GSC Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, March 2, 2005

6:30 p.m., Graduate Student Lounge, Dudley House

[PDF Version]

 

Minutes

The minutes from the February meeting were approved.

 

Announcements

Zoe Trodd, GSC president, announced that the GSC would be co-sponsoring with the Office of Career Services a talk by Dr. Valerie Young on the Imposter Syndrome. The talk was scheduled for March 10 at 5:30 in Jefferson Lab 250.

Zoe also announced an additional GSC meeting at the Longwood campus on March 16 at 6:30 in the Vanderbilt Hall Common Room.

Ernst van Nierop, GSC interim vice president, solicited nominations for commencement marshal candidates. Commencement marshal honors are bestowed on students who have served the graduate student community. The nomination deadline was March 11.

 

Health Forum

Prior to the GSC meeting a forum was held with seven representatives from University Health Services to answer questions about student health coverage. Students asked questions about dental coverage, the number of allowed mental health visits, dependent coverage, finding information on the UHS website, and many other topics. Students with additional questions should talk with Carrie Thiessen from the Graduate Student Health Advisory Committee. The GSC and the Harvard Graduate Council co-sponsored the forum.

 

Elections

Ernst van Nierop was elected to fill the vacant office of vice president.

Bart Ostrowski was elected international student representative.

Mike Westover was chosen for the Committee on Graduate Education.

Sarah Carter was elected to the Budget and Funding Committee.

 

More Announcements

Miguel de Baca, GSC communications officer, announced that the mentoring awards ceremony would be held March 24^th at 5:30 in the Faculty Club. The awards committee was choosing approximately three faculty mentors who represented the best in faculty-student relationships.

Miguel also noted that he was maintaining a calendar of graduate student events on the GSC website, and requested that those planning events for graduate students submit them to the calendar.

Miguel announced that he was looking for guest speakers to invite to future meetings, and invited suggestions from the council. Miguel was attempting to have representatives from the financial aid office attend the April meeting.

Patrick Charbonneau was planning events for current students and alumni to interact, to encourage closer ties between students and the Alumni Association.

 

 

Curricular Review

Sara Schwebel from the Curricular Review’s Pedagogical Improvement Committee was hopeful that the Committee will suggest improvements in the graduate student teaching process. Representatives from the committee on Graduate Education are drafting a set of “Possible Principles for Graduate Student Teaching under the New Undergraduate Curriculum” to be presented to the Faculty Council.

Sally Marshall mentioned that students like the idea of creating their own courses, but that may become more difficult if junior tutorials are eliminated. Sara noted that the J-term or specially designed sections might provide additional possibilities for student-designed courses.

A student expressed concern that the change in funding for some students in the third and fourth years might lead to a funding cap. Brant Robertson, natural sciences at-large representative, noted that assigning advanced teaching opportunities based on ability might disadvantage students when non-graduate student TFs are also considered. Sara commented that departments would ensure opportunities for more junior TFs.

Sally noted that using CUE reviews for evaluations could be unfair to TFs with tough grading standards, and Sara responded that the Committee was trying to consider alternative possibilities.

A student noted that teaching needs are different in the sciences, and the rules for how much students is paid for additional teaching are sometimes unclear. Sara added that many science departments have difficulty finding TFs.

 

Interdisciplinary Student Survey

Kate Emans, at-large representative for the social sciences, and Carrie Thiessen, interdisciplinary student representative, announced that they were trying to contact any programs that were missed in the interdisciplinary student survey. The survey results and selected comments were presented to the GSAS deans.

 

Library Committee

Richard Short and Sarah Carter from the FAS Library Committee noted that the six-month borrowing privilege program for graduate students at Widener Library would be renewed. Approximately 400 students had registered for extended borrowing privileges. Richard has commented to the Committee that the limited library hours were one reason that longer loans were needed.

Sarah announced that Lamont Library would be open 24 hours from Sunday to Friday beginning in the fall. Circulation and shuttle services would be available during the library’s extended hours.

Sarah also noted that the fine arts library might be closing or moving. The library had been located in the basement of the Fogg Art Museum, which was due for renovations. Sarah asked that any students with feedback about the libraries contact her (scarter@fas.harvard.edu).

 

General Exam Guidelines

Matthew Mosca, at-large representative for the humanities, asked for a show of hands from student who felt that their departments’ general exam guidelines were unclear. He asked those students to contact him (mosca@fas.harvard.edu).

 

 

 

Task Force on Women and Science

Mary Farrow announced this new task force and noted that students in the sciences should be hearing about it from their departments. Students can also contact Mary directly (farrow@fas.harvard.edu). A new student group, Harvard Graduate Women in Science, would also be addressing the issue.

 

President Summers Response

Zoe Trodd asked the council whether the GSC should sponsor a graduate student opinion poll if the faculty schedule a vote of confidence in President Summers. A student noted that the GSC should disseminate unbiased information about other aspects of Summers’ tenure, as well as a link to the transcript of Summers’ comments. Another student suggested polling students at the other graduate schools.

Danielle De Feo from the Harvard Anti-Sexist Coalition announced that the Summers controversy highlights a multi-fold problem affecting women on campus. The Coalition was a new organization including undergraduate and graduate students and staff. The Coalition felt Summers’ comments reflected an institutional pattern of neglect on women’s issues, and wanted more graduate students to become involved. A demonstration was planned for the March 15^th faculty meeting. Comments or questions about the organization could be sent to dfeo@fas.harvard.edu.

 

Harvard Graduate Council

Dan Siskind from the Harvard Graduate Council (HGC) noted that the HGC represents students in all of Harvard’s graduate schools, and holds open meetings on the first Tuesday of each month.

 

Adjourned at 7:33.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Mike Westover