Graduate and Professional Student Council
General Assembly Meeting
9-11-2007 7:00 - 8:30 pm
Introduction of the Executive Board
Administrator Lunch Presentation
Convene: 7:02 pm
I. Introduction of the Executive Board
Crystal Brown – She’s in her third year as a Law student. As the President, she is GPSC’s primary spokesperson and liaison within the University.
Betsy Holmberg – She’s a second year Clinical Psychology student. Her main responsibilities as VP are to run meetings, set agendas, and see to GPSC’s internal affairs. Since the main reason Exec is here is to deal with the logistics of the GA’s Representatives, so feel comfortable emailing her with any problems or questions.
Christie Eyler – She is a fourth year in the MD/PhD program currently in the PhD part. The Secretary is in charge of taking minutes and determining the Representatives from each program so Reps can expect to see emails from her. Everyone should have picked up a blue Rep101 booklet which has information about Representative responsibilities, information about typical issues, and success stories of GPSC. Some of this information will be covered at the retreat, but Reps should look it over.
David Kahler – He handles all of GPSC’s money.
Yvonne Ford – She is a second year PhD student in Nursing. As Attorney General, she advises on parliamentary procedures, assists on bylaw amendments, and assists with questions on the bylaws. The bylaws are posted on gpsc.duke.edu and there is a summary of parliamentary terms and procedures in the Rep101 materials that Christie handed out.
Cong Jin – She works as Academic Officer and is a fourth year Molecular Genetics and Microbiology student. She will work with resources of academic policies so if Reps have any questions about academic issues, contact her.
Jessi Bardill and Alethea Duncan – They are the Student Life Co-chairs and they spend the money on social programming. If anyone has any issues or anything, please let them know. If you would like to join the Social committee, please talk to them.
Claire Gordy – She is a fourth year PhD student in Immunology. As Communications Coordinator she is in charge of GPSCNews and she manages the listserves and the website.
Ali Saaem – He is a second year Biomedical Engineering student and is the Community Affairs Coordinator. He maintains Representatives on University Committees and serves to promote the interests of groups within the University community. He will also be in contact with NAGPS.
Elizabeth Rach – She is the Student Group Liaison. The current funding cycle application deadline for student groups is 9/19.
Crystal Brown – Welcome to GPSC and congratulations on your elections or appointments. She would like to give Representatives an idea of the goals and expectations for this year.
We would like to focus on our GnP students to make sure they are growing as much as they can in these areas: personally, socially, academically and professionally. With personal growth, the main objective is to hone in on the psychological aspects of graduate school because it can be rough to be a student at times and we want to be able to offer programs, as a student government, that can help people sustain their psychological wellbeing through programs with CAPS and other programs like GnP Women’s Network and Women in Science and Engineering. Secondly, we want to focus on social growth. We put on a ton of social programs for GnP students and ultimately, the objective is to have new ways to get students from diverse programs interacting since there are many people here who will go on to positions of power. Third is a focus on academic growth. This is a huge concern because school is the primary reason we are here at Duke. Thus, we are working with the new student Ombudsperson, which was a position created to assist students who may be having problems with University hierarchy and are unable to directly deal with these issues themselves or need some mediation between the student and the professor/administrator/program. Fourth, professional growth will be a focus since eventually you come to realize that professionalism will play a large part in your eventual hire-ability and success. We’re working on programs like etiquette dinners and a financial planning series so you can be equipped when you go to interviews and such. We are also working with Career Services, GSA and the Alumni Association on improving career services for GnP students, since currently there is only one person who handles graduate career services.
She also wants to discuss the part of GA meetings that will be implemented for the first time – a two-time a semester “Think Tank” portion of GA meetings where Representatives’ issues and concerns can be voiced in a discussion. She would like a formal avenue to solicit the grassroot concerns from each school and program that you think GPSC should address. The first one will be a trial run at the 9/25 meeting for 20 minutes, so please take advantage of this and try to think about issues that your constituents are facing.
Betsy – This is only scheduled for 10 minutes at the next meeting, but we can adjust for future sessions if it seems necessary.
Betsy – Every meeting, the minutes will be posted on the website. After each meeting is called to order, we will take time to make and discuss any corrections to the previous meeting’s minutes, then will vote on whether to approve the minutes or not.
Stefan Gary – The Retreat is an opportunity to learn about the structure and operations of GPSC, as well as to meet people so that then Representatives feel comfortable contributing during GA meetings. The Retreat will be this Saturday 9/15 and there is a weblink to sign up for it online and there is information in GPSCNews. Some of the things we’ll talk about are issues important to all GnP students, such as details of GPSC, health insurance, community service, event planning, and greening issues. There is a refunded deposit required for signing up for the Retreat since in the past there had been problems with people signing up and then not attending. If you have questions, see him after the meeting.
Betsy – The retreat goes from 9 am -6 pm and it’s a mix of presentations and getting-to-know each other activities
Kat Mitchel – How do we know if we’re registered?
Stefan – If you got a confirmation afterward you probably are, but you could also register twice if you are very unsure.
Kim Novic – Is this event just for people in this room, or for other GnP students as well?
Stefan – It is for everyone who wants to participate. We’re especially interested in people outside GPSC who are student leaders in other areas on campus.
Sarah Becker – She is a fifth year and wanted to mention that this event was started a few years back by a first year member who wanted to improve the interaction between Representatives in such a retreat.
Alethea Duncan and Jessi Bardill: They are the Student Life Co-Chairs. They put on events that fill up GPSCNews, including everything from parties to socials to financial planning series. Join their committee to help them plan and run events from now on, you can email them at gpscsocial@gmail.com. Tomorrow (9/12) there is a Chapel Hill Bar Crawl starting at 8 at the Martini Bar. Thursday there is an Open House for GSA’s new location at 2111 Campus Drive with a bunch of activities and no alcohol, so it is kid friendly. Next week will be the first of the financial planning series events. Next Thursday is the first Thirsty Thursday in downtown Durham. Saturday is horseback riding – email them if you want to attend but the tickets are out online because there is a waitlist. Also, every fourth Sunday is movie night at the Northgate theaters, tickets are $3. Most of our events accept Flex payments.
Gautham Pandiyan: What is a Flex account?
Alethea and Jessi: It is an account that is linked to your DukeCard/NetID in which you can load money through the Bursar and then use it for things like social event tickets. And if you don’t want to leave money on there you can just load small amounts in a pay-as-you go fashion when you want to use it to pay for tickets, etc.
Julie Roy: The Community Service Committee offers many one-time volunteer events that generally fall on Saturday or Sunday and are a great way to meet people. She showed a list of events planned for the Fall (see the Calendar at gpsc.duke.edu for dates) though some event dates are still TBA as far as scheduling. She really needs people for her committee and she has fliers for those interested. There is a community service listserve as well: gpsc-cs@duke.edu.
Ali Saaem: GPSC provides a forum for student life and since GPSC has contacts with the BoTs and other high ranking people and administrators, the people sitting in the GA represent 6000 people to these high ranking individuals. GPSC puts representatives on numerous University Committees (UCs) that fall into 4 categories which map to Presidential Advisory Committees. First is Community Interaction – this Comm deals with groups in the larger Duke community through committees like the President’s Council on Black Affairs and President’s Council on Women. Then there is Student Life, which has committees like Student Health Insurance Advisory Committee and the Student Health Committee. There is Academic Affairs, with committees like the Executive Council of Graduate Faculty (ECGF) and University Judicial Board committees. Finally there is Organizational Affairs, which deals with planning for the GnP population with committees like Portal Planning and University Schedule Committee.
He is in charge of facilitating communication with 108 Representatives to these UCs and communicating with the GA. Please rally interest in UCs with all of your constituents. So far he’s received about 70 applications in the rolling solicitation for applications. The final version will be done by 9/25. The application can be obtained off of gpsc.duke.edu or GPSCNews.
He also discussed plans for Community Lunches, which will be held in Faculty Commons. These will be used as a forum to solicit concerns from various GnP student populations. Plans are in place to meet with groups of students like the following: International, LGBT students, ethnic minority, professional (in that order). This will be in a simple town hall meeting forum and concerns brought up may be brought before the GA.
Finally, he discussed NAGPS (National Association for Graduate and Professional Students). Gautham Pandiyan is on the Board of Directors for this. This group is the national voice for GnP students and the National Conference will be November 15-18 – email him if you Gautham will present more information about NAGPS at the GA meeting on 10/16.
VI. Young Trustee Presentation
Eric Vance: He is a 6th year Statistics student, this will be his 5th year as a GPSC Rep. He discussed the Young Trustee screening process. The Screening Committee will be elected in 2 weeks. The Board of Trustees (BoT) consists of 37 members and virtually every major decision at Duke comes from or is approved by the BoT. 2 of these members are former GnP students; these are the “Young Trustees.” It is GPSC’s job to elect one every year in February from 3 finalists who are selected by the screening committee, which is made of 7 GnP students (often GPSC Reps). This committee is responsible for advertising the position of Young Trustee, making an application, looking at the applications, selecting people to interview, interviewing, and selecting 3 finalists to be considered by the GA. Usually this committee meets a couple of times in the Fall to discuss tha pplication, and then a couple more times in the beginning of the Spring to review the applications and decide upon who to interview, and then starts the interviews and picks the three finalists. In 2 weeks there will be the election of people to this Screening Committee. Submit your nominations to Yvonne Ford. This is a great way to get involved with GPSC and can be used as a springboard to positions on Exec and the BoT Standing Committees. He encourages you to do this if you have an interest in making Duke better. It is good for the Committee if there is a diverse set of backgrounds and viewpoints on this Committee. This can be any GnP student, not just GPSC Reps but typically they have been GPSC Reps.
Gavin Rogers and Laura Simmons Kovacs: Campout will take place from the afternoon of Friday September 28th until the morning of September 30th. Campout is an event that may be one of the largest organized for all GnP schools in the nation, and is where students are brought together into a lottery process for season tickets for Duke Men’s Basketball. Basically, you camp out all weekend and then get entered into a lottery to buy basketball tickets. Not only do you have a chance to see basketball, but you also get involved with students from all of the GnP schools in the Blue Lot and it is a lot of fun. You will receive an email about campout, which you should forward to your constituents. Registration is from Monday 9/17- Friday 9/21 at 5 pm and there are no late registration, no exceptions. An application and other information is online, linked from gpsc.duke.edu/basketball.
Wadia Haddaji - In the past it has been the case that every campout he has had a conference. Is there any way that people with conflicts like his could get tickets?
Gavin and Laura – Yes. We have a process for that by which you can apply to get out of some or all of campout. Exemption requests are due Friday September 21 at 5 pm. There is an application to apply for an exemption on the website (as well as FAQs and other exemptions information). Exemption requests are also due by 5 pm on September 21. You have to both register and submit an exemptions request in order to be considered for an exemption. These requests are turned into the Student Activities Office in the Bryan Center. You can email exemptions2007@gmail.com for more information.
Gavin Rogers and Laura Simmons Kovacs: There are going to be town hall meetings with information and rules of Campout – this Friday in Von Canon A at 6 pm and next Thursday in Fuqua at 6 pm. This is a good way to ask questions, especially if you are a first time camper and have questions you may want to ask but don’t want to ask in other forums. Another way to get involved is to join the Basketball Committee. It is an Operational GPSC Committee, but it is also open for all GnP students to participate in. You can put yourself on the email list online at and there are a variety of ways you can help out with things on this committee (e.g. registration, community service, etc.)
Sara Becker – Can you talk about how fun campout is?
Gavin and Laura – It is a lot of fun – it’s 2 nights, there are DJs, basketball contests, food, games, dancing, etc. There will be roughly 2000 people there to meet!
Sara Becker – Do you need to be part of campout in order to go and have a fantastic time?
Gavin and Laura – Anyone (except for dogs) can come, and undergrad attendance is not encouraged. Also, if you don’t get tickets for the season, there are other ways to get in. There is a walkup line that gets in after all the 700 get in. All you need for this is a GnP student ID or a spouse ID, which is available in the DukeCard office. Small games are a lot easier to get in to out of the walkup line.
Eric Vance – Why would people help out with campout? Are there rewards for doing so?
Gavin and Laura – Yes, the committee has 21 discretionary tickets to give out to people who have diligently labored to help with Campout but who may not have gotten tickets through the general lottery process.
Gautham Pandiyan – What is the incentive to come to Campout if you don’t get tickets?
Gavin and Laura – If you finish Campout and then don’t receive tickets one year, if you complete Campout the next year you get three entries (versus one) into the lottery. Every subsequent year you get 2 more if you are not selected through the lottery (i.e. 5 the third year, 7 the fourth).
Wadia Haddaji – On average, do roughly 1/3 of people get tickets?
Gavin and Laura – Last year there were roughly 2200 people registered and roughly 72% finished campout (and there are 700 tickets given out in the lottery).
If you are a full time GnP student you can register and the registrar must verify your full time status as a graduate or professional student. If you have any questions about your registration status you should email Gavin and Laura at bball.cmte@gmail.com.
Soji Sajuyigbe – If someone registers for Campout for the first time as a third year student, is his/her chances of getting tickets higher than a first year student registering for the first time?
Gavin and Laura – No, the chances are the same for all first-time registrants. The only time you have an increased chance is when you camped out the year before and did not receive tickets.
Wadia Haddaji - So if you get a group of three together then there is a good chance of getting tickets?
Gavin and Laura – Groups are welcome to form and is a good way to socialize and interact, but it must be worked out by the group (registration itself is done on an individual basis only). Also, if a group of people require exemptions, they must all apply for exemptions separately. Also, all tickets just require to be accompanied by a GnP student ID, so any GnP student can use tickets.
Yvonne – Are you accepting Flex this year?
Gavin and Laura – You can pay both the registration fee and the ticket card by Flex. But, if you need an exemption, the request must be accompanied by a check for $5 registration fee. Remember that you need to bring the following to check in at Campout: $5 in cash (exact change) or have $5 in your Flex account, proof of registration, and a can of food. For any questions, email them at bball.cmte@gmail.com.
VIII. Administrator Lunch Presentation
Xing Zong – Last year’s Lunch Series logistics went well and lunches usually took place on Wednesday or Thursday at noon for one hour in Faculty Commons. The goal of these lunches is to promote interactions between Duke administrators and GnP students.
There are several reasons to join the series. 1) You can interact with Duke administrators, from whom you can learn several things: what their personal career paths have entailed, how did they reach their current position, what are the factors behind their success, what is their vision of Duke, and what kind of opportunities or resources can be explored within Duke. 2) You can interact with other GnP students apart from your labmates and advisor. 3) Free food.
He presented several summaries from lunches conducted last year (briefly summarized here). Lunch with James Robert – he pointed out several points, such as the value of an MBA even if you have a PhD and are not going into business due to the need for knowledge about budgeting, human resources and management. Lunch with Larry Moneta, VP of Student Affairs – after this lunch, Larry Moneta promised to increase the amount of time he spends on GnP students. Neal Triplett (President of DUMAC) – his decisions impact all students since he is in charge of the endowments and making Duke rich. Lunch with Dr. Sheppard from Fuqua – He used to be CEO of the Duke Corporate Education group and his advice was that whenever you take a new office, you must make new initiatives in your new position.
Cong Jin will become the new series moderator and there are several strong possible candidates for administrators for these lunches, such as new Deans at the Nicholas, Law and Medical Schools, or even President Brodhead.
Cong Jin – Right now she is working on planning some of the events so contact her if you have any people you wish to be included as the administrators to be included in these lunches.
IX. Meeting Schedule Discussion
Betsy Holmberg – The last thing we have to do is approve the meeting schedule for the remainder of the year. She displayed the proposed schedule for meetings (Appendix A). They are all on Tuesdays and they generally fall on the 2nd or the 4th. This can be amenable to changes as we go. They will be held here every time and food will be provided.
Jay Tourigny - Will the December 11 date interfere with finals?
Betsy – She doesn’t believe it will interfere with finals, but if it does then we can try to work around it by putting it on a Monday or Wednesday. This is a tentative schedule.
Randy Clark – When is attendance taken for quorum meetings?
Betsy Holmberg – Attendance is taken at the beginning of meetings, quorum is 1/3 of the seated representatives.
Christie Eyler – Be aware that proxies cannot vote in the Young Trustee elections and that Representatives must have been present or have supplied proxy for at least 3 meetings in order to vote.
Crystal Brown – Can you cover the attendance requirements?
Christie Eyler – The attendance requirements state that after three missed meetings, a Representative’s seat is declared “abandoned” and his or her department/program will be asked to supply a new Representative. You will sign in at the front and pick up a nametag at each meeting.
Move to approve proposed meeting schedule
Move: Julie Roy Second: Michelle Tougas
Passed Unanimously
Adjourn: 8:12 pm
Appendix A – Meeting Schedule
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Fall Schedule |
Spring Schedule |
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September 25 |
January 15 |
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October 16 |
January 29 |
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October 30 |
February 12 |
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November 13 |
February 26 |
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December 11 |
March 25 |
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April 8 |
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April 22 |