GSA Treasurers Report 3/7/14 – Jessica Aubin
- Attached is the updated budget report for 2/1/14 that includes the corrections of
allocation amounts for Eboard stipends.
- All RGSO's should be trained on the new online voucher process, if you need a pdf
version of the directions they are available.
- Spring budgets are now included on myinvolvement. Each of your budget lines
should resemble the allocated amount on your award letter. If there are
discrepancies please let me know ASAP.
- All groups need to make sure their myinvolvement group page is up to date and
registered. Many, even if registered in the fall, will need to reregister their page
for the spring. Additionally, all RGSO's should have 1-2 financial reps for their
RGSO that were given access to the system. (Look for the Finance tab on the lower
left hand corner) If you do not have access to this you will not be able to submit
for reimbursement. Please let me know ASAP if you do not have this.
- All fall bills have now went through the system. Per emails from Kat they should
have been submitted at the start of the semester. Any bill not submitted for the
fall at this point will not be processed, if you have questions email Kat or myself.
Do not submit old bills from the fall allocations through the new system.
Budget as of 3/1/14 attached
Budget as of 2/1/14 attached
Amended Treasurer’s report for approval from February 7th:
GSA
Budget as
of 2/1/13
July 1, 2013June 30,
2014
Revenue
Projected
Revenue:
$194,788
UAS Cash:
$30,000
Actual
Revenue:
$101,106
Actual
$108,606
Budget:
Contingenc
y Budget:
Total:
$22,500
Total
Allocated:
$87,552
Total Paid
as of 2/1/14
$75,685
$202,288
Expenses
Budget
Services
GSA Direct
Sponsor
Events:
Notes
$3,447
$3,447
RGSO:
$35,000
$10,690
$8,938
MCAA:
$6,000
$1,279
$1,079
Programmin
g:
$6,000
$1,600
$450
$35,000
$22,000
$15,755
GSA
Orientation
Picnic:
$2,000
$2,000
$2,000
GSA End of
Year Event:
$2,000
GSA
Assembly
Meetings:
$1,000
Total:
$93,000
Budget
Operations
Stipends
Paid
$6,000
Grants:
Office
Allocated
$105
$41,016
Allocated
$31,774
Paid
Notes
New
Computers
$6,000
$4,130
$1,880
Copier and
Printers
$35,000
$18,200
$18,172
Telephone
and Fax
$1,000
$470
$470
Organizatio
n Liability
Insurance
$1,000
$886
$886
Office
Supplies
$15,000
$2,600
$2,253
Total:
$58,000
$26,286
$23,661
$3,000
$1,500
$1,500
Grants
Chair
Salaries
MCAA Chair
$3,000
$1,500
$1,500
Programmin
g Chair
$3,000
$1,500
$1,500
Treasurer
$3,500
$1,750
$1,750
VicePresident
$3,500
$1,750
$1,750
President
$4,500
$2,250
$2,250
Lead
Senator and
Senators
$1,000
Total:
$21,500
$10,250
$10,250
$20,000
$10,000
$10,000
Office
Managers
(5)
Web Master
Total
$0
$-0
$20,000
$0
$10,000
$10,000
Treasurer’s report for March 7th:
GSA
Budget
as of
3/1/14
July 1,
2013- June
30, 2014
Revenu
e
Projected Revenue:
$194,788
Actual
Revenue:
$158,182
UAS Cash:
$30,000
Actual Budget:
$165,500
Contingency Budget:
$22,500
Total
Allocated:
$120,032
Total Paid as of
3/1/14:
$89,781
Total:
$202,288
Expens
es
Budget
Services
GSA Direct Sponsor
Events:
Allocated
Paid
Notes
$6,000
$3,420
$3,420
RGSO:
$35,000
$33,395
$9,335
MCAA:
$6,000
$2,028
$2,028
Programming:
$6,000
$1,600
$855
Grants:
$43,000
$21,065
GSA Orientation Picnic:
$2,000
$2,000
GSA End of Year Event:
$2,000
GSA Assembly Meetings:
$1,000
Total:
$93,000
Operatio
ns
Budget
New Computers
*Includes summer
(8,000 for Sum
13, $35,000- for
Fall, Spring,
$18,400 Summ 13-14
$2,000
$219
$63,508
Allocated
$36,257
Paid
Notes
$6,000
$4,230
$4,230
Copier and Printers
$35,000
$20,558
$20,558
Telephone and Fax
$1,000
$586
$586
Organization Liability
Insurance
$1,000
$886
$886
$15,000
$3,639
$3,639
$58,000
$29,899
$29,899
Stipends Grants Chair
$3,000
$2,250
$1,875
MCAA Chair
$3,000
$1,500
$750
Programming Chair
$3,000
$2,250
$2,250
Treasurer
$3,500
$2,625
$2,188
Vice- President
$3,500
$2,625
$1,750
President
$4,500
$3,375
$2,813
Lead Senator and
Senators
$1,000
Office
Office Supplies
Total:
$0
Total:
Salaries Office Managers (5)
Web Master
Total
$21,500
$14,625
$11,626
$20,000
$12,000
$12,000
$-0
$20,000
$0
$12,000
$12,000
Grants Chair Report, March 7th – Kimberly Berg
Nothing additional to report regarding the spring grants process. The grants
committee was given until today (March 7) to complete their evaluations. Once the
evaluation scores are averaged, for each applicant, I will begin allocations and
notification of awards. The summer grant applications will be posted as soon as
spring applicants are notified of their awards (approx. mid-March or early April).
The applications will be due June 1.
MCAA Chair Report, March 7th - Nantasha Williams
Held first committee meeting via phone conference February 9th and discussed
changing the MCAA form and definition of what an MCAA event is, coordinating the
movie screening and making suggestions for bylaw changes. I have been working to
set a date for the screening to be held in Page Hall. Lastly, we will be having second
committee meeting March 10th. at 8:30pm on the downtown campus in Draper 105.
Acting Programming Chair Report, 3/7/14 – Hanna Marie Pageau
Proposed Events
1. Appreciation Reception – A proposed appreciation reception is in the works
for recognizing senators, faculty, and staff and their work with GSA and
RGSOs to help further the relationships between graduate students and those
in mentor roles in particular interest of strengthening these bonds prior to
the requirement of faculty advisors for all RGSOs going into action. A second
purpose of this reception will be the reception part itself will, hopefully, offer
an opportunity for graduate students to show off artwork and posters to the
others in attendance so that not only can graduate students further
understand these mentor rolls, but that these possible mentors and liaisons
can better understand the breadth of the students they represent and work
with.
2. Community Service/Volunteering Opportunity - In efforts to offer a
community service day for graduate students there will be a push for
graduate student involvement in the UAlbany Campus Cleanup Day
(information: http://www.albany.edu/cleanup/). Sign up starts March 15th
and the cleanup itself will be on April 24th. Graduate students are a part of
the UAlbany community as well and this will be a perfect opportunity to get
some volunteering hours in and give ourselves a more visible presence in the
university community.
3. End of the Year BBQ - We are currently in the beginning stages of planning
out our end of the year event for the GSA and graduate students here at
UAlbany. Right now we are looking at an event that would take place in one
of the quads, have BBQ, karaoke, and possibly some other entertainment.
This is going to be a much more relaxed event that our fall school-year
opening picnic and be more about socializing and bonding with other
graduate students before we all go off to our summer projects and spring
graduations.
Donation Drives
1. Toiletry Drive – Concludes March 7th.
2. Book Drive – Donations to go to Schenectady County Libraries
(regulations for donations: http://friendsofscpl.org/donations/) and to
be collected in the GSA Office from March 3rd – March 28th, 2014.
Schenectady County was chosen as another UAlbany entity donated to
Albany County last Spring and it was decided that we would reach out to
another local municipality that many members of the university
community come from. If you have any books that you’d like to donate –
feel free to bring them to the Assembly meeting!
Vice President’s Report 3-7-14 – Kat Slye
RGSO Training Recap
Went well and despite the snow day all but three RGSOs were able to attend
the make-up. We have since had another session for them this last sunday.
Please remember that if you have multiple people that need to be reimbursed
for an event, you must submit each person’s receipts as a separate voucher. If
one person had multiple receipts, that can all be in one voucher request.
Any questions about anything from the training please see me after this
meeting or send me an e-mail.
Funding Letters
All RGSOs have received their funding letters and the total amount allocated
for this semester is: $24,405. This means that the total spent during the fall
semester plus spring allocations is: $33,343.
This leaves $1,657 left for the summer from this year’s budget.
Additional Funding – we will not be able to provide any additional funding to RGSOs
because we need to keep some money for the summer events.
Please remember to communicate information we share at these meetings with
your RGSO so they are up-to-date on what is going on.
President Report 3/7/14 – Caitlin Janiszewski
Mission Statement:
Please consider the following as a possible mission statement. If you have ideas or
thoughts on it please email me at gsapresident@albany.edu. I’d like to hold
discussion on this in either the April or May meeting.
“The Graduate Student Association (GSA) encourages and
supports professional development, social and intellectual interaction between all
graduate students at the University at Albany. The GSA is a governing body which
advocates on behalf of graduate students through membership in the University
Senate as well as administrative structures. Our mission is to advocate for and
provide resources to graduate students to empower us as a community and
contribute to our future success.”
Advocacy:
Adjunct resolution – we are communicating with Student Association about them
coming out in support of the resolution. We are also working with GSA and SA
groups at other SUNY schools to drum up support for it to get it passed at the SUNY
SA level. The SUNY SA conference will be in Saratoga in April.
President’s Forum- The President’s Forum is set for April 23rd from 4:30 – 6,
probably in the recital hall of the PAC. All RGSOs should send a rep to this forum to
engage or ask questions. It is a critical chance for us to communicate publicly with
the President of the University.
Ed-TPA- Please see the document posted next to these reports for information about
new Ed-TPA regulations. This is an issue with is coming up at SUNY SA and they
want to know our organizations stance on it. I believe we should consider taking a
position on this and look for volunteers to draft a resolution if needed. This is also
something we may be talking about in the faculty Senate.
Senate- I have continued to work on the CAFFECoR re-constitution committee (an
ad hoc of the governance council). Also, I have served on an ad hoc committee which
is preparing a survey of shared governance. I have put a message in our newsletter
about it this survey. I am asking all graduate students to spread the word to
actually complete this survey when it comes into their inboxes in the next few
weeks because I had to fight very hard to make sure that grad students were
surveyed at all on the effectiveness of University Governance structures.
Especially if people are completely unaware of the governance structures we
want to hear about it! Please encourage people to take this survey because it is will
be evaluated in a corner of the University where I know I can make the graduate
student voice heard. Please spread the word so we can get a high response rate. If
we do not, future committee executing this survey may reason that such a small
response makes it not worth the effort to survey grads. Please don’t let this happen!
Structures: I was mistaken regarding the date of the NAGPS Northeast
Regional Conference. I thought it was in April and sincerely did not realize it
was March 14th-16th. I will be attending this conference to seek feedback on
the following issues. Although I originally said I would not attend without
seeking the opinion of the assembly, the cost is minimal and the benefits quite
attractive so I ask the assembly to accept my decision to go.
Faculty advisors - As many of you have heard we will eventually need faculty
advisors for RGSOs. I have expressed a very strong position that the nature of the
relationship between faculty and graduate student groups should not be forced to
meet a template of what a faculty-undergraduate relationship is. We do not have the
same interests, identities, and objectives, and we need a very different kind of
guidance. I have asked that the Office of Student Involvement and Leadership
respect and value the different roles played by undergraduate and graduate
students. I will be working with the E-Board and I look for assembly input on how
they think we should define the role of our faculty advisors. Please send me an email
with any thoughts.
Fiscal Policy- I currently have an office manager working on a project I have been
trying to get done for some time now which includes minimally an analysis of our
revenue and expenditure patterns. I will take this office managers analysis to NAGPS
and seek feedback on other organization’s fiscal policy and processes. Ultimately,
the goal would be never to be allocating money we are not sure we will receive but
also spend the amount that is taken in that year. I’ll report back next meeting with
NAGPS feedback and greater detail of our OM’s analysis. Understanding the way we
take in and spend money along with the new accounting process that comes with
the online system, I hope to lock up our financial process so we never run into crisis
again.
R&R (recruitment & retention) - Clearly, one of the issues most intensely effecting
the GSA is low recruitment and retention rates. We experience consistent turnover
and those who do stick around get stuck doing all of the work. I am working with the
E-Board and our communications director on orientation materials for new
students but also ways to engage PhD students done with classes or even ABD. This
is the topic I proposed for a roundtable discussion at NAGPS so I expect to make the
most progress on this topic there.
I look forward to reporting to everyone in April on what I discuss at this
conference.
CNSE Update – As part of the CNSE Advisory Board to the President I have been
privy to information about the direction the University is heading in. I was unsure of
what I could initially report so I did not give a report the last time, but this time I
have a better understanding of what I can say. If some of you have not already
heard, CNSE is merging with SUNY IT. This means students will be registering
through SUNY IT, paying their tuition to SUNY IT etc. The nature of CNSE’s
relationship with SUNY Albany is on paper reduced to a fee for service model. The
nature of the social relationship between the two entities is still ambiguous. The key
thing for me to report to students is mainly a message to CNSE students which they
may or may not have already heard. This is that the University at Albany is
guaranteeing in this transition period that any student who entered their studies as
a UAlbany student will have the right to graduate as a UAlbany student. But the
option to “become” a SUNY IT student will also exist. I say “become” because it
would not include transferring. At some point in this process the students at CNSE
who decide (this refers mostly to undergrads) to drop nanoscience and engineering
would have to transfer to UAlbany. This is not the case for people already enrolled.
While I do not have particular requests coming from CNSE students, I do raise
theoretical problems at these meetings when I see them arising. One question I
asked was regarding RA funding at CNSE and the possibility that funding
opportunities would be unfairly taken from students who opted to graduate as part
of UAlbany not SUNY IT. Obviously the University at Albany has no bearing on those
funding decisions; they are the prerogative of CNSE. But my question for the
UAlbany administration was how this would affect the “positive trajectory” of
UAlbany if students opted for UAlbany, lost funding, tried to transfer to a different
department and we were not able to offer them financial support. I do no assume
that any students necessarily would want to transfer out of a CNSE program; I was
simply trying to illustrate possible ways in which the power dynamics of the split
could negatively affect graduate students so that the advisory board did not lose
sight of it. This is as usual mostly a concern for undergrads in each discussion. I will
of course keep everyone posted on these talks and welcome any concerns.