Bisc Grad Caucus Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, June 29, 2005, 3:30pm
In attendance: Keith Tierney, Dawn Cooper, Andrea Pomeroy, Suzanne Gray, Sandra Webster, Katrina Salvante, Emily Wagner, Mathias Schuetz, Brian Ma, Charlotte Voss, Raul Ursic, Jonathan Whiteley, Jeff Joy.
1. Welcome and introductions
a. Andrea Pomeroy welcomed all and the agenda was introduced.
2. Approval of meeting expenses
a. Motioned by Katrina Salvante, seconded by Dawn Cooper, caucus expenses
for the meeting were approved.
3. Approval of caucus steering committee
a. Motioned by Andrea Pomeroy, seconded by Dawn Cooper, the caucus steering
committee [Andrea Pomeroy (president), Christiana Cheng (treasurer),
Keith Tierney (secretary), Katrina Salvante (member at large)] was approved.
4. Approval of signing authority for the caucus steering committee
a. Motioned by Andrea Pomeroy, seconded by Suzanne Gray, signing authority
was approved.
5. Biology 7000 level lounge and B8253 update
a. General discussion on the contributions we wished to see in the new
B8253 room. Dawn Cooper suggested making a cleaning schedule for the
room. A discussion ensued on whether the cleaning tasks should be assigned
or be on a volunteer basis.
b. The offer from Biology to spruce up the 7000 level lounge is only
good for this fiscal year (information from Barb Sherman).
6. The contest for the logo for the cover of the ‘2005/2006 Biological
Sciences Graduate Caucus Directory’ is now open
a. Send designs via email to Andrea Pomeroy (apomeroy@sfu.ca), or bring
them to the next caucus meeting. The designs must be of one color.
b. In the next meeting, caucus members will vote on the entrants, and
the winner will receive a $50 award.
7. Approval of the $50 award for best biology logo
a. Motioned by Andrea Pomeroy, seconded by Charlotte Voss, the award
expense was approved.
8. Mentorship program
a. Charlotte Voss may still be available to facilitate the event in
the stead of Suzanne Gray. If there are any other volunteers, please
email Suzanne Gray (smgray@sfu.ca).
b. If caucus members have any suggestions for new event activities,
or food they wish to see, again, please send an email to Suzanne or
bring ideas to the next Caucus Meeting.
c. Biology Caucus Members remember: being a mentor is fun!
9. DGSC PhD upgrade/entry to PhD from BSc email survey
a. Regarding applying directly to PhD from BSc: some foreign scholarships
will only work to this end.
b. If the requirement for a peer reviewed publication was relaxed, more
students may consider this option. General discussion on the merits
of the peer-reviewed publication requirement.
c. Scholarly work (for rollover): discussion on peer-reviewed publication
requirement.
d. More people need to respond to the email survey; only 15 of the ~150
biology grad students have thus far responded. In particular, the view
of newer grad students is requested (older students and those that were
already through the process tended to answer the survey).
e. Please email in survey responses or other thoughts to Suzanne Gray
(smgray@sfu.ca).
f. A summary of the survey results will be provided by Suzanne Gray
or Jeff Joy at the next caucus meeting and at the next DGSC meeting.
10. News from committees
a. Scholarships – no news.
b. DGSC – no news.
c. GIC
i. Health plan news – the bidding process resulted in a recommendation
to the board to negotiate with Gallivan and Associates. Coverage should
start Sept 1st 2005. $280/yr/student will cover for premiums, staffing
charges and reserve fund contributions. There will be an online one-time
only opt-out procedure. A copy of the contract can be obtained from
Caelie Frampton (Graduate health plan working group chair cframpto@sfu.ca).
ii. Grad student union initiative: GIC has created a working group to
begin exploring the possibility of creating a separate and autonomous
grad student union.
d. TSSU – no news.
11. Other business
a. Summer barbeque. A joint REM BISC barbeque was proposed. This has
been done in the past; it is uncertain whether the event sparked much
intermingling. Timing for the event: it could coincide with the beergarten
at the end of next month (i.e. July 29th, 2005). Dawn Cooper expressed
interest in organizing.
b. Motioned by Andrea Pomeroy, Katrina Salvante seconded, $200 was approved
for barbeque related items.
