EAPS Graduate Student Advisory Council
meetings
Meeting Minutes: 14 April, 2003
Hello folks,
The April EGSAC meeting was held yesterday at noon in room 1017. Here's
what went on:
1. Most exciting news EVER - the official EAPS trip to see the cinematic
and geophysical masterpiece "The Core" is happening this coming Friday.
This is going to be a really great event, kids, so come on out with us
this Friday. There will be a special pre-Core peer hour and dinner
starting at 6:30 in the IGL, and then we'll head over to Boston Common
for
the 9:05 showing. Hope to see you there!
2. Other upcoming events: Dave Stuebe has graciously agreed to organize
the annual spring picnic, which will hopefully be held at the East Campus
barbeque pits. More info to come. The summer WHOI softball picnic is still
in need of organizer(s). This really needs to be a WHOI person, so if
you
are willing to volunteer yourself or a friend (or an enemy) to organize
this, please let Lindsay (schoenbl@mit.edu) know. We are also going to
need someone to organize the Long Pond weekend for next fall. Also, a
trip
to see a Red Sox game sometime next month is going to happen, I'll be
organizing that one. (I'm thinking maybe Sox vs. Royals on Thursday, May
1, but I'll keep you posted on details.) Also, organization for the new
graduate student mentoring program is ongoing; thanks to Melanie Fewings
for spearheading this.
3. Our latest graduate student meeting with Ron Prinn was successful (if
a little long); we drew a large crowd of students. The topic of discussion
was the hiring and tenure process in EAPS in particular and in academia
in
general. A major suggestion from students at the meeting was to increase
student involvement in hiring decisions, either informally (soliciting
student opinion on candidates) or more formally (having graduate students
serve on search committeees). These suggestions were met with a rather
lukewarm reception, but Ron did say that he would take it up with the
faculty. We are planning to have one more student meeting with Ron towards
the end of the semester. Possible topics: Ph.D. success and attrition
rates in the department, graduate student funding...
4. Education Office-related news: Kerim and Payal are meeting with Vicki
McKenna next week to discuss the results of Vicki's ergonomics survey
and
to plot a course of action. Also, Vicki held a CV workshop for graduate
students recently (although this was somewhat sparsely attended, we think
this may be due to last-minute advertising). We will encourage Vicki to
hold another workshop in September; in the meantime, Vicki is a great
resource for getting one-on-one help in crafting a CV.
5. IM Sports update - EAPS IM sports teams continue to do well, although
we recently had to forfeit a volleyball game due to lack of players. :(
Also, IM Czar Kate reminds us that it is not humanly possible for her
to
captain every EAPS sports team... If there's a group of people who want
to
play a given sport, that's great, but somebody has got to step up and
be
captain. Same goes for volunteering to ref games, OK?
6. Finally, it was decided at the meeting that we really need to get this
students concerns statement done and into the hands of the faculty, who
will then read it and respond promptly and sensitively to all our
concerns. So - PLEASE get your group statements to Lindsay ASAP, and the
final, absolute, written-in-stone deadline for finishing your group
statements is MONDAY, APRIL 28. We definitely want to hear from every
group that wants to submit a statement - just get it done ASAP! By April
28 at the latest!!!
OK, I think that is about it. Please come see The Core with us, it's going
to be a great time. And even if you can't come to see the movie, come
for
the special pre-movie dinner peer hour. Numbers at peer hour have been
rather sparse lately, so everybody come this week, OK?
Cheers,
Maureen (your very own EGSAC secretary)
---------------------------------------------
Maureen D. Long
Department of Earth, Atmospheric, & Planetary Sciences
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Office: 54-517A
Office Phone: 617-253-0741
Email: mlong@mit.edu
updated: fall 2004