Graduate Student Council Meeting

Date:     April 18, 2003
Location: Darts Lab, 2nd floor of CCB

Attendance

Members                          Others
Duke Hutchings                   Steve Voida
Pat Widener                      Giovanni Iachello
Zack Kurmas                      Vin Scarlata
James Eagan                      Jess Paradise
Elaine Huang                     Markus Haas
Amy Voida                        Dave Fisher
Daron Vroon                      Chad Hunneycut
Jay Summet                       Brooks Van Horn
Gillian Hayes                    Jun Xiao
Heather Mahaney                  Subbu Lakshmanan
Delphine Nain
Dan Sternberg

Agenda Point 1: Committee Reports

* Faculty Recruiting [Zack Kurmas]
  * informal offers are out to four candidates from candidate visits
  * student participation was very good this year - key is to appoint
    a student leader in the research area to organize everyone for the
    student lunches and for the job talks

* New PhD Programs [Amy Voida]
  * presented HCC program ideas to advisory board with good response
  * Amy will be gone for summer so cannot attend any meetings if held

* Ph.D. Recruiting [Daron Vroon, Jay Summet, Gillian Hayes]
  * will look into possibility for getting students who have committed
    to entering published on an internal web list
  * thanked everyone for helping out
  * GSC thanks them for another excellent recruiting effort!

* Picnic Coordinator [Heather Mahaney]
  * preparations are underway with the formation of a committee

* Seminars [Aparna Ashok Bajaj, remotely]
  * held approximately 6 seminars this year, with a few more that
    could not be held because of end-of-the-year committments and
    general craziness
  * a key to making next year's seminars successful is getting input
    from the new studentrs as to what would be useful

* Undergrad Program Committee [Bob Amar, remotely]
  * looking at major revisions in second/third year courses and
    theory; contact Bob to get more information
  * will be renumbering research courses for students by separating
    first/second years from third/fourth years, and whether the
    research is paid or for credit, creating four new course numbers
  * looking at improving the capstone research project

* Women's Programs Delphine Nain
  * held 2 grad teas during the recruiting season
  * held CoC-wide cookie break during finals week
  * looking to assemble women alumni panel for meeting next semester
  * looking to involve undergrads more in women@cc program

* No Reports
  * Computer Networking Services [Pat Widener]
  * Grad Tea Dude [James Eagan]
  * Graduate Committee [Elaine Huang]
  * Honors and Awards [Brendan Hannigan]
  * Ph.D. Admissions [Dan Sternberg]
  * Space Advisory Council Heather Richter

* Missing repors
  * Distinguished Lecture Series [Tejas Iyer]
  * Faculty Review [Amanda Lyons]
  * Grad Student Orientation [Shomari Mosi]
  * International Student Reps [Manas Tungare, Fernando Alegre]
  * Masters Program [Nitesh Singh]
  * RSI Coordinator [Wei Han]
  * UROC [David Nguyen]

Agenda Point 2: Old business

* Student Health Advisor Committee
  * Directors have still failed to contact Duke regarding meetings
    despite his countless emails asking them to let him know when
    meetings are held
  * We should push as hard as possible next year to be involved in
    this committee, since they pick the insurance providers

* ACM Digital Library Proposal
  * Still under review - make sure to check in on this in the Fall

* Funding situation
  * further discussion on the issue but no decisive action taken
  * discussed whether fall and spring funding is actually guaranteed
    by the offer letters given to students
  * note that digest of funding meeting on April 4 has been sent to
    students and faculty for review

Agenda Point 3: New Business

* CoC Working Group
  * WG met to discuss proposed administrative changes to CoC
  * GSC may have to change in order to mirror that changes made - a
    point that needs revisiting during the summer and in the fall

* GSC Minutes
  * Dan Sternberg mentioned that GSC minutes might be made available
    only internally due to the sometimes sensitive nature of the
    contents.  Sentiment was to keep the minutes as is.

* Discussion of communication issues
  * Dean Zegura asked for GSC to talk about communication issues other
    than funding that require special attention
  * After discussion, GSC decided that enumerating all of the issue
    was impossible, but simply anything that involved the graduate
    students should be announced full and promptly
  * There was also a request to determine if a student could advise on
    financial decision that directly impact the students

* Discussion of the review letters
  * GSC reaffirmed its desire to see that the administration directly
    notify students who receive review letters that indicate anything
    other than satisfactory progress
  * GSC also requested that review letters try to go out to advisors
    much earlier than they were sent this year

Agenda Point 4: Congratulations Jay Summet

* Jay Summet was announced as the new GSC Liaison, effective May 12


The meeting concluded around 17:00.

These minutes were submitted by Duke Hutchings, and are subject to
change until the first meeting of Fall 2003, at which time they will
become the official meeting minutes.