graduate student association northwestern university · student blood services •helped to...
TRANSCRIPT
www.NUGSA.com
Graduate Student Association
Northwestern University
Presentation to The Graduate School
23 June 2010
www.NUGSA.com
Introduction
• Graduate Student Association– Advocates for students on the Evanston and Chicago campuses
– Fosters relationships between graduate students, the university as a
whole, and the surrounding communities
• Officers, 2009-2010– Patrick Ryan, President
– Louise Edwards, Secretary
– Eric Berns, Treasurer
– Alex Spokoynyy, Operations Chair
– Goher Mahmud, Advocacy Chair
– Kate Newbold, Social Chair
– Paula Tallman, Service Chair
– Sara Armstrong, Communications Officer
www.NUGSA.com
Meeting Outline
• Opportunities for 2009-2010 academic year
• Financial Seminars (Eric)
• Service Projects (Louise)
• Social Events (Kate)
• New GSA Website (Alex)
• NU Mamas (Sara)
• Advocacy Issues (Patrick)
• Other Initiatives/Partnerships (All)
• Looking Forward
www.NUGSA.com
2009-2010 Opportunities for GSA
• Graduate/undergraduate relationships
• Getting graduate students more engaged with
Northwestern, Evanston, and Chicago
communities
• Ease of finding information / Transparency
• Accomplishing goals for main advocacy issues
www.NUGSA.com
Financial Seminars
• “How To Get Started Investing” Seminar - Aug. 20, 2009
• Co-sponsored with US Bank
• Well-attended; room was filled to capacity
• Tax Information Seminar - March 11, 2010
• Presentation by Angie Gwinn, NU Payroll Tax Compliance Supervisor
• Slides from presentation are posted on GSA website
www.NUGSA.com
1. Halloween Party with
Women’s Club of
Evanston
2. The Cradle Adoption
Agency
3. Mather Pavilion: Lecture
Series
4. Blood Drives
Service Projects
www.NUGSA.com
Halloween Party: Fairy Tale Trails
•Held at Women’s Club of
Evanston on Oct. 23, 2009
•Students dressed up as
fairy tale characters to
entertain children
•Students went out for
pizza afterwards to
discuss experience
•Combination of service
and social activities
Service Projects
www.NUGSA.com
Cradle Adoption Agency
•Saturday, March 6th 2010: The Cradle Day of ART
•Volunteers were integral to the event’s success
•Communicated volunteer opportunities for Night of
Promise fundraiser and Open House in May
•Look forward to more collaborations in future
Service Projects
www.NUGSA.com
Mather Pavilion Outreach
•Connected graduate student
volunteers with Mather Pavilion
to give presentations on their
research at Northwestern.
•Aim was to help students
prepare their research material
for an audience who may not
be familiar with the topic
•Was also useful to connect the
surrounding community with
the university; very positive
feedback from residents and
staff. The presentations are usually 15-20 minutes,
and students can often chat with the
residents afterwards. It’s a great experience!
Service Projects
www.NUGSA.com
Student Blood Services
•Helped to communicate
blood drives to graduate
student population for past
two years
•Has led to a significant
increase in total donation
numbers
•Free cholesterol checks for
volunteers who donate
•Also attend meetings with
undergraduates to provide
ideas and make suggestions
Service Projects
www.NUGSA.com
Social Events
Monthly Happy Hours
• Offered every month during the fall and winter
quarters, at bars across Evanston and in Chicago
– Tied into an activity, usually either a sporting event
(Bears game, Olympics), or bar trivia
– Advertised mainly to TGS students
• Goal: to build social, cultural, and intellectual ties
across Northwestern
• Attendance was low in the winter, so we’re
looking to co-sponsor happy hours for next year
www.NUGSA.com
Social Events
GSA/KSA 2009 Tailgate
• Partnered with the Kellogg Student Association
to tailgate for the NU vs. Indiana game
• Over 100 graduate students participated!
• Since this event, we have maintained open and
strong levels of communication with KSA:
– Advertising each other’s events
– Inviting both groups to all GSA and KSA social events
– Garnering volunteer support for social activities
www.NUGSA.com
Social Events
Intramural Sports
• We signed up five intramural teams to play in the spring quarter– 2 soccer teams, 2 ultimate teams, 1 softball team
• Over 40 graduate students participated in IM sports on a GSA team
• Maintaining participation and finding captains was a challenge - this may be another area for co-sponsorship or partnership with KSA or MGLC for next year
www.NUGSA.com
Social Events
GSA 2010 5K/10K
• Sponsored by The Graduate School, via a CBG
• Benefiting The Cradle, a local adoption agency
• This year, added 10K and Stroller Walk options
• 284 students, family and friends signed up – Many from Kellogg and the Chicago campus attended
the event
• Final figures:– Money raised for The Cradle: $1,121.00 in 58 gifts
– Actual Attendance: 125-150 people
www.NUGSA.com
Social Events
GSA 2010 5K/10K cont’d.
• The low ratio of sign-up to actual attendance for the past 2 years suggests that, in the future, we should expect about 50-55% participation rates when planning this event
• We currently have a post-race survey out to those who signed up for the event– Most importantly, we want to find out why people
signed up but did not attend!
• This feedback will be used to keep next year’s costs lower and to improve attendance
www.NUGSA.com
Social Events
GSA 2010 5K/10K Photos
www.NUGSA.com
Social Events
Summer Social Events
• Want to hold one or two events this summer:– Beach barbecue with outdoor games
– NU trivia: how well do you know your school?
• Will partner with MGLC, CGSA, or KSA for these events, to continue to build community across Northwestern
• Will also use these events to introduce new social chair(s) to the GSA and to the larger graduate student community
www.NUGSA.com
New GSA Website
• New NUGSA website
– www.nugsa.com
– Have records of all previous meeting minutes and
presentation slides
– Can read results of graduate student survey, as well as
individual comments
– Summary of initiatives and events
– Past events section as well
– Under resources tab, pdf files of various topics relevant
to graduate students
www.NUGSA.com
NU-Mamas
provides a place for graduate student
mothers to gather, ask questions, and share
advice and strategies about the unique
challenges of raising children while
successfully negotiating graduate school.
www.NUGSA.com
Community Building Events
• Twice Monthly Informal Meetings
• Solving the Picker Eating Problem
with Elena Marre from The Kids Table
• Graduate Student/Faculty Breakfast
www.NUGSA.com
www.NUGSA.com
Coming Up This Summer
• June 24- Mothers’ Lunch
• July TBA- Developmentally Appropriate Play for
Toddlers
• August 14- Graduate Family Picnic
www.NUGSA.com
Connections to Advocacy
Graduate student parents share their concerns.
GSA writes a letter to TGS on behalf of graduate
student parents. (in process)
TGS hosts graduate student parent forum. (hopefully in 2010-11)
www.NUGSA.com
Advocacy Issues
• Pharmacy
– Open at NU Health Services
– Offers prescription and non-prescription medication
tax-free and at lower cost than other pharmacies
– Open for use for students on health insurance plan
– Question included in graduate student survey helped
to publicize its availability
– 52% responded they would now use the pharmacy
since they didn’t know about it beforehand
– Issue raised during GLC presentation to Board of
Trustees in December; open indefinitely
www.NUGSA.com
Advocacy Issues
• Business Cards
– All McCormick students who pass their qualifying
exam get free business cards
– GSA believes all graduate students could benefit from
an extended program
– Currently working with TGS to streamline process for
all schools (Weinberg, etc.)
– Increase visibility of NU students at job fairs and
conferences
www.NUGSA.com
Advocacy Issues
• Wildcards for partners of graduate students
– Currently spouses of staff can have Wildcards
– Working with TGS to include partners of students
– Many benefits:
http://www.univsvcs.northwestern.edu/WildCARDAdv/
– Currently, spouses have access to all libraries during
business hours, subsidized membership at SPAC, and on-
campus ATMs through US Bancorp
– Currently working towards shuttle pass for off-peak hours
– Ongoing collaboration with TGS
www.NUGSA.com
Advocacy Issues
• Seabury Student Space
– GSA wrote letter to TGS about creating a designated
graduate student space; Town Hall Meeting in fall
– West Campus Room 250 (across from Ford)
– TGS ordering new furniture to transform classroom into
multipurpose room
– Important to put new space to good use
– Telling students to schedule meetings and events once
it is available!
– Pictures on next slide
www.NUGSA.com
Advocacy Issues
www.NUGSA.com
Advocacy Issues
• Expectations Document
– GLC and GSA have submitted a document which lays
out expectations for advisor-student relationships,
departments and graduate programs, and TGS
– Final stages of submission to TGS
– Goal is to outline ways to maintain a community of
scholars
– Once finalized, document must be approved by faculty
committee to become official university policy
www.NUGSA.com
Advocacy Issues
• Conflict Resolution
– GSA and GLC has recognized the need to streamline
the conflict resolution process, especially at the
department level
– Submitted a letter to Dean Wachtel about changing TGS
policy to make departments communicate openly
procedures for addressing such matters
– Hope to ensure a level playing field
www.NUGSA.com
Other Initiatives/Partnerships
• Career Services
– Administration recognizes need to improve UCS and
their approach to graduate students
– Meeting held in mid-February between TGS, UCS,
and the GLC
– Only 750 of 3,000 students registered in CareerCat
– Need more people to register
– “Preparing Future Experts”- Wednesday, April 21st in
Ford ITW Classroom, 12-1:30pm
– Attended by over 80 students
– Slides from presentation posted on website
www.NUGSA.com
Other Initiatives/Partnerships
Community Research Workshop- May 14th in Norris
• Teamed with the Center for Civic
Engagement to host 1st Annual
Community Research Workshop
• Attended by over 80 students in
Chicagoland area
• Aimed to clarify strategies to better
connect research with communities
• Diverse set of panelists, from
engineering to sociology
• Very positive feedback, will
continue to aid in planning for next
year’s event
www.NUGSA.com
Other Initiatives/Partnerships
– Received funding through CBG to host
panel which would encourage
undergrads to pursue graduate study
– Panel of 4 students and 2
administrators
– Teaming with ASG to publicize event
– Wednesday, May 5th at 4pm in Norris
– Graduate students from various
backgrounds
– PhD Preparation Program has similar
goals
– Communicated this program to
students who registered for our panel
Graduate Student Panel
www.NUGSA.com
Looking Forward
• National Association of Graduate-Professional
Students (NAGPS)- submitted proposal to
Strategic Plan Committee
• Holding informational sessions during orientation
• Conflict resolution (topic in GLC annual survey)
• More feedback from international student
population
• Contacted by the International Office to help incoming
students; more effective communication
• Website for housing opportunities
www.NUGSA.com
Acknowledgements
•The Graduate School
•The Graduate Leadership Council
•The Center for Civic Engagement
Questions? Contact the GSA!
www.NUGSA.com