- Special guest Kelly Wolgast, Director of the COVID-19 Operations Control Center at Penn State, discussed the Return Home program which is the program where all students can access voluntary testing before they go home
- Graduate students that are staying past Nov. 19 are advised to self-quarantine during break as walk-up testing has ended today and appointment testing ends Nov. 19
- In Executive Reports, the President reminded everyone that the State College Borough Graduate/Professional Student Representative Application is open. This representative will sit in on the Borough meetings and represent the graduate and professional student population
- Graduate Council meetings will be opened up to the University community possibly starting in the Spring after logistics are figured out.
- Resolution 70-16 Constitutional Amendment (Membership Eligibility) was passed, this is to clear up Articles XI and XIII in the constitution that includes changing verbiage to align better with assembly powers given in the constitution.
- Resolution 70-17 Bylaws Amendment (Proxies) was passed. GPSA is hoping to be more clear about who can be a proxy and the process for a proxy. Some of the additions/changes are a proxy cannot be someone who is in GPSA except for the University Faculty Senator, delegates are encouraged to find a proxy in their college, and a few more details.
Kicking off the meeting was a special presentation by Kelly Wolgast, Director of the COVID-19 Operations Control Center at Penn State. She discussed the Return Home program which is the program where all students can access voluntary testing before they go home. Graduate students that are staying past Nov. 19 are advised to self-quarantine during break as walk-up testing has ended today and appointment testing ends Nov. 19. However, employees in Return to work (RTW) can opt-in for future voluntary testing.
A few questions were about what after Thanksgiving break is going to look like and testing for Spring 2021. So far, Penn State is gathering information on how many students will be back after Thanksgiving Break, and it looks like few students will be back so far so testing will evolve with that on who and how often will students and faculty be tested. Testing before coming back to campus in January will not be focused on just highly concentrated areas with COVID-19 but everyone for every area will be considered for return to campus testing.
In Executive Reports, the President reminded everyone that the State College Borough Graduate/Professional Student Representative Application is open. This representative will sit in on the Borough meetings and represent the graduate and professional student population. A meeting with the Board of Trustees will be this Friday.
The next Faculty Senate meeting will be in December. There will be no SRTE’s this semester. Graduate Council meetings will be opened up to the University community possibly starting in the Spring after logistics are figured out.
In Old Business, Resolution 70-16 Constitutional Amendment (Membership Eligibility) was passed, this is to clear up articles 11 and 13 in the constitution that includes changing verbiage to align better with assembly powers given in the constitution.
Resolution 70-17 Bylaws Amendment (Proxies) was passed. GPSA is hoping to be more clear about who can be a proxy and the process for a proxy. Some of the additions/changes are a proxy cannot be someone who is in GPSA except for the University Faculty Senator, delegates are encouraged to find a proxy in their college, and a few more details.
In committee reports, the Advocacy and Diversity Committee discussed how they can increase mental health awareness on campus and beginning an inquiry of what mental health looks like across the graduate student body and thinking about wellness seminars, trainings, and more. The Professional Development Committee is continuing their work on the future mentoring program. For the Programming Committee, the pottery event registration is still open and first-time applicants will be given priority. The Thanksgiving Basket Drive will just be collecting gift cards this year due to COVID-19.
The student trustee is looking to get more details on the Board of Trustee’s Diversity goals for 2025 to answer questions coming from GPSA members.