General Council Meeting
February 8, 2011
Minutes
Attendance by Sign In
Anthropology: Ieva Tretjuka
Biological Sciences: Nathan Brouwer
Chemistry: Brian Graham
Classics: Nic Thorne, Mike Mello
Communication: David lands
Comp. Science: Roxana Gheorghiu, Panickos Neophytou
Economics:
English: Kate Pendlebury
French & Italian: Karen Adams
Geology: Bobby Karimi
Germanic: Carrie Carlson
Hispanic:
History: Liz Molnar
H.A.A.: Alexandra Oliver
H.P.S.: Julia Bursten
Intel. Systems: Matthias Grabmair
Linguistics: Kristopher Geda, Katherine Martin
Mathematics: Tracy Stepien
Music: Ben Harris
Neuroscience:
Philosophy: Brandon Hogan
Physics: Mark Steger
Political Science: Ben Melusky
Psychology: Megan Julian, Alba Tuninetti
Religious Studies: David Givens
Slavic:
Sociology: Matt Landry
Statistics: Suangyan Xiong
Theatre Arts: David Wright
I. Call to Order
by President Morand-Metivier at 6:00pm
II. Approval of Minutes from January 25, 2011 General Council Meeting
Minutes approved with no changes, 6:01pm
III. Additions to Agenda
No Additions
IV. Executive Council Reports
A. President Charles-Louis Morand-Metivier:
1.University Senate Council Meeting held 2/2/2011
a.The Chronicle of Higher Education ranked Pitt among universities with highest graduation rate;
most veteran-friendly. Pitt received award from Institute of Chinese Studies; Reuters ranked Pitt among universities
with highest rate of research publications.
b. Board of Trustees approved $110M in renovations: 50M for Salk Hall; 14M each for 12th floor
of Vascular Institute and Benedum; and 6M for labs upgrades.
c. Nancy Condee of the Slavic department, was named the 1st director of the Global Studies
Center.
d. Black History month exhibitions going on all month; 2/25: Honors Convocation with Provost
Beeson; 2/15: University Pride Day in Harrisburg (lobbying for Pennsylvania schools).
B. Vice-President Katie Moriarty
Tax workshop has a $100.00 budget. Has not received any response from either H&R Block or PhD
students in the business school. So, if the tax workshop doesn’t happen or is less formal (i.e. a grad student available to
answer questions), perhaps we could organize an A&S graduate studies session on ETDs and other business matters to
complete before graduation from Pitt.
A&S GSO minutes, February 15, 2011. AJS
Kris Geda: Philippa Carter from Grad Studies came to Linguistics and gave out a handy info packet—she might be
able to do the same for a GSO program.
Katie: It would also be nice to get some recent grads from Pitt or new professors at Pitt to come and talk about
the job market.
Roxana Gheorghiu: so, what is the status of the tax workshop?
Katie: there is no date set because I haven’t received contact from anyone I’ve reached out to regarding running
the workshop. More info is forthcoming.
Ben Harris: How about a local accounting firm?
Katie: I will look into that too.
C. Administrative Assistant Adrienne Spillar
Two departments have not maintained the constitution’s policy of attending at least every other
meeting or maintaining a 50% attendance rate (Dr. Carr and I agreed this was a fair way of practically implementing the
policy): Philosophy which has attended ONE meeting and Slavic which has attended two.
Julia Bursten: Since Kathryn was so active in the GSO and constitutional amendment processes last year,
I don’t think she’d have anticipated this situation.
Mark Steger: Motion to freeze accounts until next meeting. (6:15).
Kate Pendlebury: Shouldn’t students who don’t get to use funds be able to opt out of paying student activity
fees?
Julia Bursten: Not possible as student activity fees are paid by all students and only a portion of those fees goes
to GSO.
6:18: Table discussion until new business.
D. Faculty Advisor Dr. Carr:
Unable to attend due to illness. No report.
V. Committees
A. GPSA (Graduate and Professional Student Assembly):
Kris Geda: Quiet except for election preparations. Reminder, there are 5 executive positions up for grabs. The
new VP position is programming. There is some work involved but it is a good opportunity to meet people and get
involved. Small stipend related to President and VP positions.
David Givens: the GPSA elections web site will be up soon. See GPSA Bulletin for more information about offices.
You can also email David at pittgpsa@gmail.com for more info.
David Givens is running for VP of Committees; GPSA needs A&S support to ensure our needs are represented.
Alex Oliver: VP of Programming was created due to the sizable attendance at events. You will work with others
to plan both social and academic activities.
This Friday, 2/11 is the Int’l Potluck Competition 6-9 on the 6th floor of the WPU. Participants include local
restaurants and individuals; tickets ahead of time: $3—students, $6—faculty/staff; $5 day of.
Charles-Louis: Are these VP positions “full-time”?
Alex: You get a stipend at the end of each term, not a paycheck, but some weeks will involve more work hours
than others. It is primarily a voluntary position.
David: The Administrative Assistant position for GPSA is also open; resume, cover letter are due 2/16. Contact
pittgpsa@gmail.com for more information.
B. Grad Expo:
David Givens: Held meeting to work out panels last Friday. Need Judges to volunteer!!!! Ask friendly
faculty if they’d be interested. The reputation of the A&S and GSO are on the line!
Julia Bursten: Do we need Moderators?
Adrienne: We’ve done the panels with and without. We received complaints last year from some judges
who didn’t want to also moderate, so we’re trying to get some moderators to help.
Nathan Brouwer: Can presenters also judge?
Adrienne: As long as it’s for a different panel with no “conflict of interest.”
David Wright: I’ve heard complaints from students about judge feedback…do they actually get it?
A&S GSO minutes, February 15, 2011. AJS
Adrienne: I can only speak about last year, when I made sure to send all feedback to students’ campus
mailboxes.
Alex: In the final Grad Expo summary report, we will provide suggestions for next year.
C. Teaching Awards:
Katherine Martin: Lots of nominations have been received; nominations end Feb 11, 2011.
Put 4 ads in the PITT news to advertise to undergraduates; sent emails to grad and undergraduate
secretaries; Stories about teaching awards in the Pitt Chronicle.
Probably received about 150 total nominations
There is about one month from the application due date until the announcement of winners—we need
more help to review applications. Email Katherine at kim20@pitt.edu to volunteer.
All the application material will be electronic!
Alex Oliver: Is there a faculty advisor for the committee?
Katherine: there are 2: Dean Carr and Carol Washburn, both of whom served on the committee last year.
Brian: How many nominations were received last year?
Katie M: Maybe around 65 different people were nominated and 51 applied.
D. Social Events:
Bobby Karimi: CMU backed out of co-organizing event so the clipper ship idea is scrapped. Still talking
to Sing-Sing trying to work out a date/time/deals.
E. Website: Michael Lipschultz, Ryan Moore: working on the application form for Teaching Awards.
***See new web site: www.as.pitt.edu/gso/ ***
F. External A&S Committees:
a. A&S Council: Katie Moriarty: no report because no meeting.
b. A&S PBC: Megan Julian: no report.
c. A&S Grad Council: Kris Geda: meeting cancelled.
VI. Old or Unfinished Business
VII. New Business
Meeting Attendance revisited.
Bobby Karimi: So what are the specifics of the meeting attendance problem?
Adrienne: Slavic has attended 2/6 meetings thus far, and, since the philosophy rep is in attendance tonight, they
have attended 2/6.
Mark Steger: We amended the constitution to give the GSO council leverage to deal with departments who fail
to attend meetings. We should use it.
Bobby: Motion to rescind both departments’ funds.
Karen: What happens with the funds?
Adrienne: If departments are voted on by the GSO council as non-participatory or non-active, their funds may be
absorbed into the general account and dispersed according to the wishes of the council.
Nic Thorne: How much money are we talking about?
Adrienne: Slavic has about $500.00 and Philosophy has about $1000.00.
Julia: Is the purpose of the constitution to simply “stick it to” departments and get their money or to encourage
attendance?
Julia motions to freeze funds for Philosophy and Slavic until the April meeting and, contingent upon their
attendance at the March and April meetings, either unfreeze accounts or vote to rescind funds.
Alex: Hold on! What about parliamentary procedure? There are three motions on the table…can this even
happen? What about the other motions?
Adrienne: Good point, Alex…this isn’t following strict parliamentary procedure, but, since Julia’s motion
considers both previous motions and takes into account constitution, if no one objects, that can be the motion that
stands.
Motion is seconded and carries by majority vote (6:55pm).
VIII. Announcements
A&S GSO minutes, February 15, 2011. AJS
VIX. Having no further business, President calls for motion to adjourn meeting
Meeting adjourned, 6:57pm.
Addendum and Correction from Administrative Assistant, Adrienne Spillar on 2/09/2011:
After double checking my records, I noticed I misspoke about Slavic. That department has actually attended 3
meetings. I emailed the GSO general council to make them aware of my mistake and proposed that, since the Slavic
department’s attendance is 50%, then their funds cannot be frozen. No departmental delegates disagreed with this
proposal .
However, Economics has only attended 2 meetings and so is the department at risk of losing funds. I have
emailed the reps of the Economics department to inform them of their attendance situation and the necessity of their
attendance in March and April to maintain control of their funds.
A&S GSO minutes, February 15, 2011. AJS