Special Presentation
Penn State Board of Trustees Chair Matthew Schuyler, Co-Chair of the Presidential Recruitment and Selection Committee David Kleppinger, and Student Representative of the Committee Erin Boas came to give an overview of the presidential search and selection process, and to answer questions from GPSA Delegates and members.
Executive Board Reports
In Executive Board reports, President Schönn Franklin mentioned his multiple meetings, starting with his meeting with Dean Vasilatos-Younkin (Graduate School) to talk about the need for a Development Officer for the Grad School and potential renovations in Kern. He had another meeting with Dean Houck (Penn State Law) to give an overview of GPSA’s mission, values, and general structure. Furthermore, he had a meeting with the Cox-State Department Fellows to discuss grad school life at Penn State and the Charles B. Rangel State Department Fellowship. He also had a meeting with the Alumni Association’s Awards Committee in which they selected the finalists for the Alumni Association Legislative award and Friend of Penn State Award.
Vice President Jalen Jeter had a meeting with the Office of Sexual Misconduct Prevention and Response on ways to revamp the student toolkit. He also had a meeting with the Student Fee Board to talk about options for funding different campus expansions in the coming years.
Treasurer Matt Billups shared that the annual allocation for the GPSA has reached our funding account, and said to reach out to him with questions about purchasing on behalf of GPSA.
Secretary Alex Zhao asked committee chairs to please send him attendance records after each committee meeting and to please let someone know if you are not coming to the meeting. He also said he will be sending out the newswire tomorrow so please submit any event announcements or graphics by noon.
Faculty Senator Lillian Schaeffer discussed the work that the Educational Equity Committee of the Faculty Senate is doing to increase student access to Title IX resources. She also mentioned her Student Caucus meeting to discuss making Election Day a non-instructional day and the overall Faculty Senate meeting.
Graduate Council Student Caucus Chair Claire Kelling was not present, but submitted a report mentioning how the Graduate Council was discussing vacation days. In addition, she mentioned upcoming town halls for candidates for the Graduate Dean position, the upcoming vaccine mandate for graduate and professional students on the University’s payroll, as well as a recent report about the closure of the School Psychology PhD program.
Speaker of the Assembly Sandeep Krishnakumar asked members to please fill out the attendance form if you can’t attend the meeting and that if you need a proxy to let him know. Chief Justice Sam Atland mentioned that the constitution was updated in accordance with Resolution 71-05 and the amended version is available in the shared drive.
New Business
The first item on the agenda was Bill 71-13 (IGSA Co-Sponsorship) which is a co-sponsorship request by the Indian Graduate Student Association (IGSA) for assistance hoping a Bollywood Night on November 13th. They are asking GPSA to help funding t-shirts and hoodies, the venue, and equipment. Voting took place and the bill passed.
Next up was Bill 71-14 (The 5th Annual Criminal Justice Reform Conference) which was a co-sponsorship request by the Criminal Law Society to co-sponsor the event, and it will require GPSA to cover food costs for students attending. Voting took place and the bill passed.
Reports:
- Advocacy and Diversity: Megan Minnich mentioned that they have a meeting tomorrow at 3 PM.
- Professional Development: David Desmet shared that the writing boot camp was completed this week and that the photos from the professional headshot event are being released now. He also added that Niladri met with the Graduate School Alumni Society (GSAS) to discuss the alumni mentorship program.
- Programming: Chair Ama Agyapong discussed that they are working on the tie-dye event for Nov 4th and the Grad Cup event starting November 1st.
- Community Outreach: Chair Ram Neupane mentioned that they met for the first time last week and they will meet this Friday to discuss an event for this semester.
- Internal Development: Chair Travis Russell shared they have not met recently and will schedule a meeting for soon.
Liaison Reports:
Alex Zhao, liaison to the Graduate Exhibition Committee, mentioned that the committee met last week and they are looking to do a virtual exhibition but also looking at tools to provide live and synchronous feedback.
Farhan Sadique, liaison to the Campus Recreation Student Advisory Board, mentioned that Campus Recreation is discussing monthly programs and to let him know if there are specific graduate and professional needs that you want to convey.