Spring 2008
April 14, 2008
HGSA Meeting April 14, 2008
• HGSA Colloquium to return
Chas Reed announces dates: April 15 Andrew Kellett, April 30 Nick Schlosser, sometime in May Elizabeth Connor
• HGSA Colloquium Faculty Talk
Eric Ruark announces talk for April 30, 4:00 in TLF 2110
Bernard Moitt of VCU will be presenting sponsored by Pepsi
• HGSA Elections for Fall 2008-Spring 2009 will begin April 30
Andrew Kellett made responsible for elections, Melissa Kravetz will facilitate the online election.
4/14 through 4/22 nominations made
4/22 through 4/29 campaigning period
4/30 and 5/1 online elections
Please send all nominations to Andrew Kellett at akellett@umd.edu.
If no one is nominated for a position, nominations for that position will remain open until 4/24. Campaigning will go through 5/4, and the online election will be held 5/5 and 5/6 instead.
• HGSA Board Positions and Committee Positions Explained, term begins July 1, 2008
o President (1 person): duties include assigning desks and mentors to new students; being involved with the HGSA Graduate Student Conference; meeting with the Director of Graduate Studies to advocate for graduate student issues; leads and calls HGSA meetings
o Vice President (2 people): duties include assisting the President in various tasks, devising and implementing projects (i.e. Grad Colloquium, Faculty Talks, HGSA Conference)
o Secretary-Treasurer (1 person): duties include taking notes at HGSA meetings; maintaining HGSA funds; collecting dues; assists the HGSA board in its various projects
o Undergraduate Committee Rep (1 person): duties include meeting with the Undergraduate Committee (has met twice in the past two years); discusses issues such as undergraduate requirements for graduation, class availability for majors and honors program
o Graduate Committee Rep (1 person): duties include meeting with the Graduate Committee (approximately once or twice an academic year); occasional meetings with the Director of Graduate Studies; advocating for graduate student interests such as TA load, comprehensive exams, etc.
o Executive Committee Rep (2 people): duties include meeting with the Executive Committee (approximately once a month); attend meetings regarding appointment, promotion and tenure of faculty and budget meetings
o CHS Committee Rep (1 person): duties include meeting with the CHS Board; addressing logistical concerns for CHS presentations; evaluate faculty grant submissions; encourage funding for HGSA-sponsored events
o APT Committee Rep (2 people): duties include attending Appointment, Promotion and Tenure Committee meetings; discusses potential job candidates; assesses faculty promotions
• APT Committee Report (Melissa Kravetz)
Dean canceled Israel search due to a breach of confidentiality.
• Undergrad Committee Report (Melissa Kravetz)
Honors requirements for undergraduates were decided.
• Graduate Committee Report (Amy Rutenberg and Sherry Myers)
Amy and Sherry had a meeting with Dr. Williams this past Tuesday to discuss issues regarding TAing. Specific issues addressed at this meeting were: new faculty and TA workloads, TA evaluation availability, teaching expectations for adjunct professors and inconsistency across survey courses.
Issues that were discussed at the meeting also addressed: making faculty aware of issues resulting from TAing, possibility of TAs evaluating professors, Grad Committee members asking for more feedback for grad students (both as TAs and as students), enforcing the use and writing of a grad committee report on new faculty.
Finally, TA issues should be brought to the attention of Grad Committee members and appropriate faculty whenever they come up. We want to ensure that TA issues aren’t written off as personality differences. Specifically, when one has problems with an adjunct professor teaching inappropriate and/or incorrect material he or she should bring this to the attention of Dr. Ridgeway.
• Executive Committee Report (Mike Soracoe)
Mike was not allowed into the most recent Executive Committee meeting, Melissa is following up to determine why this occurred. At the meeting prior to this, the negative effects of the CORE plan were discussed.
• CHS Committee Report (Jeremy Best)
Jeremy says that there are various candidates scheduled to speak next year.
• HGSA Book Sale to be held May 6 and 7 from 10 to 4
Volunteers are needed both for manning the sale during the day and for bringing books down and taking them back up both days. A sign-up sheet will be up tomorrow, April 15.
• Chas Reed asks about the transparency of the selection of 208 courses. The Undergrad Committee Rep and/or an HGSA board member will contact Dr. Barkley-Brown for guidelines.
• Chas Reed nominated for HGSA president and seconded.
