GSC meeting December 2, 2005 RSI === We have several keyboards and mice/trackball type devices to loan out. Currently, most keyboards are on-loan, but several of these 1-month loan periods are nearing the end, so it's likely that several will be avaliable soon. In fact, we received an additional Kinesis keyboard, and Dan Ashbrook donated a MS Natural like split keyboard to the library as well, so we have two more keyboards available for checkout. List of items we currently have and their status is avaliable here: http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~summetj/rsi/ CNS === David Roberts 2) Randy Carpenter has graciously agreed to talk about important policy changes in CNS. Randy: Printer etiquette. Printers are wide open. People print very large jobs and block other people's jobs. Also perceived problem: misuse of coc resources. Quotas? Use public humiliation? Different quotas on different printers? Policies canges at Institute level. Old policy was gentle. New policy is very direct. Splits responsibilities on individuals and unit head responsibility (Dean) and then technical lead (Randy). There are new policies and procedures to protect the institute so that there are best practices to avoid ending up on headlines on information stolen, don't illegally download copyrighted material, don't share passwords. Individuals are responsible. Go read it on the OIT website. The CNS will have to ask a lot of questions about new services installed, they need to know. Sensitive information definition look up policy. CNS has to know all services on all computers. There will be firewall to block undeclared ports. All administrators will have to be documented. Outland IP registration. Both requires faculty sponsorship. And this only lasts one year. Professor involvement and knowledge about what's happening. Reserved time 7-9PM Tuesdayes when machine may be rebooted with notice for patch application. All machines, Windows, and Linux. This does not affect outland machines. There will be a mailing list to inform people about this cns-availability. There are exceptions available for computing processes (you should notify in timely manner 6 hrs before). When reboot happens, there will be an hour warning on the machine. TA-ships and PHD Slotting ========================= Leo Mark, who is in charge of these changes has kindly agreed to answer questions on the PhD slotting and matching system and TA requirements. Leo Mark will assume strategic Phd program roles. TA requirement -------------- All students will be asked 1 semester of a TAship every k semesters (where k=5 in current hypothesis, this will cause a projected 60-70 TAs, up from the current 40-45). Funding is separate from TAship; state money will be occasionaly used to support RAs with advisors with low funding. Current TA money will remain part of student funding. Benefits? Students will learn about teaching. Professors will have to commit to allowing students to work for the college. It is not different from other time sinks like qualifiers and breadth courses. Master's students. The new system may hurt them, because additional PhD TAs will take money from MS TA pools. Leo: The College has still the highest proportion of TAs funded by state money in the Institute. David: there will be mandatory healthcare insurance for all grad students. Will state-funded students receive these benefits? We do not know. There will be no difference between TA pay rate and RA rate. Even students coming in with fellowships would have to TA. The overriding goal is to provide long-term guarantees to students. The TA requirements will not be negotiable. This will affect current students, perhaps starting Fall 06. Question raised: Are students that do RA work to pay the bills having to do double work? "Star Students" --------------- Leo: "Catching" the best students with bonuses and higher salaries. What do people think about this? There seems to be agreement that this is ok among present graduate students. Matching -------- Willing students will be matched with willing faculty if they have been working together for some time regardless of funding. But if the prof. does not have funding, he will not be allowed to add students. There may be exceptions for some areas to make up for funding shortages. If the faculty drops a student, the student will go in transition. First year students will not be required to TA nor to RA. You would be jumping advisors too often.