One-hundred and Twenty-ninth Meeting Minutes
March 7th, 2011 5:00 P.M. (Stellar-Chance 104)
Attendance:
BPC: Angela Brown, Prema Sundaram, Lisa M. Ambrose-Lanci, Jason Moore, Kathleen
Haines, Jasmine McDonald, Michele Wozniak, Rohinton Tarapore, Weiwei Dang, Arindam
Basu, Caroline Brun, Guray Erus
BPP: Mary Anne Timmins, Susan Weiss
Updates from Co-Chairs:
1. This is Arindam’s last meeting as co-chair.
2. Angela and Arindam’s meeting with the tax office was cancelled at the last minute. We
will send an email to the postdocs informing them of this change (clarifying that we must
still pay taxes) and directing them to the IRS website for more information.
Updates from Subcommittees
a) PEC. Katy has revised the flyer and asked for feedback. The new version stresses that
the service is free and for the entire Penn community. Arindam suggested adding the
BPC logo to the flyer. “PEC” is now “Postdoc Editors Association” to sound more
professional and less club-like. The flyer will be emailed and posted to the med school
screens. Mary Anne said they can send it to the faculty email list as well. Susan said her
postdoc tried it and found it to be helpful. Currently, there are about 20 editors, but they
receive only 1 paper per month. Mary Anne suggested reviving the PEC seminars in
which faculty members/editors present and also looking into the potential for editing
internships.
b) Community Service. The iPraxis project is going well, and will end in one month.
c) Diversity. The newsletter is stalled because they need more people to compile and write
articles. The Science Now event was a success. Two graduate students presented and
appreciated the feedback from the postdocs. An event is planned for May in
collaboration with the African American Resources Center.
d) Social. Beth is willing to lead this committee. The happy hour on 3/3 had a decent
turnout, but the bar was crowded because of a Wharton event. It was suggested to hold
the event at a new location next time. When the weather is better, Beth plans to host
some outdoor events, like hiking.
e) Symposium. Beth has agreed to chair this committee.
f) Environmental. Caroline and Guray will take over chair duties from Steffen. They have
met with him and discussed ideas for future plans.
g) Fundraising. Weiwei has sent 42 invitations to our vendor fair. 11 are interested, and
only 1 has definitely said no. He will contact the vendors he has not heard from
approximately 1 month before the deadline. So far, we have checks from 4 vendors.
ABI will do 2 seminars, and 4 other vendors will do seminars. There are currently 10
seminar spots, but this could be increased to 12, if necessary. Arindam suggesting asking
those who say no to the vendor fair if they’re interested in participating in our
Symposium in October.
h) Foreign National Committee. Elaine did the monthly orientation last month, and there
were about 10 postdocs in attendance. Some expressed interest in joining the council.
i) Website. Prema will update the website with the new chairs, and will add the soccer
team as part of the Social Committee page. There was some confusion about the soccer
team, as an email was not sent to the BPP postdocs. Angela will ask Reeteka about this.
j) Treasurer. We have $2200 in our account, and will spend $100 for the soccer team.
The $100 deposit should be returned if no games are forfeited. So far, there is $2400
coming in for the vendor fair.
k) Seminars. Jason contacted 3 potential speakers for April, but none was available. They
are interested, and may be available in the fall. Jason may postpone the series until the
fall to avoid a big break in the series during the summer. He plans to look for sponsors
for each seminar to cover the cost of food (inexpensive soft pretzels) and money so the
speaker can attend the following happy hour for free.
Updates from BPP
1. There was an insurance glitch at Garnett Powers that affected many people’s insurance
premiums. Garnett Powers is aware of the mistake and will fix it by the end of the week.
Adjustments should be seen on next paycheck.
2. There was a good turnout for the Grant Writing seminar last week.
3. BPP representatives visited Wistar and they are excited about joining us.
Election of New Co-Chair
Rohinton Tarapore was elected co-chair of the council. Congratulations Rohinton!
Next Meeting April 4th, 2011