Attendees:

Mir Farooq Ali, Robert Capra, Nathan Conklin, Ragavan Srinivasan, Kimberly Woods, Vijay

Not present: Tracy Lewis, Pankaj Poddar

Meetings:

The next meeting is scheduled at 4:00 p.m. on October 16, 2000.

Objective:

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

Faculty Meeting

The Faculty Meeting was geared toward discussing the Ph.D. milestones.

Discussion also centered around the Qualifier Exam. The faculty was divided on whether the exam should be a comprehensive exam that tested core computer science knowledge, or a preliminary exam that tested research capabilities. Further discussion will be held in future meetings regarding the Qualifier Exam.

The Faculty passed an addendum to the new Ph.D. qualifier milestones presented by Dr. Shaffer. The addendum states that the milestones presented by the GPC will serve as a guideline for completion to the student’s advisory committee.

The advisory committee will establish a set of required milestone deadlines, and submit a written report to the GPC. If the milestones are altered for any reason, the advisory committee must submit a written report with a new list of milestones to the GPC, along with an explanation as to why the deadlines were changed.

The GPC will use the written reports submitted by the student’s advisory committee to determine whether or not the student is in good standing.

The Town Hall Meeting sponsored by the Graduate Council on October 18, 2000 was announced at the meeting. The Faculty expressed genuine interest in the meeting.

Qualifier Exam/Milestones

Ph.D. milestone requirements have been adjusted so that students have a maximum of four (4) years to complete their degree. Dr. Shaffer has designed a rough draft of the new requirements. The new draft of the milestones gives two dates for each milestone; one suggested date, and one maximum completion date.

Students who have passed the last Qualifier Exam will have to meet the new milestones.

CRC/Hardware

A backup printer has been ordered for the grad lab by Dr. Abrams. Dr. Shaffer’s donated computer has been placed in storage (529 McBryde) until it can be properly configured.

Sandy Birch has stated that Macintosh computers may become available to students who perform research in Brodie Hall.

Graduate Student Assembly (GSA)

Donaldson Brown will become a graduate center circa 2004. A computer lab will be housed in the new center. The golf course will be relocated to the Equestrian Center to accommodate further campus expansion.

Space

Space has become available in Brodie Hall. Rooms available include: 107, 113, 115, 117. Dr. Ramakrishnan’s research group will move from 655 McBryde to 115 Brodie.

113 is full of cubicle furniture that may be used in the other rooms.

Action Item: Rob will speak to Dr. Perez about locating his research group in 107 Brodie.

Town Hall Meeting

The first Town Hall Meeting is scheduled for October 18, 2000. The topic discussed will be the Ph.D. qualifier and milestones. Rob has identified some possible designated speakers (Wendy Schafer, Jason Zwolak, Rob Capra, Pete DePasquale, Cayle Guimaraes).

 Graduate Student Dues

Pankaj is still collecting dues. Some student dues were collected at Grad Night at the Movies. Sandy has located the key to the Suggestion Box, and leaves it to the Graduate Council to decide whether or not to mount it in the grad lab.

New Graduate Student Representative

Vijay has been elected as the New Graduate Student Representative in the run-off election. Congratulations Vijay!!!

Mentoring Program

Kim and Nathan announced a preliminary schedule for 3 Mentoring Program events. The first event will be a group dinner at Hunan House on October 16, 2000 at 6:30 p.m.

Movie Night

There was an extremely poor attendance at the first movie night. Feedback from students range from poor advertisement to poor timing as the reasons for absenteeism. Kim will schedule another movie night, post fliers, and schedule on an alternate night.

Happy Hour

Nathan will coordinate a happy hour, or similar activity for graduate students. Discussion ensued as to whether the Happy Hour should be held in 655 McBryde or off-campus. A combination of the two may be an alternative suggestion.

Discussion was held as to whether the Graduate Council should sponsor a series of events that require little planning and have small attendance, or space events further apart and aim for high attendance. Persuasive arguments were made on both sides.

Honor Code

A mandatory GHS Meeting was held on Monday, October 2, 2000. The GHS made a one-hour presentation on the Graduate Honor code.

Submitted by: Kimberly Woods October 9, 2000