Minutes
Jan. 16th, 2006
Adrianne, Ursula, Elizabeth, and Sharyn were present.
I. Report on meeting with GPSO Moderator
We had a positive meeting with the new GPSO Moderator, Paul. Some key points:
A. our delegate to SAA committee (Julie) will meet with him & other grad delegates to coordinate grad student voice
B. there is to be some meeting of college (& dept.?) heads that pay for insurance soon to discuss higher-than-expected costs or cost increases; Paul wants to get a grad voice there (ideally with updated dental FAQ)
C. possible future activities with other grad organizations--recruitment-fair type of thing, as near as I can tell--purpose = building community among grads
II. Health/dental insurance: committee report from Adrianne
A. Our committee has drafted two sets of characteristics--an ideal plan and a minimum necessary
B. First meeting of SAA committee is Feb. 9; next mtg of our committee Jan. 28 (2 people have dropped out)
C. We have an updated dental table ready; not many changes, but Penn does have dental now (we're the only one without)
D. Julie concerned about not knowing what members want; will try to get member input through:
1. have stewards send out email asking for input from dept. (Adrianne will email Morgan about this)
2. ask at mass meeting
3. electronic survey--committee has created--four questions--Adrianne will contact Jeff to help put up. We need to have the results be secure.
E. Committee has been contacting dental companies to see what things cost & other unions to find out how much schools pay
III. Mass meeting: Thursday, Feb. 2, 7:00 p.m. Ursula will try to get a room in the IMU.
IV. CWA: Ursula heard back from Bernadette--Peter K. has been re-elected President. U. will follow up with him if she doesn't hear from him soon.
V. Poker Night
A. Need to figure out some kind of tournament structure--Adrianne and Sharyn will both try to find out more about how this typically works. We decided on Texas Hold 'Em poker (seems popular right now).
B. If lots of people come, we may need more poker sets--Elizabeth will email members inviting them to bring some if they have them. We'll bring decks of cards if we have them just in case (I have about four, so we should be good.)
C. Furniture--tables, chairs, etc.--Sharyn will email Jeff to find out what we need to bring.
D. Goody bags: Sharyn will get candy & bags, Adrianne has the buttons, Ursula will print quarter sheets
E. Food: We decided to use the money we have as an organization to buy beer; Sharyn will take care of that. Can't afford a lot.
Elizabeth will buy soft drinks and ask Morgan to help; we think we need at least 6 bottles. Ursula will bring chips & salsa. Adrianne will bring pretzels, nuts, & some soda. Anyone who can bring cups & napkins also.
F. Further publicity: keep posting flyers; Elizabeth will ask Morgan to ask stewards to send email to dept.
Steering committee members, plan to get to Jeff's around 6:30 to make sure we have everything taken care of!
VI. Research to find out where AI offices are:
A. In some of the sciences, it seems to be distributed by specialty--this is true for Chem, and Geology said they were "all over the building" (presumably the Geology building). We could either try calling back separately for each sub-discipline or just try wandering around the building.
B. Astronomy offices are in Swain, but we don't know where.
C. Informatics are on the 11th floor of Eigenmann--Sharyn will try to flyer there.
D. Math--several different locations--Adrianne knows where.
E. We have room numbers for TESOL (subset of Ling.) and NELC (AIs share 1 or 2 rooms in these depts.)
F. Keep doing more research.
Next meeting: ??