List of Meeting Minutes
BGSA Meeting 16 January 2018
- Faculty job searches: how to encourage involvement and participation? How is it going so far?
- The chalk talks. If you’re able, try to attend and bring 2 people to chalk talk (lunch): M/T- Monday — chalk talk T/F — Friday
- How are hosts chosen? Could it be divvied up by lab?
- Faculty host vs. student host
- Ask for a list/schedule
- Perks/incentives — add to CV?
- Upcoming Recruitment weekend for potential graduate students — check-in with the Welcoming Committee.
- Alex: coordinating trips to Itchnetucknee, etc.
- A move in the future to create certificates in our department. Nate Catlin will be working on this as we learn more, but let’s have a short brainstorming session about what kinds of certificates would be helpful for students in our department.
- Teaching? Attending education lectures, outreach, etc…
- Update on BSC3911, the course BGSA co-teaches. Go over syllabus, assign times and roles.
- Approaches for involving the Whitney students more, possibly by creating a yearly get-together and/or a mentorship plan for incoming Whitney students. Discussion with Alex Hernandez & Jessie Whelply
- Create a Whitney Representative position in BGSA
- Possibility of having the retreat at the Whitney, or combining with Science at the Shore
- Have representative elected internally at Whitney lab
- To do: draw up description, clarify responsibilities
- Support for international students: discussion with Prabha Amarasinghe
- Create a International Student Representative position in BGSA
- Quick separate meeting at the beginning of the school year (pizza dinner)
- Get contact information for incoming international students
- Cody’s suggestion—maybe too much for one person.
- Links to resources, sharing
- Biology department retreat. Due to all of the job searches happening this semester, this will not happen until the fall. We’ll discuss what the faculty members are thinking for the retreat, and do some brainstorming together about what works for graduate students.
- Possibility for doing the retreat at the Whitney
- How can we encourage connections between graduate students in the department? One idea floated by a faculty member is to allot a Tuesday department seminar to Biology students to give lightning talks of their research. Possibly as new students, or further down the line. Discussion about whether this is something we’re interested in, or not — and other ways to improve quality of life and connection in the department.
- General check in with the representatives — space for other questions and ideas.
BGSA Meeting 30 August 2017
Faculty Meeting Update
- Biology department will be bringing many potential faculty members.
- Committee will need help organizing trips.
- What is the role of BGSA in these visits? Typically, BGSA organizes a lunch and a field trip (usually La Chua Trail, Devil’s Millhopper, etc).
- BGSA would like to improve the lunches. Discussed having different lunch locations and/or changing catering (no pizza). Arredondo room is close to Bartram-Carr and has great food however, it could be loud and if we are not at a round table it could be difficult for everyone to participate in discussions with the guest. The courtyard is nice because it is a very comfortable area and allows for conversation. If we stay in the courtyard we need to change the food to attract more graduate students. Whether we eat in the courtyard or a restaurant, BGSA is considering decreasing the number of attendees. It was brought up that after introductions, the lunch is usually over. Having less students, could allow for more conversation and less time spent on introductions.
- Field trips are not well attended and events are redundant. The purpose of the field trips is for potential hires to get to know the graduate student community. BGSA is brainstorming ideas for a better option for potential hires to get to know the graduate students without having to go to La Chua Trail multiple times. Thus far ideas included local breweries, food, etc.
- Questions: Should graduate students be responsible for organizing these trips? Do labs already sponsor faculty members?
Could we put a lab in charge of guest and have them organize the field trip?
International Student Representative on BGSA
We should consider electing an international student representative. BSGA questions what role an international student rep would play on BGSA? What resources could BGSA provide to better the graduate community? We already have a very difficult time filling BGSA positions. We can send out poles to see what will help international students and how BGSA can provide more resources. Depending on the poles, we can all decide on what we will do during the next meeting.
Number of BGSA Positions
We need to cut down the number of positions in BGSA. Currently there are 39 BGSA positions. After this year, we will evaluate positions and decide which will remain.
Green Team will do something this semester 🙂
This year BGSA would like to transform the Bartram-Carr woods into a relaxing area for graduate students, teaching tool, removal of invasive species, etc. We could bring in clubs and organizations (master gardeners, faculty, undergraduate clubs, botanical gardens) to help with the transformation. This can be done on a small budget and hopefully some local organizations will want to donate money towards signs. This idea is also great for broader impacts especially, if your study system is in the woods!