Secretary's Report to the Council of Graduate Students
October 28, 2005
Executive Committee Meeting Report: October 7, 2005
Meeting was called to order by Vice president Cathy Baack at 3:37 pm.
Quorum Present: President Barbara Pletz, Vice president Cathryn Baack, Secretary Jane Evans, Treasurer emeritus Kerry Hodak, Chair Chris Alvarez-Breckenridge, Chair Inna Caron, Chair Rob Crawford, Chair Patty Cunningham, CAA Representative R. Scott Pearson.
I. Officer and Committee Reports were heard from the following:
- Secretary (Jane Evans): Evans is concerned that the minutes from the two summer delegate meetings are not available. Volunteers took minutes at those meetings and have since graduated.
- Elections (Cathy Baack): A list was distributed of committee positions that have not yet been filled.
- Public Relations (Rob Crawford): The committee is working on postings for Buckeye Net News, banners for CABS busses, and possibly reinstituting e-Voice. Rob has been in contact with Dave McIntyre about CGS information for the OSU web site.
- RGC (Chris Alvarez-Breckenridge): RGC has not yet met.
- GCBC: Kerry announced that this committee is still in need of two graduate student members. These grad students do not need to be members of CGS.
- Events (Patty Cunningham): Upcoming events will be posted on the web site.
- OIE (Inna Caron): A meeting is being set up for October 13. The committee will deal with international student advocacy and concerns; that is concerns that are particular to students’ being international students.
- President (Barbara Pletz): Barb introduced a resolution at Faculty Council and received feedback. In her report, Barb will discuss an anonymous reporting line – a faculty, student, and staff suspected fraud reporting mechanism. She also reported that there was concern at Steering about a “Death watch” on research. The Freeman Report has been posted on the OAA web site. The next executive committee meeting will be October 21.
II. Planning for October 28, 2005 Delegate Meeting:
- Speakers: Dean Richard Freeman; University Senate Secretary Chris Zacher.
- Location: RPAC – Meeting Rooms 1-3
III. Resolution 0506-AU-007: Two forms of a resolution were offered: One calls for the resignation of Brian Hicks; The other resolves to support Senate Bill 168. Discussion was heard about the issues. Kerry moved to postpone a discussion of this resolution until the delegate body expresses concern about the issues. Patty seconded the motion, and the motion passes with a voice vote. The resolution was tabled. Trustee Brian Hicks will be invited to speak at the November delegate meeting.
IV. New Business: Past delegate Steve Livingston was in charge of e-Voice. A suggestion was made that Rob contact Steve to inquire about resurrecting this method of notifying delegates and graduate students about information from meetings and announcements.
Meeting adjourned at 5:40 PM
Respectfully submitted,
Jane Evans
Executive Committee Meeting Report: October 21, 2005
Meeting was called to order at 3:30 PM.
Meeting was called to order by Vice president Cathy Baack at 3:37 pm.
Quorum Present: President Barbara Pletz, Vice president Cathryn Baack, Secretary Jane Evans, Treasurer Waverly Gordon, Vice president and Treasurer emeritus Kerry Hodak, Senate Whip, James Anderson, Chair Chris Alvarez-Breckenridge, Chair Rob Crawford, Chair and President emeritus Jamie Depelteau, CAA Representative R. Scott Pearson.
I. Introductions: Cathy Baack asked those in attendance to introduce themselves. New members of the executive committee were welcomed:
- Black Graduate and Professional Student Caucus Representative – Crystal Hall (hall.106)
- Outreach and Engagement Chair – Erin Tisdale (tisdale.28)
II. Planning for October 28 Delegate Meeting: The meeting agenda was accepted with corrections and time allocations assigned. The meeting location will be the recently opened RPAC facility. Meeting rooms 1-3. Students are reminded to take their Buck IDs with them to the meeting. A list will be provided to RPAC by Cathy Baack before the delegate meeting. RPAC will be notified of guest speakers. Guest speakers are: Dean Richard Freeman, MAPS, and Chris Zacher, Secretary of University Senate.
III. New Business: Barb distributed information about “Targeted Investments in Excellence.” It was decided that during Delegates Issues and Concerns, Kerry will bring up inviting Trustee, Brian Hicks, to speak at a delegate meeting in the future.
IV. Officer and Committee Reports were heard from the following:
- RGC (Chris Alvarez-Breckenridge): Dean Freeman spoke at the Research Committee and shared his report in a Q and A session. Vice President Robert McGrath said the if Issue #1 passes in November, this will affect interdisciplinary project.
- Graduate Student Survey (Jane Evans): Jane has met with Sheila Craft from Insitutional research and Lamar Murphy, Senior Assistant Dean of the Graduate School to discuss the Graduate Student Survey that will be conducted during winter quarter. CGS has had input into the questions that will be added to the HEDS survey and will be specific to OSU. Jamie and Kerry questioned the sampling method that will be used. Jane will check on this and report back at the November 4 Exec meeting. CGS will promote survey participation by advertising on CABS busses. Rob will being planning these activities. Barb will investigate further the addition of incentives for the survey. Both of these strategies - advertising and incentives - are designed to increase response rates. Jamie suggested that we would need a 70% response rate in order to have statistical validity.
- Hayes Research Forum (Cathy Baack): Proceedings are now available.
- Elections (Cathy Baack): Cathy reported on RGC seats which are still vacant. Those are: Business, Biological Sciences, and Engineering. Vacant Senate seats are: Arts and Engineering. There is currently a computer problem preventing Cathy from getting applications online. She anticipates that the problem will be solved shortly. In the meantime, there may be discrepancies between applicants for seats and actual vacancies. Cathy also distributed an updated list of committee positions that need to be filled.
- Treasurer (Waverly Gordon): Treasurer’s report is available online.
- Student Affairs (Jamie Depelteau): Jamie distributed a document outlining plans for Ohio Union Use Surveys. Three survey methods will be used. If members have suggestions or comments about areas to be assessed in these instruments, please send an email message to Jamie.
- President (Barbara Pletz): Barb reported that the Clinical Faculty Cap is being discussed. The specific issue relates to how the 40% cap is being figured. She also reported that funds from student activity fees are being distributed to various student organizations on campus. Please send an email message to Barb, if you have concerns about these procedures. A full report will be posted online.
Meeting adjourned at 5:25 PM
Respectfully submitted,
Jane Evans