GSA Steering and General
Committee Meeting
Thursday October
4, 2005, 8:00-11:30 PM
University
Commons, Room 205
Meeting Record
Present: Lynne Darden, Kumar Sankar Bhattacharya, Michael Humphreys, Jeevan Gurung, Dawn Digrius, Sarah Gardam, Collin Cameron, William Pope, David Rainbow, & Fran Baker.
Agenda for today approved
T. A. Funding:
Dawn Digrius raised the issue of Teaching Assistantship at Drew. She pointed out that Drew pays an insignificant amount for T.A. ship, which in turn inhibits student progress as they have to resort to finding jobs elsewhere. She urged the GSA to raise the issue with Dean Rogers.
Budget:
Michael Humphreys presented the 2005-06 GSA budget, which was unanimously approved.
Combined 50th
The GSA decided to hold a welcome function for President Weisbuch and the celebration of the 50th
Anniversary of the
The Committee also decided that GSA would invite all the
Deans of the graduate school (former and present), current Deans of all the
other schools at Drew, and the Drew trustees for the 50th
Anniversary celebration of the
The GSA resolved to invite President Weisbuch for an informal meeting with GSA officials and graduate students in the month of October. Lynne Darden volunteered to contact the President’s office a.s.a.p. to check with the President’s schedule. She will then send a campus wide e-mail to all grad students. She will also invite TSA and Theological students to participate in the event.
Modern History and Literature Area:
David Rainbow informed the committee that the MHL department was planning a Grad student conference for Fall 2006. The topic for the conference is 1968 with an interdisciplinary focus. The conference date has not been finalized yet.
He also informed the committee about the recently concluded colloquium where Prof. Jeremy Varon presented a paper, which David described as being enthusiastically received by the audience.
Biblical Studies Area:
Linda Dietech informed that the Biblical Studies colloquia will meet in Seminary Hall, room 116 at noon for presentation on the following dates:
September 20: Eric Thruman/Scott Eliot
October 4: Fredrik Ivarsson
October 18: Seong Hee Kim
November 1: Stephen Moore
November 15: Lynne Darden
November 22: AAR/SBL and Thanksgiving
December 6: TBA
Christopher Rodkey informed that
at noon on 9/29/05 the area had a colloquium in Thompson Commons where they
welcomed Jeff Robbins from the philosophy and religion department of
Toshitaka Adachi informed that the Medical Humanities writer’s group had its inaugural meeting on September 12. They invited Dean James Pain as a guest speaker. This group is meeting once a week throughout this semester.
In addition Toshitaka also raised the issue that there is a lack of faculty to act as an advisor/reader for students who are writing their dissertation in their area.
Space Committee:
Dawn Digrius reported that the Space Committee had its meeting on September 14th. The committee unveiled the new building plan for S. W. Bowne Hall, but the GSA office in the Hall would not be available until 2006. Dawn suggested that the GSA immediately ask for an office space, even though temporary for now, with the Space Committee. Lynne Darden decided to request the Chair of the Space Committee to include it in the agenda for the next meeting.
Senate Meeting:
Dawn Digrius reported that in the recently concluded meeting of the Senate, she proposed that Drew should initiate a dialogue to find means to integrate the three schools such that each can benefit from the other.
Academic Standing Committee:
Sarah Gardam reported that the Academic Standing Committee meeting held on September 22 decided that students should be warned before being put on probation for failure to register. Also it decided to send warnings to those who are going to have incompletes flipped to F’s as of November 2005.
Policy and Planning Committee:
Collin Cameron for Policy and Planning Committee reported that in the meeting the committee decided that outstanding incompletes would be changed to an F grade. She pointed out that it was suggested in the meeting that students might henceforth be charged a certain sum if they visit the gym. It was also suggested that students would be made to deposit a certain amount to schedule for their comps exam, and the money would be refunded once the student has taken it. However, the suggestions were not approved. Finally, Collin also presented the new building plan for S. W. Bowne. She informed that the plan was presented in the Policy and Planning Meeting.
Rose Ellen Dunn reported that she has moved the Grants and Scholarship information to the Reserve Desk in the Library. The Grants and Scholarship binders are now kept in Closed Reserve, and they are listed under ‘Drew’ in the Reserve index.
Collin Cameron raised the issue of parking problems for Grad and Theo resident students. David Rainbow then briefed the committee about the Town Hall meeting organized by Residence Life for Grad and Theo resident students. The meeting was held in Tipple lounge on October 3, 2005. The main issue raised in the meeting pertained to parking problems. David informed that a committee was being formed to look into the matter.
Dawn and Kumar raised the issue of the closing of Snack bar in summer, which caused major inconvenience for students. They urged the GSA to take the matter up to the Graduate School Dean so that students would not have to face the same problem next summer.
Bill Pope raised the issue that the problems of students
were aggravated by not just the limited hours of service provided by the
Library and the Health Service but also by the complete closure of counseling
service during the summer. He, therefore, urged the GSA to suggest the
Lynne informed that she would be representing the GSA for the Diversity Meeting. She also thanked everyone for pitching in when she was unavailable due to her sickness last year.
Meeting adjourned at 11:30PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Jeevan Gurung
GSA Secretary