. Transitions is for new graduate professional students. They have workshops to help with the transition to a new school. Perspectives is for current students who are looking to interact with other students and share ideas.

2. Appropriations (W. Kreuser)

The next byline funding meeting is open to the public. It will be at the plant Sciences Building at 4:45 pm. They will meet with CUEMS, International Student Board, and other organizations. He requested to put off vote on funding for 1 extra meeting.

3. Communications (D. Westgren)

Dana was absent. However, E. Newbury shared information about the Facebook page and asked everyone to like and share it. They also have a new Twitter page named CornellGPSA and all information is under the #cugpsa.

If anyone wants to have something included in the next New Buzz, contact Dana Westgren.

4. Finance Commission (P. Mahanti & D. Kuhlmann)

D. Kuhlmann was absent. E. Newbury shared that the Finance Committee met this week and allocated money. She also reminded everyone that for a proposal to be reviewed and approved by this committee, it must be signed by three people from the organization- the president, the treasurer, and the adviser.

5. Graduate & Professional Student Programming Board (K. Bybee Finley)

K. Bybee-Finely shared that there will be an inter school mixer this Thursday, October 10th from 7:00pm-10:00p. Although the focus will be on three specific groups (Philosophy, Food Science, and Economics), everyone is welcome. It will be at the Big Red Barn.

On October 24th, the programming board has organized a Zombie Lurch that will walk from Collegetown to downtown. It will start at 8pm and makeup and costumes will be available. It is specifically targeted towards graduate students.

6. Student Advocacy (F. Doerflinger)

F. Doerflinger was absent but M. Dumas shared that there will be a meeting for the committee at the Plant Sciences Building on Thursday, 10/7 at 6:30 pm. It is the first meeting this semester.

7. Faculty Awards (A. Powell)

No updates.

8. Diversity & International Students (C. Carter)

The committee met last Wednesday and the meeting was highly attended by members from GPSA, student leaders, and international students. They began the meeting with going over logistics and went over the resolution that brought the committee together.

They discussed the Graduate Professional Community Initiative (GPCI) and started working on issues from thereon. They discussed resources and communications and what came out was an effort to structure a way to organize information and streamline information to get it out to the constituents. They have started a Facebook group that will highlight activities of the committee.

As graduate school goes, efforts are made to recruit different students such as international and diversity. However, this makeup isn’t reflected in the faculty. Demographic information can be accessed on the GPSA website.

They are planning a meeting called “Lets Talk’ and inviting faculty of different background bsed on color and gender.

IV. New Business

• Derina S. Samuel, Center for Teaching Excellence, 15 min.

Serina S. Samuel lead a presentation regarding The Center for Teaching Excellence provides resources for teaching assistants and assist with TA training program. They hold workshops for TA’s that teach skills such as engaging students, active learning, and better grading styles. They will hold faculty series seminar where faculty members will be invited to share their teaching experience. Interested students can register through a link on the CTE website. In addition, on Saturday, October 19th, CTE will hold a university wide Get Set teaching conference where students will have a chance to have small group discussions with faculty. It will be a morning-evening session.

D. Samuel explained that although the Center promotes and teaches skills for undergraduate teaching, the techniques can be extended for K-12 teaching as well.

V. Break Out Session, 20 min.

• Brainstorm a list of the issues your group believes to be the most pressing among graduate & professional students in your respective fields.
• What sort of professionalization activities do the students in your field participate in?
• What professionalization resources should be made available to graduate & professional students?

VI. Open Forum, 4 min.

There was a recommendation by Sumita Mitra to have an international career fair that would specifically target students looking for international jobs. E. Newbury informed her that this recommendation can be passed on to the Cornel Career Services.

Jeffrey Bergfalk, the math representative, brought up the Divestment resolution and asked about engagement from the GPSA on resolution (Investment of Major Fuels) passed by undergraduate assembly last spring. Nicole Baran explained that the resolution was tabled by the GPSA last year since there wasn’t a good enough understanding of the complexity of the issue.

The field of Developmental Sociology brought up the topic for a union that represents TA’s. She suggested that topics that should be discussed and addressed at this union are overworking TA’s, free bus passes, and access to a gym membership. Someone brought up a previous attempt by Cornell to unionize graduate students in 2002 and it was defeated by a large membership. It is up to debate if graduate students have a right to unionize.

Ann Bybee-Finley brought up the Government Furlough. She said that students should let the University know if they are being affected. Other options would include calling Ithaca Congressman Tom Heed or contact representative from your home state. People who would like to voice their opinion on this shutdown should contact Ann Bybee-Finley or Elizabeth Newbury.

The Society for Asian American Graduate Affairs is organizing two meetings after fall break. On the evening of Friday, October 18th, the Society is organizing a Karoke at Big Red Barn. There is a cosponsored mixer at Stella’s coming up on Thursday, October 24th.

Meeting was adjourned at 7:10 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Aastha Wadhwa