Graduate News – April 7th 2002

Archives

April 16, 2002

Student Government

FAU‘s recent round of elections has produced a new crop of leaders. Bonnie Benson – Boca’s hope for graduate representation in Student Government – didn’t get enough votes in the Student Government elections to win a senate seat.

Student government will be led by Pablo Paez, who will take over for Mukarram Mawjood. Paez will inherit a student government that is almost broke. However, thanks to the thousands of dollars that SG has spent on furniture for its offices, and golf carts for its members – SG‘s newly elected leaders will have comfortable places to sit.

BGC calls for members

Graduate Students who take classes on the Broward Campuses are being invited to serve on Broward Graduate Council. It meets once per month, but has a variety of projects you can work on if you have more time to give. It is also responsible for voting on Broward’s grant applications (Broward has funded nearly 50 students this year).

Contact the Grad Council Chair, Randy Goin, at [email protected] if you are interested in joining. BGC currently has one seat open.

GSA gets new officers

The Graduate Student Association elected its new leadership last week. GSA‘s new president is Janna Taft, who has been involved with FAU‘s graduate groups for over three years. Formerly Graduate Grants Committee Chair for two years, she was one of the founders of the Agency for Graduate Concerns, where she served as Grants / Information Coordinator in 2001, and was GSA‘s vice president until this election.

GSA‘s new vice president is Lindsey Hamilton, a graduate student in Business Administration. Donna Chamely stays on as secretary, and GSA‘s new treasurer is Marien Abreu from the Mathematics Department.

To fund or not to fund?

The Boca Graduate Grants Committee is facing some tough decisions in the next few weeks. Its newly elected officers (who will be announced at the GGC End of Year Conference on April 9th) take their seats on a committee that is in dire financial straits.

GGC is currently debating what to do with the additional five and a half thousand dollars it secured from Student Government a couple of weeks ago. With current grant applications totaling twice that amount, and three months remaining of the fiscal year, GGC may have to rethink the way it awards its money to applicants.

Until now GGC has awarded funds on a first-come first-served basis to all eligible requests and it never ran out of money before the end of the year. But now things have changed: More advertising has meant more applications, and with inflation pushing up the prices of conference registrations, plane tickets and hotel rooms, funds are going to continue to be stretched tighter and tighter.

Running out of money can be viewed in a couple of ways: Either GGC has done a great job of funding graduate students, or it is guilty of financial mismanagement. GGC‘s purpose is to provide grants so students can present their work at conferences, attend conferences and meetings and purchase equipment for their research. Many students have benefited from this service, but many more will not be able to do so – because GGC is out of cash.

With a little extra money from Student Government to tide it over till July, GGC is thinking about changing its operating procedures and the way it funds applicants: It may choose to continue to fund students as before, giving out the maximum it can to everyone who applies in the order in which the requests come in. It may choose to amend the maximum amounts that it can award, reducing them from their current levels. Lastly it might alter its procedures regarding who can receive an award. But beyond the changing of rules, it might also have to consider the individual merits of the applicants who request funds from the committee.

Until now GGC could award everyone who applied, but now it might have to choose who it funds and who it doesn’t fund. GGC‘s rules state who it can and cannot fund, but its committee structure allows it to weigh up other evidence beyond whether a student is presenting at a conference or just attending one. Applicants might find themselves having to compete for funds- just like they and their advisors have to do in the real world. Student Government have applied spending limits on GGC for 2002/03 so that the agency may spend only half its funds in the first half of the fiscal year. However, increases in applications mean that unless GGC does something it will run out of money early in the semester, which will mean everyone will have to apply earlier and earlier for money.

An obvious analogy can be made with other funding agencies and charities – Do you give all you can until you run out of money, or do you give to the most worthy causes? And who decides who is worthy, who gets the money and how they get it? In the end it falls to the committee to make these decisions. If you wish to contribute to the debate you might care to send an email to Lorinda Wood, chair of the GGC ([email protected]) or to the GGC‘s officers ([email protected]).

BGC hosts Protocol Dinner

Broward Graduate Council has reported having record attendance for its 4th Annual Professional Protocol Dinner. The event was held on March 21st at the Doubletree Oceanfront Hotel on Fort Lauderdale Beach and was attended by nearly a hundred students and faculty.

The focus of the event was business protocol, and the guest speaker Jacqueline Whitmore spoke to the crowd about business dining etiquette, good networking, and international business customs. Broward Career Services and FAU Broward Graduate council put together the event, which was well received.

There were a number of special guests at the event including Marion Merzer – Associate Dean of Student Affairs, Dr. David Prosperi – Associate Dean of the College of Architecture, Urban and Public Affairs, Karen Esteves – Assistant Director of Student Affairs, and Dr. Sohyun Lee.

Events:

Broward Graduate Council Meeting:

Late April, Time & Location TBA

Graduate Student Association & Graduate Grants Committee Meeting

Thursday, April 25, 2002

10:30am-12:30 p.m. University Center, 2nd Flr., Royal Palm Room, Boca campus

Planning Graduate Projects and Events & Voting on GGC grants; Everyone welcome!

Contact: [email protected]

Fall 2002 Graduate Orientation

Tuesday, August 20, 2002

4-6 p.m. University Center, Grand Palm Room, Boca campus

FAU Service Tables, Academic & Social Support; Everyone welcome!