Attendees:

Mir Farooq Ali, Robert Capra, Nathan Conklin, Tracy Lewis, Pankaj Poddar, Ragavan Srinivasan, Kimberly Woods

Meetings:

The next meeting is scheduled at 2:00 p.m. on August 23, 2000.

Objective:

This meeting was designed to discuss status of several pending issues.

Orientation

Tracey Slotta has requested permission to speak for five minutes about the Graduate Student Association. Council members declined this request due to time limitations.  The one-hour presentation slot allotted for Graduate Council will include the following:

· A brief introduction of all members

· A brief discussion of the role of the Graduate Council

· A brief panel discussion about registration/force-add

· Final mentor assignments to students

· Fall Seminar Series

· Registration Event

· Fall picnic

· Question/answer period

Registration

Assistance with registration will still be available to students, beginning 8 a.m. on Saturday, August 19. Graduate Council members and mentors have been asked to volunteer. A message will be sent out requesting volunteers among the mentors.

Mentoring Program

The first mentor’s meeting was held on Thursday, August 17, 2000 at 4 p.m. This meeting was held to provide an open forum for questions regarding the program.  Forty-eight (48) students have been assigned to mentors at this time.   Meeting minutes will be distributed to mentors and Graduate Council Members.

 Space

Lottery

Tracy will design a form that enables graduate students to apply for locker, research,

and GTA space. This form will determine the following:

· Whether the student is a GTA, and if so, for what class

· Whether the student has alternate research space

· Whether the student is a Ph.D. or master’s thesis student (advisor signature required)

Any dishonest answers on the form will result in the loss of research space.

Space will be allocated in the following order:

· Post-Master’s Ph.D. students

· Master’s degree with thesis option

· Master’s degree with coursework-only option (independent study)

· Master’s degree with coursework-only option

If at any time, the number of requests exceeds the amount of space available at any level,

a lottery will be held for students at that level.

Brodie Hall

Four (4) rooms may become available. These extra rooms will be assigned in the same manner as space is assigned in McBryde 565. Three of the rooms can house two students each; one room is a lobby area.

Action Item: Rob and Tracy will discover if these rooms will definitely be available.

McBryde 565

Applications will be made each semester for Master’s degree students. Ph.D. assignments will be from September through May. All students will have to apply

for an extension during summer semester.

Locker Space

Locker space in 133 will be for GTAs with heavy grading assignments only. All lockers in 655 will be emptied out, and locks will be replaced.

 Action Item: Tracy will coordinate locker emptying and lock replacement with

Sandy Birch.

McBryde 133

Graduate Council members have decided not to participate in the setup of modular furniture in McBryde 133.

Five (5) of seven (5) cubicle spaces will be assigned to GTAs as they sign up for office hours. Two (2) cubicles will be designated as an ‘overflow’ area for GTAs holding additional office hours and CS grad students who wish to use computers during the day.  This entire area will be open to all CS grad students after 8 p.m.

Action Item: Kim will contact Carol Roop in the CS grad office to discover whom is responsible for compiling GTA Office hours. This person will also assign GTAs to a specific cubicle.

Fall Picnic

Nathan and Kim will meet with Sandy Birch on Monday to discuss details of planning picnic. Nathan gave a status report of how much has already been accomplished. Possible icebreakers and a schedule were tentatively discussed.  We will try to coordinate a car pool to the picnic on August 26. Volunteers will be recruited for setup and cleanup.

Seminar Series

New students will be encouraged to attend the series at the orientation. Mentors were encouraged to help generate enthusiasm for the series amongst their students.The first seminar is scheduled on August 30, 2000.

GPC

Rob, Ragavan, and Tracy will meet with Dr. Shaffer again to discuss the possibility of opening a second GPC Representative slot this year. They will also make suggestions about changing the format of the Ph.D. Qualifier Exam.

Submitted by: Kimberly Woods August 18, 2000