April 8, 2008

Julie Roy – A few of us are doing a voter registration drive. There are multiple locations in the med center and on west campus. You can pick up the forms and drop them off and they will mail them in for you. She'll send out an email this evening about the drop off sites.

Sara Becker – When is the deadline for registration?

Julie Roy – Friday.

Alethea Duncan – You can also register in the Bryan Center.

Laura Barnard – If you registered when you moved to the area, do you need to re-register?

Julie Roy – Not unless you moved. You can check to see if you need to online.

David Kahler – Just an hour ago we got the rates for the health insurance plan. For those less than 26 it will be $1564/year, for 26-35 $1690, for 35-45 $1951, and for >45 $2306. For spouses $2711, for child(ren) $1560 and for the family plan $4023.

Laura Johnson – These are all the best prices available on the normal market?

David Kahler – Yes.

Basketball Committee Co-chair Approval

Mickey Tekippe – He has recently been elected Basketball Committee CoChair with Sarah Crider. He's a 6^th year MD/PhD student. He's been on the committee for 5 years. They just had elections a week and a half ago and the way the elections typically work is that members of the basketball committee elect the chairs. In order to be able to vote, you must have attended a certain number of meetings. There were 20-25 people there for the elections. He ran with Sarah Crider (Chemistry). They were the only nominees and were selected as the co-chairs.

Motion to approve Mickey Tekippe and Sarah Kreider as the Co-Chairs of the Basketball Committee

Motion made on behalf of the Basketball Committee

Motion passes unanimously

Bylaw change proposal – Community Outreach Coordinator position

Motion to make an amendment to the bylaw amendment proposed to change the name of the current Community Affairs Coordinator to become University Affairs Coordinator

Motion made by Julie Roy, seconded by Jacqueline Moeller

Sara Becker – She thinks the current title is appropriate because the person in this position communicates with certain groups on campus. The focus groups that put people into contact with administrators are also under this position, making it a community affairs sort of position.

Daniel Griffen – He would like to hear what the current Community Affairs Coordinator feels about this proposal.

Ali Saaem – The outreach lunches to the faculty have been handled by the Academic officer this year. There are community outreach groups that would come under the charge of the new position. There tends to be confusion in communicating with people where some have contacted the incorrect person due to confusion about the role of the “Community Affairs Coordinator” - many think this position is in charge of community service.

Crystal Brown – She thinks Ali's job is the more a University wide position. His job is to bring together the various groups to have a sense of community. She doesn't feel that it would take anything away from what he does to change the name, though it might provide some clarification as to the role fo this position.

Motion to make an amendment to the bylaw amendment proposed to change the name of the current Community Affairs Coordinator to become University Affairs Coordinator Passes

Motion to approve the proposed bylaw changes.

Motion made and seconded

Motion passes

Executive Board Elections

Gautham Pandiyan – Since non-Rep, non-BoT members must leave during closed discussion and there is no open discussion, he moves that Julie Roy be allowed to stay for the closed discussions to provide valuable input.

Motion made and seconded

Motion passes

Elizabeth Rach – For the first position we will be considering the office of President. [She asked for any nominations from the floor for this position and none were provided]. Since there are no nominations, we will hear from the only nominee, Alethea Duncan.

Presidential Nominee: Alethea Duncan

Alethea Duncan - She's been serving as GPSC Student Life Co-chair this past year. Her goal is to bring personal touch back to GPSC. Clearly we are here as the voice of our consituencies. We need to know what's going on in order to do this. If we don't know what's going on with the members, we won't know how to represent them. To do this, we need to get people involved. We need to bring out what everyone might bring to the table. Figuring out how to get the different student groups to work together would be a valuable way to increase GPSC's efficiency.

She would like to increase the transparency of the Exec boards possibly by having Exec meetings open or at least making the minutes available or at the bare minimum have publicized officer reports.

She would like to increase accessibility of the President with biweekly or monthly lunches, doing it in different locations to increase access of GPSC to the various GnP consituencies.

In terms of Central Campus, the plans are constantly being changed and renovated. She would like to have a core of students here longer to give updates at GA meetings.

In terms of student groups, she wants to improve GPSC's service. It is important to serve groups better (e.g. through better space, storage, etc).

Finally, in working with OSAF, she feels it is important to let people know what services are available and what OSAF has to offer. She is a proponent of working on Flunches to have faculty take people out on their dime. She would like to change things so GPSC establishes a better relationship with OSAF.

[Closed discussion and vote]

Elizabeth Rach – Congratulations to Alethea, 2008-2009 GPSC President

Vice President Nominees: Jessi Bardill and Christie Eyler

Jessi Bardill – A good VP has certain skills, passion, ideas and experience. She should have a drive to produce change, leadership in multiple organizations and committees. The GPSC VP needs communication, transparency and clarity. The VP needs to answer, “What does GPSC do for me?” She hopes to emphasize the interrelatedness of the Exec positions so that we can support each other. This is a Council, not individual actors. She wants to work more closely with the administration and student organizations. She wants to know who you want to hear speak at meetings. In terms of the Graduate Student Center, she went to a Board of Trustees meeting first year where this was discussed and nothing happened from there, even though we need a place to gather to study. She wants Exec to meet with the BoT reps every semester and for each BoT committee to present to the GA. She has learned how to listen and lead, and has experience organizing large events. She has worked in the leadership of several organizations and has worked closely with the administration and student affairs. She is familiar with finance (she has been treasurer of another organization) and wants to work on fundraiser events. She hopes to speak with others and learn from the experiences of others.

Questions:

Unidentified – How do you envision the Student Center?

Jessi – It should be a place that's open late. There is a desire for certain other aspects, such as a childcare facility and a place for people to hold office hours.

Eric Vance – What changes would you make to the meetings?

Jessi – She would get input about who the reps want to hear speak and would try to address Robert's Rules at retreat. If we understand them, the meetings will move much more quickly. Furthermore, she wants meetings to last 1.5 hours and no longer.

Gautham Pandiyan – The retreat is a really crucial component to how the year kicks off. Please elaborate on changes you would like to see with the retreat.

Jessi – She has seen two years of these (one held in the mountains and this year on campus). Both had positives and negatives: near campus allows more people to attend, but off campus is good for promoting the event as special. It is good for BOT reps to interact with GA reps at the retreat. She doesn't want it to feel like just another mandatory meeting – we can have some fun. She would look to former leaders to see what has worked.

Sara Becker - One of the biggest challenges is the turnover of Exec. Things fall through the gaps – how would you address that?

Jessi – There are many current Exec running for positions so hopefully this will help. There is some good to change, but there is a need for transition periods. We need to provide materials and contacts – it is not something that should be sink or swim. The dialog between the incoming and outgoing Exec boards needs to continue until new Exec is comfortable.

Christie Eyler – She wants to address how she sees herself fitting into role of VP. First she will discuss her vision for position, then ways to build on previous VP's work. According to the bylaws, the VP oversees internal affairs of the council. In addition to routine work, this includes fundamental role of VP to be an open source for communication. This is always hard to do in a large group, but it's absolutely essential. This would be her primary focus, to promote an environment of open and honest communication, one with real transparency. She wants a more open and informal way to discuss than just GA meetings so she wants to have monthly informal lunch discussion of issues important to reps – anything that comes up can be discussed. Encourage open and honest discussion not just during meetings. In addition, she would like to address how to get reps more involved: reps have said it would be nice to have more opportunities to get involved in committees throughout the year, not just at the beginning. Wants to set aside time during GA in fall semester so people can browse committees. Later, as reps roll in, give them the opportunity to come after meetings to learn of opportunities for participation. She wants GPSC to be more vibrantly involved in Duke community by involving its members. She previously was Exec Secretary and also served beforehand as Davison council Exec Secretary and as a rep before that. Finally, she believes that there is a value to approaching things diplomatically and with an open mind and feels she would be able to do this.

Questions:

Eric Vance - It's not true that everyone can make motions to address new business. Will you have an agenda item for new business, as many other organizations do, so that reps can discuss something substantive that is not in the agenda?

Christie – She hadn't thought of it, but it's a good idea. A new business item is a great idea – people feel like not everything is relevant and this would give people a way to bring things up. Additionally, in the midyear survey there was a question asking whether people would be comfortable making a motion. A lot of people said no. Should talk about streamlining the Robert's Rules for GA. People get bogged down in motions and seconds and we need to make it more user-friendly.

Sara Becker – There is always a problem with continuity after Exec turnover. How would you promote continuity?

Christie – This is definitely a struggle. She came in with only one continuing member – this definitely pointed out importance of transition. Her predecessor Josh passed on massive portfolio of information and it helped her. She doesn't know what's provided for other positions but that's a good place to start. In addition to the official transition meeting, she would like to have a more informal social setting where people can talk about goals, what they see coming for the next year.

Patti Thomas– The GA's been getting out of meetings mostly on time past couple of years. How would you make sure we get out on time? Also, what role do you see yourself taking with regards to the retreat?

Christie - Long meetings are not ideal. As we tried to do for part of this year we need to overestimate how much time it will take to do everything when planning the agenda and plan time for new business. She is definitely committed to this.

The retreat is an amazing opportunity for people to learn about GPSC. When they started last year, a lot of people had no idea what was going on and frankly she didn't either. She thinks that may have influenced the attendance of and participation in the retreat. Next year she would like to publicize the retreat as an opportunity to learn about GPSC, to interact with people in different programs. She takes her role in this seriously. Her first thought is she would like to move off campus so it's a special event, but knows that it could be hard for people to come so that's something to investigate further.

[Closed discussion and vote]

Christie Eyler is elected the 2008-2009 Vice President

Executive Secretary Nominee: Kat Mitchel

Kat Mitchel - She wants to be Exec Secretary because she's organized. She's the sort of person who has lots of pens in different colors. She looks up to past Secretaries and wants to fill the role well. Furthermore, in this position she wants to make people feel like a cohesive unit.

Questions:

Eric Vance - What would be your role in communicating the minutes to the Young Trustees?

Kat – If anything, through emails once the minutes are posted and approved. She doesn't feel that her role is in making people seek more information.

[Closed discussion and vote]

Kat Mitchel is elected the 2008-2009 Executive Secretary

Treasurer Nominees: Bart Michalczuk

Bart Michalczuk – He's a 1^st year master's student in economics. For the past 2 weeks he's been speaking with David about the responsibilities associated with this position. He feels he will be good in this position because he personally is very detail oriented in terms of money management.

Questions:

Anastasiya – You say that you are frugal with finances. How do you mean this?

Bart – He is just very finicky about keeping track of things.

Oliver Gjoneski – Do you know how big the budget is?

Bart – In talking to David, he believes it is close to $100,000.

[Closed discussion and vote]

Bart Michalczuk is elected the 2008-2009 Treasurer

Community Outreach Coordinator Nominees: Jennifer Seger, Supriya Munshaw, Anastasiya Batrachenko

Xing Zong (reading a speech for Jennifer Seger, since she was absent for a family emergency) - She apologizes for not being here and has to be with her family. She's very excited about this position. Julie Roy has put a lot of effort and passion into this position and she would like to continue this. She would like to work toward increasing the GPSC impact in Durham through GnP student involvement. This would not only increase the impact on the community but would also increase opportunities for people to interact.

She has served in several GPSC positions – as GPSC Rep, as a GPSC Liaison, and has worked closely in arranging the Duke-Durham Partnership, with goals to provide education and access to health care while promoting safety and security. She has experience serving in the Partnership with Julie, which has prepared her for these responsibilities. She would promote several unities. 1) Duke and Durham (e.g. through monthly service events). 2) Administration and students (e.g. to ensure the inclusion of GnP students in University outreach programs. She has the skill, passion and relationships to be successful in this position.

Supriya Munshaw- She is a 4^th year PhD student in Comparative Bio*** and Bioinformatics. She is excited to run for this popular position. She has been involved with GPSC in the greening initiative, which has helped her get used to working with administration. Her main interest recently has been in organizing events for Earth month, which is how she got interested in this position. There are a few reasons she's really interested. First, this position is important for the GPSC-Durham relationship. Through volunteer activities, a lot of spouses are interested in doing these activities but may not be able to either because they don't have access to transportation or resources. There are a few things she'd like to do in her position – continue the Duke-Durham Partnership and strengthen it by including more activities. Involved with office of community service. Want more GnP students to utilize resources related to community service.

Questions:

Laura Barnard – What are some volunteer agencies in Durham that you have or have had contact with?

Supriya - Durham literacy center for past year, which has been more than a one time commitment. One thing she does do is get a feel from the graduate students as far as what they would be excited about taking part in.

Anastasiya Batrachenko - Thank you . She is a first year Medical Physics student. Some of the most enjoyable experiences here have been in volunteering. She has worked with the homeless shelter and tutored. One great thing about volunteering is that it is nice to speak with people outside of your usual group of friends. At Duke she's done things like Campout community service event and later has had fun making pasta with Julie at the Durham Rescue Mission. All these have been very fun and meaningful. She thinks that GPSC has an impressive range of volunteer activities. This position is not a single person job, it would require effort from everybody.

Questions:

Ping Zhou – No matter of whether you will be the chair or not. Would you be interested in continuing the efforts with the DRM?

Anastasiya – Absolutely, but would also like to plan similar things for the women's portion of it.

[Closed discussion and vote]

Jennifer Seger is elected the 2008-2009 Community Outreach Coordinator

Academic Officer Nominees: Sara Salahi, Anastasiya Batrachenko, Jianming (Eric) Zhang

Sara Salahi- She is a 1^st year BME student excited to be running for this position. All academic issues are things that she's been dedicated to in the past. First she wants to tell about herself and her background. She came in to Duke this past fall and was mostly involved with the Engineering Graduate Student Council. When she thinks of an idea, likes to see it finished. She sees a lot of Pratt fellows (undergrads) who want to work in labs. She asked, how do they choose these labs? Since it was difficult to choose these labs, she thought it would be good to organize tours for these fellows. She worked with some people who were there in previous years and organized these department-wide (the entire engineering school) tours. They ended up being very successful. She knows the Academic Officer role is more policy, knowing what students want. She's very comfortable working with the administration.

[No questions]

Anastasiya - Duke is a large University with a lot of resources. She would like to promote the use of those resources while they're easily accessible. One way is to promote interaction between faculty members and GnP students. Right now there's a lot of focus on this sort of interaction for undergrads. It would be good to set up guest speaker for various departments for GnP students looking within their area for a career or looking for a new one. It would be good to know what is going on with students in other departments. She would like to set up seminars with other areas. Overall the goal is to set up the communication between various GnP schools and departments.

[No questions]

Eric Zhang - He is a student from the Mechanical Engineering Department. From his time in China to now, has studied in several universities in several countries. In these places he has participated in many organizations in many other places. People here are very passionate about making things happen His statement is based on his understanding of this position. He sees it as a position hinged on communication, collaboration, advocacy. For example, with communication he would rely on emails, newsletters, forums, Facebook. We have several schools that are separate. For collaboration, he would like to work with career services here. He wants to make career services more comprehensive about what students really need to accomplish

Questions:

Laura Barnard – You outlined well various aspects important to this position. Can you tell us about experience with these things?

Eric – He served on the Student Government committee in his school in China. There he was in charge of how to solve student problems and interact with Universities.

[Closed discussion and vote]

Sara Salahi is elected the 2008-2009 Academic Officer

Communications Coordinator Nominee: Laura Johnson

Laura Johnson – She is a first year student in Biological Anthropology and Anatomy. Everything that has been discussed in terms of communication and transparency will have to do with this position. There will be too much information and it will be her job to sift through and limit the amount of information sent out to everyone by email, etc.

[Closed discussion and vote]

Laura Johnson is elected the 2008-2009 Communications Coordinator

University Affairs Coordinator Nominees: Ali Saaem

Ali Saaem – This position is important in keeping GPSC and the GnP students connected to the University at large. This is a primary function of this job – to connect. It is something that this position can help a lot with.

[Closed discussion and vote]

Ali Saaem is elected the 2008-2009 University Affairs Coordinator

Student Group Liaison Nominees: (From the floor: Jianming (Eric) Zhang and Jessi Bardill)

Eric Zhang - At this university we have more than 100 student groups with a lot of diversity. There are groups that need someone with experience in working with student groups. Based on his previous talk, it is clear that he has experience dealing with different cultures and different diversities. During his masters at one of the most diverse campuses in America, he was VP of the Chinese Association, giving him experience in a student group's leadership.

Questions:

Eric Vance – What does this position do?

Eric – It communicates between GPSC and the student groups.

Jessi Bardill– In the interest of time she will make this short. Her main responsibilities in this position will be to affiliate groups with GPSC and in doing that she would live up to her predecessors. She would also like to look into groups that that should be affiliated but are not. The next thing she'd like to do is to assist the finance committee - she'd like to look to stretch the budget to benefit student groups efficiently. This position is also responsible for organizing one event for student group leaders per semester – she would plan this for the end of semester. Finally, she would like to attend some group events to represent GPSC with the student groups.

Questions:

Unidentified speaker – Would you prefer this position over the other one you've been nominated for [student life co-chair]?

Jessi - She's a pretty happy person, she'd be happy with anything.

[Closed discussion and vote]

Jessi Bardill is elected the 2008-2009 Student Groups Liaison

Unidentified Question – Since it is unclear who would like to run for the positions of Student Life Co-Chairs, is it possible to postpone this election until the next meeting?

Yvonne Ford – No, in the bylaws it says that this election must take place today.

Student Life Co-Chair Nominees: Marina Dickens (none nominated prior to the meeting were present at the meeting and so were not present to confirm their intent to run)

Nominations from the floor: Laura Barnard, Bhargav VK

Floor nominations not accepted: Anastasiya Batrachenko (declines nomination), Jessi Bardill (elected to Student Groups Liaison)

Laura Barnard – A major reason she came to Duke is this committee. She didn't think she had the time for it, which is why she didn't run for it in the first place. She is passionate about this and doesn't want to see the position and the work of the activity fall off this year. A lot of events occur in the first week of orientation and she is committed to this. If you vote for her, also consider being on the committee and help her out with it. Some events she feels very excited about promoting are: Thirsty Thursdays, hay rides, strawberry picking, and lots of other things.

Bhargav VK– He didn't anticipate running for this so he is not really not too prepared to give a speech. He had been nominated for this position originally but declined was because he is graduating in December. He has been a member of this committee over the past year and has participated in many activities. He doesn't want to see a lot of confusion, etc for this because it is a very important committee.

Questions:

Kat Mitchel – Do you think you'd have adequate time to devote to this position before you leave?

Bhargav – Yes.

Jacqueline Moeller – What leadership experiences have you had?

Bhargav – He served on his departmental student government, has served of chairs of committees, and is on the current Student Life Committee.

Patti Thomas– Are you going to be around this summer to help plan events?

Bhargav – Yes, though he's not sure what needs to be done completely, but he will be around to some extent.

Eric Vance – What program are you in?

Bhargav – He is in the Masters of Engineering Management

Julie Roy – So this summer you plan to be in Durham?

Bhargav – He will be working with a company for a couple of months and is not sure what sort of travel will be involved with that, but for the most part he should be available.

Patti Thomas – She has a Point of Order. We could invoke a special rule of order according to Article XX.B in the bylaws whereby an electronic election could take place for this position since it is unclear who wants to run and who does not, who would be able to fill the position and who will not, and since some of the nominees are not currently present. To do this, 2/3 of the Executive Board would have to approve this.

Motion made to invoke this special rule of order to permit the election of Student Life Co-Chairs by electronic means.

Motion made and seconded (Executive Board)

Motion carries unanimously (Executive Board)

Meeting Adjourned

Duke GPSC - April 8, 2008 - Comments

April 8, 2008