GRADUATE AND PROFESSIONAL STUDENT ASSOCIATION (GPSA)
First Senate Meeting Location: 435 CSC Date: 09-27-07 Time: 2:50 PM
ATTENDEES:
E-board Members and Advisors:
President- Chris Chanyasulkit
Vice President for Finance- Kristen Hudak
Vice President for Student Affairs- Vidit Shah
Vice President for Academic Affairs- Tammy Hartke
Vice President for Media and Membership-Ashish Jain
Vice President for Administration- Manasa Madasu
Advisor- Gail Olyha
Senators College
Lauren Nicoll
Christopher Aragao
Allison Uzdella Arts and Sciences
Somdeep Sen
Hiba Tannoury
Cole Creighton
Stephen Morse
Adriano Ciccomancini Business Administration, Accounting and Taxation
Benjamin J Dei
Umangi Shah
Rushabh Lakhani Computer and Information Sciences
Rutwik Patel
Kalpesh Gupta
Ninad Satam
Devshri Desai
Keyur Gada Bouve College of Health Sciences
Rajiv Panwar
Brijesh Garg
Shweta Raina
Madeeha Basharat
Prakash Potukuchhi Engineering
Ehsan Kianirad
Ignacio Marin Garcia
Christopher Miller Criminal Justice
V-Tsien Fan
Jeremy Frederickson
Matt Sweet
Kristen Pappas School of Law
Ifetayo Belle
Amanda Ligatti
Sarah Masters
1.Agendas, name tags and Senator Information packets were distributed to the Senators.
2.Senators need to bring their name tags to every meeting for attendance purposes.
MINUTES OF THE MEETING
I. Icebreaker
1. President, Chris Chanyasulkit, introduced herself and the rest of the E-board members to everyone at the meeting.
2. The senators and graduate students who attended the meeting introduced themselves to everyone at the meeting.
II. Introduction
President's Welcome Message (Chris Chanyasulkit)
1. Spoke about the GPSA's previous work including
a. Waiver of insurance to graduate students.
b. Ability to check out of books from the Snell Library during the summer.
c. Funding for students to attend conferences.
d. Funding for graduate student groups at Northeastern for their involvement in Graduate life.
2. Senators were given a quick review of the Senator Information Packet.
III. Committee Reports
The Vice President of each committee gave a report on their work during the summer, their ideas, duties and the
involvement of their respective committee members for future tasks.
1. Student Affairs (Vidit Shah)
a. Details of planning the upcoming event, President's Forum to be held on Wednesday, 31st October, 2007 at the Senate
Chambers (333 CSC) at 4:30 PM were put forth.
b. The committee members were asked to meet to discuss the President's Forum at the Student Affairs committee meeting
which followed the senate meeting in room 346 CSC.
2. Academic Affairs (Tammy Hartke)
a. Details of the lab safety forum which was held on 25th October at the CSC ballroom in were discussed. Manasa Madasu,
VP of Administration had attended the luncheon on behalf of Tammy Hartke.
b. Committee members were asked to attend the meeting scheduled on Friday, 28th September with Vice Provost of Graduate
Education, Luis Falcon.
c. The senators were informed about the Provost and the Vice Provost's Forum to be held on 8th April from 4 to 6 PM.
d. Everyone was invited to the open house to be held on Saturday, 13th October from 2 to 4PM.
e. Assignments to the Institutional Biosafety Committee and University Chemical Hygiene Committee.
f. Tammy will serve on the Graduate subcommittee for University Reaccreditation process.
g. News of Provost Ahmed Abdelal's recent resignation was mentioned.
3. Finance (Kristen Hudak)
a. Copies of the proposed Budget report for the school year 2007-2008 were distributed to all the Senators.
b. Senators were informed that the GPSA budget comes from the student activity fee paid by the graduate students every semester.
c. Senators were asked to encourage graduate students to apply for funding for conferences and were informed about the GPSA official
website, which has details of the procedures to apply for funding.
d. It was mentioned that the first deadline for applications had passed and the students who have applied for funding would be approved
soon.
e. Senators from the Finance committee were asked to stay back after the Senate meeting as the Finance committee meeting was scheduled
to follow the Senate meeting in the same room.
4. Media and Membership (Ashish Jain)
a. Senators and committee members were asked to give their valuable suggestions in improving the GPSA official website and to come
up with creative ways to promote the GPSA at Northeastern University.
b. Senators of the committee for Media and Membership were informed that the schedule for committee meetings will be decided soon
and that the senators will be informed about the meeting dates and times by Ashish.
5. Administration and Programs (Manasa Madasu)
a. Attendees was informed about the GPSA Graduate Welcome Night that was held on Thursday, September 20, 2007 at the CSC afterHours
from 8PM to Midnight.
b. Everyone was suggested to join the GPSA Facebook and Orkut communities initiated to serve as tools to promote the upcoming
events of the GPSA and to post recent news and activities of the GPSA.
c. Senators involved in the Programs committee were informed that the committee meetings will be held Wednesdays, starting Wednesday,
November 7th from 11:45 AM to 1:30 PM followed by the Student Affairs committee meeting (chaired by Vidit Shah) to be held in the
same room from 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM.
d. A proposal for having another social event 'Cultural Night' was mentioned and attendees were asked to give their valuable ideas
to have more social networking for the graduate students at the University.
IV. Senators and committee members were asked to put forth issues and ideas they thought the GPSA could work on through the
course of the academic year. (Facilitated by Chris Chanyasulkit)
Issues, Ideas and Suggestions (Senators)
Common Issues:
1. Limited printouts (400) at Infocommons.
2. Fess hike of $50 for Graduate students
Bouve College of Health Sciences:
1. Students for Bouve college of Health Sciences not being allowed to register for courses in other colleges at Northeastern University.
Example: PSCG 660 is a course on Introduction to co-op but students from the department of Pharmacy are not allowed to go on a co-op
or take the mentioned course.
2. Thesis cannot be taken up from another department.
3. Internal communication problem between ISSI and Bouve College regarding the policies and procedures of co-op which are different
for different departments.
Kristen comment- Resources have to be provided to clarify policies to avoid confusion.
Tammy's comment- GPSA can help if graduate students at Bouve start a graduate student organization specific to the College.
On September 28, 2007, Tammy provided via email information to the Bouve senators on the steps that they should take to create
their own student group to work on the above three issues (or other issues specific to Bouve). She also informed them that they
can contact the GPSA if they have any questions or assistance on how to create such a group.
College of Business, Accounting and Taxation:
1. IP Policy
a.Process mentioned to be profoundly flawed and built to serve faculty only.
b.The old policies have to be reviewed for the new College of Technological Entrepreneurship which is dedicated to innovation.
c.A designated student policy has to be put forth.
Arts and Sciences:
1. Dental insurance and medical insurance over the summer.
2. Obtaining doctor's appointment during the summer proved difficult as students not recognized by the University.
3. Computers unsupported.
4. No access to keys to buildings during weekends due to unavailability of keys to
Graduate students.
Computer and Information Science:
1. Not allowed to take courses on co-op which extends the period of study and hence graduation.
2. Standardization of rules regarding co-op for all the colleges.
3. Cannot take courses from other departments.
International Graduate students:
1. Work study/On campus jobs to be increased.
Finance:
1. Increase the conference cap for school year.
2. Come up with ideas to raise funding for more events.
The meeting was adjourned by President Chris Chanyasulkit and the new GPSA water bottles were distributed to the new senators.
Senators from the Finance committee and Student Affairs committee were asked to stay back for their respective committee
meetings that followed the Senate meeting.
The next Senate Meeting will be held on Thursday, October 18th at 2:40 PM 442 CSC and the senators will be sent a reminder
about the upcoming meeting.
