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College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Biology Graduate Student Association

2023-2024 Minutes

BGSA Fall Meeting
Date: November 20, 2023

Agenda

  1. Member Updates
    1. President (Kayli Sieber)
    2. Vice President (Bachir Assao)
    3. Secretary/Treasurer (Ogonna Eli)
  • Still working with the president to gain access to the union PayPal account and the bank. So, I have not been able to gain access so no update on cash inflow and balance.
  • Most likely switching banking to Wells Fargo due to issues with Campus USA online banking access.
    1. Curriculum Rep (Vacant position)
    2. Graduate Rep (Md Monjurul Islam Rifat)
    3. Pay rise issue: Department is trying hard to negotiate the salary raise. But we have a strict budget constraint.  This semester some of the TA positions have been reduced. The primary plan is to reallocate the money among the rest of the TAs.
    4. TA workload: We have been discussing ways to reduce the TA workload and keeping it under 20hrs/per week, specially for BSC2010/11 labs.
    5. Qualifying exam: We have discussed in favor of a standardized qualifying exam. We talked about making a standard procedure and timeline for all of the students.
    6. Attendance at the seminar: The attendance at the department seminars has been reduced significantly.
    7. PhD timeline: Encouraging PIs and students to finish dissertation within a 5-year period.
    8. Space and Facilities Rep (Vacant position)
    9. Colloquium Rep (Steven Cassidy)

Surveys will be sent out in the spring to choose the graduate student invited speaker.

  1. IT Rep (Kasey Pham)
    Keeping Biology and BGSA websites up to date according to requests from other committees; grant information for this semester is live. If you have updates or events that you’d like posted to either the BGSA or general department website, please let me know at kasey.pham@ufl.edu.
  2. GSC Reps (Christopher Nolte, Izuchukwu Ezukanma)

The Graduate Student Council (GSC) holds its monthly meetings on the first Wednesday of each month at 17:00. These meetings serve as a platform for addressing graduate student needs, concerns, and ideas. So if you have any concerns then you should attend and make your voice heard. Additionally, remember that travel award applications are due by the end of each month. For more details on submission timelines, please visit GSC Grants Submission Timeline (https://sg.ufl.edu/resources/gsc/grants/grant-submission-timeline/).

 

  1. Public Relations and Fundraising Reps (Kate Davis, Lisa Coe)

Held our first silent auction—we made $199 through silent auction sales—all items were donated by grad students and the local art community and opus coffee. If we do it again, may be worth it to reach out to professors for items for the auction—also it would be great to have more than one person securing items/experiences for it—we all know different people so we could hopefully all get different items for the event.

Held this event in tandem with a pumpkin carving to encourage people to come out—really good responses from attendees and now we have pumpkin carving supplies for next year as well. $4 per pumpkin covered all pumpkin costs, though we spent $50 from the petty cash box for carving things. People seem interested in continuing group festive events like this—cookie decorating party Dec. 8? How much would we charge per person and how many cookies should be included? (Costs–$4 per dozen, $25 for cookie cutter set, ~$30 for decorating supplies so probably ~$65 total for event)

Just sent an email out on Friday reminding folks about the Biology merch so orders are starting to trickle in.

New social media accounts will be started (Twitter, Bluesky, and Instagram)

Working on a monthly paper roundup for all publications from the department to be featured on the department’s website. If you publish, send a link to ufbio.prcommittee@gmail.com

  1. Greenhouse Rep (Emeline Pano)

A new greenhouse was approved to be built where the greenhouses are at in the faculty parking (Museum   rd. & Center dr.). A meeting was held between Dr. Majure, Dr. Doug Soltis, Jeff, and Dr. Subalusky back in October. I didn’t attend, because I was sick. Overall, the meeting was about planning for the new                          greenhouse. As of now, there’s no other updates.

  1. Whitney Lab Rep (Cody Miner)

Search for new Director starting. Job listing officially posted last week. Lauren Kunselman grad student rep on Director Search Committee.

Science by the Shore is an outreach/sci-com event that existed pre-pandemic and will restart in the Spring (no official date yet).

Grad students and IDEA committee have put together/updated a few more welcome/orientation documents for people coming to Whitney; will links along shortly

  1. Bartram-Carr Woods Rep (Elizabeth White)
  2. Bylaws Revision Rep (Eric Trotman)

New faculty members Dr. Hannah Vander Zanden and Dr. Juannan Zhou volunteered to                   step into the position of Dr. Christine Davis and Dr. Charles Baer. The committee would                               like to implement opening a position for a non-tenure track professor to sit on the                       committee. As well as figure out how graduate students can suggest changes to the                  bylaws without having to send those requests through a faculty member first. These                                 have been discussed by not acted upon due to a lack of regular meetings.

  1. Mentorship Committee (Abby Uehling)
  2. International Student Rep (Claudia Garnica Diaz):

I have been speaking with Dr. Jeremy Lichstein, a representative of the department’s       IDEA committee, regarding the strategies to avoid bullying toward international TA’s. Additionally, I will NOT be able to organize the international potluck this semester, but        have been thinking about organizing it during the interview weekend during the SPRING            semester, to encourage the exchange between current and prospective international              students in the department.

  1. Department Retreat Committee (Christopher Nolte)

As of now, there are no new updates on the department retreat. I’m unsure if a department retreat will occur next year.

  1. URAP Committee (Malu Ore Rengifo, Joshua Doby, Lillian Hendrick)
  2. Awards Committee (Joshua Benjamin, Wenyi Zhou, Zuania Colón-Piñeiro)

We have already sent the call for the grants and awards from the Department. Based on our conversations with Brad and Karen, we can grant 30 grants/fellowships distributed among the 15 categories and 4 awards. We will include a table with more details in a reminder email this Wednesday. NOTE that this year the due dates are November 24th for the award nomination and December 22nd for the applications. Nominations can be by any faculty or student from the biology department, and it can also be a self-nomination. This year the awards will include $300.

 

  1. Welcoming Committee (Sikander Khare, Joshua Doby, Yuanming Lu)

Biology Grad Student Orientation:

Date: Friday, August 18th

Location: Carr Hall, Room 222

Details: This event was instrumental in offering new grad students a comprehensive                        introduction to their graduate journey. Attendees received curated welcoming                   packets filled with resources and information.

Social Event at First Mag:

Date: Friday, August 18th

Location: First Mag, 1220 SE Veitch St, Gainesville, FL 32601

Details: This social gathering provided a valuable platform for new and existing grad                         students to meet, interact, and form connections, facilitating community                               building within the department.

Outdoor Event at Sweetwater Park:

Date: Sunday, August 27th

Location: Sweetwater Wetland Park

Details: An outdoor excursion planned for Sunday morning, extending the socializing                        opportunities beyond campus.

  1. Recruitment Committee (Sarah Johnson, Manasee Weerathunga, Steven Cassidy)

Recruitment planning will take place mostly in January. Funding for grad student lead fieldtrips may have gotten cut but have not heard from Brad directly about this. Not sure how much we will have for field trips (if any). Will work to prevent future poisonings.

  1. Mental Health Committee (Malu Ore Rengifo, Manasee Weerathunga)
  2. Climate Committee Reps (Chelsea Skojec, Yuanming Lu)

prepare for climate survey send out to the department (google form, select not collect                    emails option).

  1. Code of Conduct Rep (Positioprn vacant)
  2. Zoocial Committee (Sarah Johnson, Steven Cassidy, Sikander Khare, Lisa Coe)

Down one person, could use another member if anyone can help.

  1. Zoojoe/Botantea Committee (Kara Taylor)
  1. Updates on hiring committees
    1. Marine Biodiversity (Rifat):

We met a couple of times and worked on the flyer. We took hiring training, went over the primary plans and hiring agenda.

  1. Vertebrate Paleontology (Stephanie Killingsworth):

Applicant list has been shortened to the medium list. Students met for initial discussion and will submit a rubric for each of the candidates.

  1. Graduate recruitment weekend
    1. Brad indicated that funding is tight for this year’s recruitment weekend. Funding for catering and alcohol comes from very specific donors, and the money just isn’t there this year. More likely than not, our typical event space rental and catering will be replaced with a courtyard lunch and extended recruitment weekend Zoocial.
    2. Field trips will likely still occur as usual.
  2. GA Raises
    1. In progress.
    2. Any raise will not be reflected on letters of appointment for Spring. Pay increase will be applied retroactively after the raise is finalized.
  3. Please contact Kayli and Bachir if you want us to bring anything up with Brad during our monthly meetings!

 

BGSA Fall Meeting
Date: April 18, 2024

Agenda

  1. Member Updates
    1. President (Kayli Sieber)
    2. Vice President (Bachir Assao)
    3. Secretary/Treasurer (Ogonna Eli)
    4. Curriculum Rep (Vacant position)
    5. Graduate Rep (Md Monjurul Islam Rifat)
    6. We discussed the salary raise and informed about a budget constraint. The number of TA positions has been shrunken.

Ii. There is a concern regarding the attendance of the seminars.

Iii. There has been an ongoing discussion to restructure the current qualifying exam process.

 

  1. Space and Facilities Rep (Vacant position)
  2. Colloquium Rep (Steven Cassidy)
    1. Sent out invite request and voting. Once an invited speaker is selected, the responsibility for coordinating them coming to the department will be handed to the person who nominated them.
  3. IT Rep (Kasey Pham)
    1. Updating the website with requests from other committees – URAP post should be up on the main website.
  4. GSC Reps (Christopher Nolte, Izuchukwu Ezukanma)
    1. Nothing new to report. Attend the monthly meetings and send out emails every month about what is going on at GSC and to remind everyone to apply for the travel grant.
  5. Public Relations and Fundraising Reps (Kate Davis, Lisa Coe)
    1. Will be bringing merch to 4/26 potluck. Other than that—having trouble thinking up fund raising ideas after the silent auction in the fall—not many faculty came and it wasn’t a huge success
  6. Greenhouse Rep (Emeline Pano)
  7. Whitney Lab Rep (Cody Miner)
    1. New director search down to final candidates – grad students do have a rep on search committee
  8. Bartram-Carr Woods Rep (Elizabeth White)
  9. Bylaws Revision Rep (Eric Trotman)
    1. There are consistent faculty committee members now.
    2. Jeremy brought up revising the hiring process rules (specifically in the early invitation selection process), but it has gone nowhere during faculty meeting.
  • Students currently aren’t allowed to formally submit revisions to the bylaws. That is still on the docket to talk about. Eric will not be in person in the fall but
  1. Mentorship Committee (Abby Uehling)
  2. International Student Rep (Claudia Garnica Diaz)
    1. Was trying to organize the International Potluck in the fall but while trying to reserve the space under the Museum, was told we needed a permit to host an event where we cooked our own food.
    2. Tried to get permission from Brad for a permit and didn’t hear back. In other experience, even after getting a permit, the organization needed $10,000 in insurance, which is prohibitive.
  • The Museum controls the space from their pavilion to the stairs before where we host Zoocial. If we host events on Biology’s side of the courtyard, then we won’t need to petition the Museum.
  1. Personnel Support Committee offered to host it this semester – will be happening the week after next – Friday, April 26th from 4:00pm to 6:00pm. If you want to cook for the potluck, please remember to sign up with a dish in the email Eric sent out.
  1. Department Retreat Committee (Christopher Nolte)
    1. Contacted Bryne, made an email for a survey to send out, and then things died out.
    2. This position is functionally dead – we should probably not fill it unless the faculty commit to organizing a department retreat and request a student representative at that time.
  2. URAP Committee (Malu Ore Rengifo, Joshua Doby, Lillian Hendrick)
  3. Awards Committee (Joshua Benjamin, Wenyi Zhou, Zuania Colón-Piñeiro)
    1. We received a total of 92 applications, 85 grants, and seven awards. From this, we selected 30 awardees for grants and the three awards. The outcomes can be accessed in this file and the presentation here.
  4. Welcoming Committee (Sikander Khare, Joshua Doby, Yuanming Lu)
    1. N/A
  5. Recruitment Committee (Sarah Johnson, Manasee Weerathunga, Steven Cassidy
    1. Went well, but in the future we should assume the funding will continue to be reduced. Steve has detailed notes on how to cope with that.
    2. Ichetucknee trip may be up in the air in the future, so have a back-up plan. Kent may still be able to get us visits to the alligator farm.
  6. Mental Health Committee (Malu Ore Rengifo, Manasee Weerathunga)
    1. Got funding from Fundraising and PR committee and used that to organize meal deliveries for students taking qualifying exams.
    2. Thinking of putting together a sheet of tips for calming yourself during quals.
  • Each year, will need to survey student body at the beginning of the year on who is planning to take quals to prepare.
  1. Climate Committee Reps (Chelsea Skojec, Yuanming Lu)
    1. Sent a Climate Survey and got 14 respondents.
    2. 60% of respondents feel isolated, unwelcome, or lonely.
  • 65% of respondents witnessed or experienced discrimination.
  1. Asked what cultural/religious/other events they’d like celebrated. Some students wanted more cultural exchange events in general, some wanted an open house where others can come see what we’re doing in the department. Some gave suggestions on holidays to celebrate. A lot of people wanted the potlucks to be more often.
    1. An open house would be cool. Some labs have restrictions on who can view their research, so that would be a hindrance.
  2. Feeling sort of unsure on what events beyond general cultural events would even be allowed, given the University’s stance on DEI.
  3. Survey results may warrant further discussion with the faculty.
  • Most of the suggested events would need to be collaborations with other student and faculty committees since it’s a lot for just the climate committee to handle.
  1. Code of Conduct Rep (Position vacant)
  2. Zoocial Committee (Sarah Johnson, Steven Cassidy, Sikander Khare, Lisa Coe)
    1. Zoocial is still happening. Last week it’s hosted will be around finals. Will be pausing for the summer.
    2. Open for collaboration events.
  • Need to remind people to pay for their drinks – margins are a lot tighter these days.
  1. Zoojoe/Botantea Committee (Kara Taylor)
    1. Zoojoe/Botantea is still happening.
    2. More people saying it’d be nice to get others involved. Attendance is fairly consistent and surges when people bring special food or host special events.
  • Opportunity for small-scale cultural exchange! Just reach out to Kara.
  1. Switched to hosting it right before seminar (not sure if it actually helped seminar attendance…?). Professors will often coordinate to make Zoojoe a more casual event to discuss with the invited speaker. Would like to advertise with the faculty more widely that it’s an option.

 

  1. Updates on hiring committees
    1. Marine Biodiversity (Rifat)
      1. Rebecca Varney was first choice candidate and has been sent an invitation.

 

  1. Questions regarding Union disbandment
    1. Currently, it seems likely that our Union will not survive. New students have expressed concerns about their wages, fee relief, tuition waivers, etc in the event of a Union dissolution. Brad believes that nothing in these regards will change if the Union is dissolved. When students accept offers, they effectively sign contracts. The Department will uphold those contracts to the best of their ability given the event of Union dissolution.
    2. From Sikander: If the union is decertified, the contract becomes unenforceable, including terms relating to wages, fee relief, and tuition waivers, all of which would be at the discretion of the university. It is speculation to say what the university will do if the union were to be decertified, but from my experience bargaining these topics with them, fee relief would be the first to go, as they have attempted to get rid of it every year since it has been in the contract. I’m pretty sure fee relief is disbursed centrally, so if Biology plans to continue paying it, they would probably have to divert discretionary funds. It is unlikely that the university would revoke tuition waivers en masse, especially in STEM departments, but again this would be at the total discretion of the university. Most likely, the art departments would be most affected by this, though probably at an individual level. As for wages, there would be no way to negotiate a unit-wide increase to the minimum stipend or raises.
  2. Stipend Raises
    1. No new news. Currently, faculty can supplement GA pay up to $32k, but TA rates are fixed. If you have an RA supplement, it is locked in for that particular supervisor. If you switch to a different person supporting you on RA, they are not bound to that same raised rate.
    2. Brad considered implementing undergraduate TAs to alleviate some work from TAs. This would potentially result in a situation where fewer graduate TAs are needed. If there are fewer TAs, some of that money could be distributed to universally raise our stipends, with the obvious downfall being that fewer TA positions will be available for graduate students. The current plan is to implement undergraduate TAs for the sole purpose of alleviating some work from graduate TAs, but this will not impact our stipends, nor will it impact the number of graduate TA positions available each semester. The undergraduates will primarily be around to assist graduate TAs and help with “busy work.”
    3. There will be a faculty retreat on the 25th. Our stipend rates are supposed to be one of the major points of discussion. If Kayli hears of any proposed solutions following the retreat, she will inform the student body.
  3. Standardization of the graduate program
    1. There is a push to combine the Botany and Zoology programs into one program (Biology).
    2. Another major discussion point for the 25th‘s retreat will be to solidify some of the requirements and expectations of our program. Currently, there is little standardization in the Biology graduate program (for example, there is no defined format for qualifying exams, few strict requirements for graduation, etc). This makes it difficult for some students to judge their own progress and evaluate themselves against their peers.
  4. IDPs
    1. Kayli sent an email about this earlier this week. There will no longer be annual assessments via Canvas, but instead we will be required to fill out a survey and complete a University-standardized IDP form.
  5. Remember to vote for your next BGSA officers, and self-nominate if you haven’t already!
  6. Please contact Kayli and Bachir if you want us to bring anything up with Brad during our monthly meetings!