Minutes for February 3, 2014 Council Meeting
Time: 12:00 PM
Location: D211
1.
2.
Call To Order: 12:01 PM
Members Present: Emily, Nicole, Amber, Gabriele, Andrea,
Ese, Hessam, Stephen, Nick, Erin, Vicky, Kyle, Guillaume, Elise,
Jessica
Discussion
2.1 Approval of Previous Meeting Minutes
 Approval by Jess, seconded by Andrea
2.2 SoCo Report
a) Event to Replace Stressbusters
 Stressbusters was cancelled due to it being on
Valentine’s Day and the fact that there is Chem123
invigilation that night
 However, we still have the grad lounge and a liquor
license so an event can still be held
 Ideas – a movie night where students can vote on what
movie they want to see, games night. Can have both of
these things running at the same time. Need people to
donate board games with some reassurance that they
will be returned fully intact.
 Beer cans will be purchased instead of kegs
 Note from last stressbusters: speakers were not put away
properly and are missing, probably stolen. In future,
Elise will purchase boxes for stressbusters/other social
events. People in charge of cleanup will put CGSS
property into box so that if they can’t access CGSS
locker, they can keep all the supplies intact and together
until the locker can be accessed.
b) Candygrams
 Need to be sold until February 13th, assembled the night
of Fri 13, and delivered on Friday February 14th.
 Volunteers to sell in each wing: A wing – Emily, D
wing – Erin, E wing – Chris. Volunteers will also be
needed for coffeetime.
 Volunteers to deliver: A wing – Kyle, D wing – Erin, E
wing – Chris.
 Volunteers to assemble: Emily, Ese, Andrea, Elise,
Hessam, Guillaume, Kyle
c) March Events
 So far, only formally have the St Pat’s stressbusters
 Think of other event suggestions for Elise and Amber
 Also have the CGSS speaker coming in March, for
which dinner volunteers will be needed
 Finally, a potential grad student visit will coincide with
the St Pat’s Stressbuster
d) International Food Night (held on January 31st 2014)
 Was a success in that it was well-attended, but the food
ran out really fast so most people only stuck around for
30-45 minutes.
 Physics people came but there was not much mingling.
Also, only 1 physics person contributed to the cooking.
 About $300 of GSS money was spent on the event (need
to determine the exact amount). However, there should
still be enough money to run another event
e) Future Joint Physics Events
 Unclear from Int Food Night if the effort required to
coordinate with physics really pays off in
mingling/numbers/active participation.
 Andrea got an e-mail that they are planning to go to a
varsity hockey game next week. Tickets are $2 each –
this is too cheap to really be worth subsidizing but an email will be sent out to chemistry grads advertising it.
f) Using the GSS ballroom in the future
 It’s a big space – potentially good for some of the bigger
stressbusters (eg Halloween)
 Potential problem with increased space – we might need
to hire security
 It’s also relatively far from the chem. building and
somewhat hard to find
g) Summer Events
 Potential event with other GSS (eg, bio, lifesci)
 GSS soccer league potential
3. Forum between Department Heads and Grad Students
 All CGSS members should send Andrea at least one
question if they haven’t already.
 Attendance by CGSS members expected
 CGSS should also provide some refreshments
 Aim for Monday Feb 17 or 24 sometime between 10 am
and 1 pm, contingent on the Mikes’ availability
4. Miscellaneous
a) CGSS website progress
 Chemistry website went live but has some errors
 Makes sense to fold CGSS website into new chemistry
website. Nick needs to talk to Jane and Roman about
this so that we can get a proper functioning website.
b) Student Leadership Nominations
 A reception for “student leaders” nominated by other
students in a department is being held next month.
Chemistry hasn’t nominated anyone – Andrea
suggests/is going to go ahead and nominate Susan
Vickers.
c) 3 min. Thesis Competition
 Sherry Zhao (zhao@chem.ubc.ca) has contacted Andrea
about doing a purely chemistry department heat for the
3-minute thesis competition. The focus of this
competition, which is UBC and then Canada-wide, is
making your thesis relatable to the public
 A chemistry heat would entail at least 10 people, of
which 2 people would go through directly to the UBC
semifinals.
 If we don’t get 10 people interested in participating (so
far there are only 6), the people who did sign up have to
go through inter-departmental heats
 Sherry wants the CGSS to pay for a chemistry heat
(judges, transportation, food, printing costs etc). If we
don’t hold a chemistry heat, we don’t pay for it.
 Additionally, this has to take place within the next few
weeks.
 It was decided that if Sherry can find 10 people, CGSS
would provide maximum $250 funding and donate some
time. Next year, if she approaches the CGSS with more
advance notice and more of a plan, we can consider
giving more resources/time.
5. GSS Report
 Nothing to report
6. Union Report
 Nothing to report
Adjourned at 12:41 pm