Special Presentation
Vice President for Student Affairs Damon Sims gave a special presentation on his work and updates on this school year. He started by talking about GPSA, and the impact the work the organization does has on Penn State. He said he now has a part-time role in his office to keep track of things happening with the student governments. Sims also detailed how there are high vaccination rates, the positive impact of being in-person, and how he wants to help GPSA target the stress that has been caused by in-person teaching this year. He then touched on diversity and how GPSA reflects the diversity of the graduate and professional student body in a way that all organizations should have.
Executive Board Reports
In Executive Board reports, President Schönn Franklin shared how he recently had a meeting with the Graduate School Alumni Society (GSAS) and the Associate Dean of the Graduate School on ways they can collaborate on professional development. He also added how there were 10 candidates for the new Dean of the Graduate School moving on to interviews. Furthermore, he shared details about his meeting with the Strategic Planning Oversight Committee which touched on initiatives for K-12 educators and sustainability goals. President Franklin also met with Brian Patchoski, AVP of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), in which they discussed ways to structure DEI programming, as well as the representation that underrepresented minorities have on campus. To finish off, there was a discussion around in-person meetings for GPSA’s next Assembly meeting and an informal vote took place, with the result that the Assembly will have hybrid meetings going forward.
Vice President Jalen Jeter shared how he had a Legal and Compliance meeting that discussed intellectual property, risks related to foreign influence on research, and legal issues with anti-discrimination. He also met with Damon Sims, discussing mental health and the possibility of a vaccine campaign.
Treasurer Matt Billups shared that there is a OneDrive folder named Treasurer Information which explains the contacting process, and a PowerPoint with useful information. Secretary Alex Zhao asked Committee chairs to please send him attendance records after each committee meeting. He also said he will be sending out the newswire tomorrow so please submit any event announcements or graphics by noon.
Faculty Senate Ali Watts shared the next senate meeting will be October 19th. Graduate Council, Claire Kelling had nothing to report.
New Business
The following presidential nominations were confirmed and appointed.
- Lillian Schaeffer, a 2nd year master’s student in the School of International Affairs (SIA), introduced herself and talked about why she would like to be the faculty senator for GPSA. Voting took place and she was confirmed as the GPSA Faculty Senator.
- Tanveer Ahmed, a 1st year PhD student in Civil Engineering, introduced himself, shared his undergrad experience and why he wanted to be a Delegate for the College of Engineering. Voting took place and he was confirmed to be a Delegate.
Additionally, Arnab Chatterjee introduced himself, shared his past experiences and why he wanted to be a Delegate for the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. However, due to technical issues with Zoom, a vote on his confirmation was postponed.
The next item was Bill 71-10 (Tie Dye Class), which would authorize the Programming Committe to put on a class where students can learn how to tie-dye shirts from an instructor. Voting took place and the bill passed.
The next item was Bill 71-11 (PRIDE Brunch), which will tentatively take place October 16th at Sunset Park. There is currently an expected attendance of 15 to 30 people. Voting took place and the bill passed.
Next was Resolution 71-05 (Presidential Veto Powers). This resolution would address an issue where the GPSA ByLaws says that constitutional amendments cannot be vetoed while the GPSA Constitution does not. As this was a constitutional amendment, it was tabled under the next Assembly meeting in accordance with procedures.
Next was Resolution 71-06 (VP at Board of Trustees Meetings), which would authorize the Vice President to attend meetings and boards in absence of the GPSA President. This resolution passed.
Reports
Sandeep Krishnakumar started by giving appreciation to the Programming Committee as well as Alex for hosting the GPSA Welcome Back Picnic on Sunday. He also reminded everyone to fill out the absentee form if they will be absent from the meeting. He mentioned that he doesn’t want GPSA to be a stress factor so he will be sending a survey about stress levels.
- Advocacy and Human Diversity: Chair Shah Soligné shared that the RIDEPass survey is live and to please advertise it. As well as he shared he had a meeting with UPUA, the Vice President of Student Care and Advocacy, and Housing and Food Services to discuss ways of lowering food plan prices.
- Professional Development: Chair Niladri Sekhar Mandal thanked everyone involved with the planning of the writing boot camp, as well as David, Ram and Farhan for their support in the committee. He added there will be feedback forms for the boot camp since it is a learning experience. Lastly, he added that the professional headshots event is still scheduled to occur in October, but the collaboration with Smeal got pushed back.
- Programming: No report
- Community Outreach: No report
- Internal Development: Chair Travis Rusell shared that their next meeting is next Tuesday.
Liaison Reports
Eli Fields, liaison to Student Legal Services, shared that a 30 minute module on the rights and responsibilities of tenants will be going live.
Ali Watts, liaison to the Student Insurance Advisory Board (SIAB) shared details of their meeting. Originally the SIAB was planning on a request for proposals (RFP) for health insurance plans, but have decided to stick with United Healthcare and they are negotiating with them about the next contract.
Farhan Sadique, liaison to the Campus Rec Advisory Council, is working to provide graduate and professional students with more opportunities through Campus Rec.
Frankie Urrutia-Smith, liaison to the University Libraries Advisory Board, shared details of their recent meeting, which discussed how library employees working remotely have had an impact on student access to resources. She added that the board was very interested in hearing both positive and negative feedback from graduate and professional students, and that if anyone had such feedback she would bring it up to the board.