Attendance by Sign In
I. Call to Order by President Katie Moriarty at 6:01pm
II. Approval of Minutes from January 10, 2012 General Council Meeting
Minutes approved 6:02pm
III. Additions to Agenda
David Givens to speak in Announcements.
Item from New Business—GPSA and SGB representatives—will speak during president’s report.
IV. Executive Council Reports
A. President Katie Moriarty:
1)Thanks for coming tonight—attendance is great! Before I get to my report, James Landreneau (SGB president), Nyasha Hungwe (GPSA president) and Tom Cunningham (GPSA Administrative Assistant) are going to briefly speak about their organizations and the forthcoming Pitt Day in Harrisburg, to be held March 13, 2012. a) James Landreneau: is a senior in Chemical Engineering. SGB is the undergraduate student board representing the interests of the 17,000 or so undergraduates at Pitt. SGB provides funding for student groups (receiving about 8-10 requests/night). A major project undertaken in conjunction with GPSA is Pitt Day in Harrisburg. The goal is to get 300 students to attend Pitt Day 2012—we’re recruiting students across the undergrad and grad student body. There are 2 training sessions: 2/28 5:30-6:30pm in the Kurtzman Room (WPU) and 3/1 5:30-6:30pm in the Assembly. Paul Supowicz
A&S GSO minutes, 02/28/2012.
**NOTE: Opinions expressed in the GSO minutes are those of the individual and do not necessarily reflect the position of the A&S GSO.

will lead training. We are also running a letter-writing campaign to encourage students to write to their respective legislators about recent cuts to Pitt allocations from the state and in light of the recently proposed 30% cut.
SGB has been active in the past at Pitt, creating Pitt “make a difference day” where approximately 3,000 students volunteered on a Saturday to help in the community and is working on swipe access into dorms.
Katie: Because the Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences has a lot of TA/TFs, it may seem like the budget cuts don’t affect us directly. However, it could in the future and, since we pay PA taxes, it behooves us to be concerned about the state of
Pitt’s budget. b) Nyasha Hungwe (GPSA president): GPSA is the official Graduate and Professional Student Assembly for the University of Pittsburgh. We represent the interests of the various graduate and professional schools at Pitt, as well as cultural and other recognized graduate student groups at Pitt. Presently, GPSA is attempting to correct a “breakdown in communication” among the various offices at Pitt. Grad Students need to be concerned about what the PA legislature is doing with respect to budget cuts, because graduate and undergraduate schools are listed separately. Last year, only 35 out of approximately 10,000 Pitt grad students attended Pitt Day 2011. If the concerns of graduate students are to be taken seriously, more students at the graduate level need to become involved. A&S is the largest grad school at Pitt, and thus should have the largest representation.
Other ways GPSA can help you get involved: Pancakes and Politics—local representatives from the PA legislature come and address students over breakfast. If you have other suggestions on programs, please contact GPSA. c)Thomas Cunningham, GPSA administrative assistant
GPSA elections are forthcoming. As the largest graduate school at Pitt, A&S Student engagement with GPSA elections is strongly encouraged. Only 500 grad students at Pitt voted in the GPSA elections last year (out of approx 10,000).
There are several forthcoming events which can help you get involved: meet officers from 12-1:30, 2/14/2012 in the
WPU Kurtzman room. Happy Hour with Candidates at Marios in Shadyside (co-sponsored with the School of Education),
2/24/2012 from 5-7pm. Meet the candidates lunch, 2/27/2012 11:30-1:30pm in the WPU Lower Lounge.
Elections run from 2/27/2012-03/02/2012. You can vote by logging into my.pitt.edu and following the links. If you are curious about the various positions and candidates, you can check out www.pittgpsa.edu/elections .
Katie: Can we get 20 people from A&S to commit to going to Pitt Day on Tuesday March 13, 2012??? If we do, we’ll have beer at our next meeting!
B. Vice-President Emily Bailey: A&S GSO annual Tax Workshop is Thursday 2/16/2012 from 6:30-8:00 in the
Martin Room. Food will be served!
C. Administrative Assistant Adrienne Spillar a) Grad Expo call for judges flyers are outside; please take some and post in your department. b) Before posting any materials, please ask your department administrator what adhesive is to be used.
Apparently, there has been an issue with posted GSO materials tearing off paint. While it’s great that this had to be brought to my attention (as people are posting flyers!!!), we don’t want to get in hot water for being inconsiderate to the particular needs of departments w/r/t adhesives. Masking tape is usually a safe bet, but, please confirm with your department before taping anything up. Thanks!
D. Faculty Advisor Dr. Tony Walters:
No Report.
V. Committees
A. GPSA (Graduate and Professional Student Assembly):
Nic: Indian Food
Meghan: Pancakes and Politics 2/9, 2/23, 3/23; and Ski Trip: Sunday, 2/26. Check out GPSA's website or join the GPSA facebook group to stay updated about upcoming GPSA events.
B. Grad Expo:
Adrienne Spillar: Panels are set and a program draft has been sent to University Marketing. Now, we need judges (please sign up today or email me for more information).
A&S GSO minutes, 02/28/2012.
**NOTE: Opinions expressed in the GSO minutes are those of the individual and do not necessarily reflect the position of the A&S GSO.

We also would appreciate any help during the day of Grad Expo: Thursday, March 22, 2012 in the WPU. I will be sitting at the Grad Expo table all day and would love some company!
If you know of faculty members who would be willing to judge, please let me know and I'll send a request!
C. Teaching Awards:
Katherine Martin: The GSO webmasters worked to sort nominees. There are 103 total nominees this year (up from 85 last year). As an aside, check your information in the Pitt directory to make sure you are included in the directory and that your information is up to date—several nominees weren't actually in the directory when we were looking for their emails.
Applications will be due at the end of February and the Teaching Award committee will need your help evaluating the first round of applications. We use a rubric and all reviewing can be done on line—this is done the first week of March and we really need a lot of human power to help get through the first round of applications.
Email Katherine at kim20@pitt.edu
.
D. Social Events:
Bobby Karimi :Triva, Tonight 7pm, Bridges Bar at the Holiday Inn. Tonight's trivia is co-sponsored by
GPSA and so the first 30 people get a free beer! Winners get $50.00 to use toward next month's trivia tab!
E. Website:
Ryan Moore: Mike and I have been busy making sure the Teaching Awards site is up and running efficiently-- the entire nominating system is now automated! We also met with Katie to discuss longer-term updates/modifications to the GSO website.
F. External A&S Committees: a. A&S Council: Katherine Martin: unable to attend January meeting due to conflict with class schedule. Was unable to find anyone to attend in stead. Is going to be at the next meeting. b. A&S PBC: Chris Myers: It's been busy! The committee is working on drafting a 5 year strategic plan, but with no clear funding picture (even for next year) it's been difficult. Bad news: a 30% funding cut at the level of the state has been proposed (this would amount to 7 million dollars!) The A&S PBC anticipated about 10%. There is also a 1.4 Million dollar recision from last year—which could mean a loss of about 8.5 million dollars!
Katie Moriarty: There may still be hope (not “sunshine and lollipops,” but...) last year's proposed cut was larger than the actual cut, so keep hope alive! c. A&S Grad Council:
Alba Tuninetti: Theatre Arts TA review begins February 24.
VI.
Old or Unfinished Business
Katie Moriarty: I am still working with people on the Printing Issue-- it's a slow-moving work in progress.
VII.
New Business
1) Statistics Department Status report and discussion.
Adrienne: According to our constitution and the Delegate responsibilities sheet which we ask all delegates to sign, minimum required attendance at GSO general council meetings is every other meeting/%50 of yearly meetings.
Thus far, the Statistics department has attended only one of now 5 meetings. As such, the GSO general council has to decide whether to vote to change their status from “active” to “non-participatory” and “inactive.” Such a change in status then prompts consideration of what to do with GSO funds which have been allocated to Statistics—funds in the amount of $339.35. The funds may be frozen and remain in the Statistics account until their active status is reinstated
A&S GSO minutes, 02/28/2012.
**NOTE: Opinions expressed in the GSO minutes are those of the individual and do not necessarily reflect the position of the A&S GSO.

following a probationary period or some or all funds may be rescinded from their account. If the latter option is chosen, the GSO may decide to allocate the funds to another GSO expenditure or reallocate the funds across active departments.
Questions: Have they been informed of their status?
Adrienne: Yes. I have emailed the representative on file for this year several times to indicate their attendance did not meet the every other/%50 minimum. I emailed them in December, again in January, and prior to this evening's meeting encouraging their attendance. Delegates are expected to read and then sign (attesting to having read) their responsibilities, which also includes finding and providing me with information about another representative in the event they can no longer serve as their department delegate. I have received no response from the representative to any of my emails. Beyond this, there isn't much I can do as we don't resort to the department graduate administrator to hunt said delegate down and I do not have the time to hunt them down further.
Are you certain that the student is still at Pitt? Could this be a mistake?
Adrienne: I am as certain as I can be having received no responses to my multiple emails. The student is listed in the people search and on the department website as a current graduate student. There is no mistake in their attendance as I have entered attendance information into my records following each meeting.
Motion to vote to rescind status as “active” and make Statistics “non-participatory” and “inactive”.
Motion Seconded, Straw vote- Ayes have it (2 abstentions).
Mark Steger: Do the Teaching Awards need more funds?
Katherine: at this point, no.
Bobby: motions to move $100.00 to cover food expenses for GSO events and add the remaining 239.35 to the
Social Events account.
Jeff Tienes: Speaking on behalf of colleagues, I think the money would be better used for an academic or professional student event rather than a happy hour as most Sociology students would not participate in a happy hour.
Katie M: We do have three GSO workshops coming up for which the money in the budget for “workshops” is insufficient to cover food costs.
Bobby: While it is nice to have activities which are “productive” in the sense of being academic or professional, social events are also productive ways for graduate students to meet others outside their departments.
Jeff Tienes: Problematically, however, it's been indicated that a number of departments don't socialize at such happy hours and the events don't cater to everyone's taste.
Irina Anisimova: agrees with Jeff's statement on behalf of the Slavic department.
Katie Moriarty: Tables discussion in the interest of time. Will resume discussion at March meeting. If you have ideas on how the $339.35 should be spent or what should happen to it, send suggestions to Adrienne or Katie.
B. March 13 Meeting move to facilitate travel to Pitt Day in Harrisburg:
Katie Moriarty: to accommodate those A&S Grad students (and GSO delegates) who want to attend Pitt Day in
Harrisburg on March 13, I would like to move the meeting to another day.
Adrienne: We have this room reserved for Monday, March 12 and Thursday, March 15. The week before is
Spring Break and the following week is grad expo—I will not be able to deal with a meeting and Grad Expo in the same week.
Mark Steger: Who cannot attend the meeting on March 12 at 6pm? Seeing just a few hands, motions to change meeting to MONDAY March 12, 2012 at 6pm in room 4127 (usual room and time).
VIII. Announcements
David Givens: Religious Studies Graduate Student, GPSA Administrative Assistant and GPSA VP of Committees.
Running for GPSA President for next academic year. Experience in GPSA (and in GSO); lots of good ideas; and wants to improve the relationship between GPSA and the A&S GSO and between GPSA and the A&S Administration. Feel free to email David with questions. It's important to vote in the elections so that A&S is represented in the GPSA!!
VIX. Having no further business, President Moriarty calls for motion to adjourn meeting
A&S GSO minutes, 02/28/2012.
**NOTE: Opinions expressed in the GSO minutes are those of the individual and do not necessarily reflect the position of the A&S GSO.

Meeting adjourned, 7:00pm.
A&S GSO minutes, 02/28/2012.
**NOTE: Opinions expressed in the GSO minutes are those of the individual and do not necessarily reflect the position of the A&S GSO.