BGSA Meeting Agenda: 7 March 2016

  1. Call to order (Aliyah) – 1:37pm
  2. President’s Report: proposed amendments to the BGSA Constitution
  3. First amendment: Clarification of rules on GPSG Bylaws, VP of University Relations cannot be a current GPSG Executive Board member  10 yes, 1 abstain
  4. Second amendment: President can delegate other Executive Board members to assume responsibilities of vacant positions so president will not be obligated to fulfill multiple roles  11 yes
  5. Third amendment: Clarification of wording about midyear vacancies so no difference independent of reasoning of someone leaving a position  11 yes
  6. Still need to be approved by Grad Office, will send out notice after their approval
  7. Wesbite update: Added student involvement survey to home page, BGSA has Twitter account (@PittBGSA, independent of FB page, for relations with other groups and announcements). Currently has 5 followers. Request to report back any problems with the website
  8. Vacancies in Executive Board
  9. Abby will fill in temporarily for VP of University Relations (starting in March)
  10. If anyone is interested, need someone to take over by April
  1. VP of Records: Review and approval of February minutes (Eileen for Abby)
  2. Last months minutes were approved
  1. VP of Finance report (Aliyah for Jennifer)
  2. Account finances were declared
  3. Need costs for Ski Trip and credit authorization form from Ben
  4. People have been trying to order UPMC catering the day before. Need at least a week’s notice for Grad Office if requesting catering.
  5. Immunology has paid donation as of today.
  1. VP of University Relations report (Beth)
  2. Just had elections
  3. Reminder: GPSG has Travel Grants for students
  4. 5 tickets for the afternoon session of TEDx March 26, $5 for ticket, will get reimbursed (essentially free)
  5. Can still attend even without ticket – overflow room w/ video stream
  6. Party in the Tropics was a success
  7. April 15 – Spring Formal at the Aquarium
  8. Tickets available about 6 weeks before event
  9. March 14 6pm, Scaife Lecture Room 5 – PhD Comics creator coming
  10. Beth will be stepping down from her position
  1. WSMA update (Alyce/Nyla)
  2. Past Events
  3. Writing seminar update (Nyla)
  4. Went okay, half the attendance from last year, possibly from lack of advertising
  5. Surveys showed they liked the 1on1 critique, more post-docs than students
  6. Python course update (Alyce)
  7. Small but consistent turnout
  8. Open to future suggestions for other courses
  9. Upcoming Events
  10. Wednesday 4pm Scaife – Women in Science lecturer about early career
  11. Science communication initiative
  12. Science communication to public and to other scientists in conjunction with CMU
  13. First meeting: Friday, March 18 9:30am
  14. Email Aliyah if interested
  1. VP of Communications report (Greg)
  2. Logo redesign & banner
  3. $189 for reusable durable banner
  4. Polish up logos and vote on new logo at next meeting
  5. Will go to Student Center for advice if find logo design too difficult, but will try in house first
  6. Voted to approve $200 budget for reusable weatherproof banner – passed
  7. Newsletter updates
  8. Draft of the newsletter, need by Friday
  9. Add volunteer opportunities in upcoming events
  10. Abby will write section on Jesse Schell
  11. Adolfo will send article about Comps Panel
  12. Alyce will write WMSA upsdate
  13. Adding pictures from events
  14. Publications, some still missing from different departments
  15. Website has form for students to send publications directly to Greg
  16. Student Spotlight vote
  17. Discussion of style of Student Spotlight – spotlight for smaller achievement or spotlight of successful CV?
  18. Focusing on the person may be good for future spotlights, may go in depth with one person
  19. Table discussion of reformatting Student Spotlight for next meeting and adjustment of nomination form
  20. Rory Donovan, Matt Hendricks, BinhPhong were selected for Student Spotlight
  1. Grad office report (Clare/Lauren)
  2. No updates
  3. Thanks for help with interview weekends
  1. Past events
  2. Comps Panel (Aliyah for Adolfo)
  3. 2/3 of second years from IBGP to attend, good feedback, more than enough food, some outside interest from other programs
  4. May expand to include other programs next year
  5. Careers in Academia panel (Aliyah)
  6. 22 people attended, 3 panelists – lecture track, tenure track assistant professor, research assistant professor
  7. Moderated by Bruce Freeman
  8. Good feedback, good to have more information about academia on campus
  9. Will post notes from the event on the website, including contact information for panelists
  10. Catered by Hello Bistro, more than enough food, could reduce next time
  11. Advertised through UPPDA
  12. Jesse Schell talk (Aliyah for Abby)
  13. Successful, about 15 people, a lot of turn out from non-IBGP students
  14. His website and Twitter handle will be published in newsletter
  1. Upcoming events
  2. Ski trip (Ben)
  3. Everything is ready, everything forwarded to Jennifer
  4. 22 people will attend, total cost $874.02 + $960 for bus (low bus attendance)
  5. will need to sort out final subsidy cost because of free lift ticket
  6. Volunteer opportunities with Carnegie Science Center: 3/12 and 4/9
  7. Volunteers for 3/12 closed
  8. 9:30 to 3 at Chatham
  9. Volunteers for 4/9 open, need to fill out forms ahead of time (Child Abuse Prevention form)
  10. Mars Elementary School Science Fair judging
  11. 315 students doing 192 projects – more than last year
  12. Tuesday, April 5 at approximately 5:30/6:30pm
  13. Carpool from Oakland, reimbursed for gas
  14. Need volunteer list by March 18 for planning
  15. Pittsburgh Regional Science Fair judging 4/1 (Greg)
  16. Judges sign up is closed
  17. Parking is limited, consider carpooling
  18. Future events (Aliyah)
  19. Social event – March – review proposals
  20. Rachel – Bowling Night at Forward Lanes in Squirrel Hill ($10-20pp)
  21. Tuesdays, Thursday, Fridays - $11pp for 2 hours unlimited bowling with shoes 6-8pm
  22. Tabling event for later social event
  23. Eileen – Glass Center ($40pp)
  24. Potential overlap with Student Appreciation Week event from GPSG, but provides opportunity for smaller group of people
  25. BGSA would subsidize $600 toward snacks and discount from tickets
  26. Voted to approve $600 for budget
  27. Week of March 21-26
  28. Abby and Jen – Dave and Buster’s ($10-20pp)
  29. Tabling event for later social event
  30. Grad Student Appreciation Week: April 4-8
  31. Breakfast in Scaife 8am-11am
  32. Last year: 2 dozen bagels, 2 dozen donuts
  33. Voted to approve $150 for breakfast
  34. Discussion of dissemination of breakfast
  35. Have a representative bring snacks to 6-7 sites
  36. Decided to disseminate, will work with reps in each building to coordinate breakfasts
  37. Game night
  38. Table until find out what GPSG is doing for events
  39. May try to vote by e-mail for snack budget (~$150)
  40. Stress Free Zone
  41. SFZ is located in the William Pitt Union
  42. They will run events for SORC organization, 30-45 minutes, in Oakland
  43. Free event
  44. Aliyah will work with them for times, possibly during lunch time, will update later
  45. Summer Career Seminar Series
  46. Aliyah been contacted by professors about outside speakers
  47. Big pharma – drug development, one senior and one IBGP alum (Dr. Devore)
  48. More interested in IBGP alum
  49. Patent law (Aliyah)
  50. USAID (Dr. Flynn)
  51. Trying to not pay honorariums
  52. May, June, July or June, July, August depending on when get first speaker
  53. Symposium update (Augustin)
  54. September 28, 2016 in University Club
  55. Speaker: Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz, Chief of Organelle Biology at NIH, imaging
  56. Try to make panel for science policy
  1. Old business
  1. Meeting Adjourned – 3:08 pm