GRADUATE AND PROFESSIONAL STUDENT ASSOCIATION (GPSA)
Fourth Senate Meeting Location: 435 CSC Date: 12-6-07 Time: 1:30 PM
ATTENDEES:
E-board Members and Advisors:
President- Chris Chanyasulkit
Vice President for Finance- Kristen Hudak
Vice President for Academic Affairs- Tammy Hartke
Vice President for Administration- Manasa Madasu
Vice president for Media and Membership-Ashish Jain
Advisor, Gail Olyha
Advisor, Steve Gibson
Senators College
Thomas Arruda Arts and Sciences
Hiba Tannoury
Adriano Ciccomancini College of Business Administration,
Stephen Morse Accounting and Taxation
Keyur Gada
Rajiv Panwar Bouve College of Health Sciences
Brijesh Garg
Madeeha Basharat
Prakash Potukucchi
Ehsan Kianirad College of Engineering
Ignacio Marin Garcia
Muhammad Shahrear
Tasneem Jodhpurwala
Christopher Miller College of Criminal Justice
V-Tsien Fan
Josh Zakim School of Law
MINUTES OF THE MEETING
Issues
President Chris Chanyasulkit called the meeting to order.
PRESIDENT'S REPORT (Chris Chanyasulkit)
1. President Chris Chanyasulkit requested the senators to sign up to volunteer for the Research Expo
to be held on March 22nd from 11am to 2 pm and also for the Graduate Information Session to be held
on March 19th. Sign up sheets were passed around.
2. Resignation of the VP of Student Affairs, Vidit Shah was announced
and some senators expressed interest to fill in his position.
3. Responsibilities of the position were listed by Chris, which included the following:
a. Chair the Student Affairs committee meetings.
b.Attend other relevant meetings in the University
Example: Health and Counseling
c.Help in the administration process of the GPSA.
d.Weekly commitment of 10 hours.
4. It was decided the elections will be held during Senate meeting in February to fill the position of the VP of Student Affairs.
VICE –PRESIDENT OF ACADEMIC AFFAIR'S REPORT (Tammy Hartke)
1. The safety workshop held on Thursday, January 24th at 12 pm had only a few attendees. There will be more workshops
in the future and the Senators will be informed.
2. The NEASC Committee reaccredits the University once every 10 years. It focuses on Undergraduate and Graduate
education at the University. Tammy represents the department of Graduate education chaired by Luis Falcon.
The department focuses on academic issues. There are other groups representing undergraduate education.
3. The Graduate student body is under process.
VICE-PRESIDENT OF FINANCE'S REPORT (Kristen Hudak)
1. The deadline for applications for the third funding period was on Friday, January 18th.
2. The deadline for applications for the fourth funding period is on April 18th.
3. An update was provided on the budget spent so far which included salaries for the E-board, supplies (toner).
4. There was no consistent data available on the details of the student activity fee for the previous years.
5. There is a need to budget ourselves better for the next academic year. Hence the senators were requested
to be present during the elections on March 20th.No proxy votes are accepted.
VICE-PRESIDENT OF PROGRAMS REPORT (Manasa Madasu)
1. There were a few corrections in the minutes of the previous Senate meeting. The minutes of the third senate
meeting were approved.
2. Due to the unavailability of space and due to the Graduate Student Awards being held during the same time,
the GPSA Carnevale events were cancelled.
3. The Senators from the Programs committee were asked to sign up to volunteer for the upcoming Graduate
Information Session to be held on Wednesday, March 19th from 6 pm to 7:30 pm.
4. The SGA'S petition about increasing salaries for Janitors at Northeastern University was discussed.
More details will be provided at the next Senate meeting.
5. Follow up on increase in recycling bins in the University is under process.
Announcements:
1. This year there were 50 nominations for the Graduate Student Awards which is a substantial increase from last
year's nominations which were only 15.The nominations were closed on January 22nd.
2. The Graduate Student Awards Ceremony is to be held on March 17th at the Raytheon Amphitheater.
3. Locks of Love-Donate 10 inches of your hair to patients who lost their hair (suffering from cancer)
4. Nominate a Professor at Northeastern University for excellence in teaching.
5. The International Carnevale events are starting on February 1st.Manasa Madasu will
provide you the brochures at the next Senate meeting.
6. The Provost’s Forum is to be held on April 8th from 4 to 6 pm at 444 CSC.
Tammy Hartke asked the Senators to give their input regarding the Graduate education at Northeastern University.
The following comments/suggestions were made by the Senators:
1. Help needed with Graduate Internship Study Abroad programs.
2. More TA training workshops needed.
3. Graduate handbook can be found online. There are mixed reviews about having a combined Graduate and Undergraduate handbook.
4. Professors without a minimum experience of 10 years were not being allowed to teach at Northeastern University
which may not be a good idea as some good teachers were not being noticed due to the criteria.
5. Interdisciplinary programs need to be streamlined. Graduate students need to be involved during planning stages itself.
6. Limited number of courses increases the time of graduation.
6. Print quota to be increased for Graduate students which is based on upgrading technology to discriminate Undergraduate
students from Graduate students.
7. Funding to be increased for Graduate Assistantships which are based on practical experience.Example: College of Business.
8. Administration of the College of Business and School of Law is outstanding. They cater to the needs of every student.
9. Faculty and staff of the department of Political Science are amazingly helpful to students.
9. The department of Biotechnology’s Internship coordinator is very helpful in helping students find internships around
the Boston area.
10. College of Engineering-There are 250 PhD students and 500 MS students. There is very less funding to MS students.
11. Bouve College of Health Sciences-More infrastructure needed in laboratories. Pharmacy (MS) students need to be
encouraged and credited for their work in the labs and internships opportunities should be increased.
12. Library-Increase in Scientific journals and text books.
Please use the GPSA’s blog on the GPSA website to input more suggestions or comments.
The meeting was adjourned by President Chris Chanyasulkit.
The next meeting is to be held on February 21st at 346 CSC. Election information is to be provided at this meeting
for the elections to be held at the next Senate meeting on March 20th for the upcoming academic year 2008-2009.
