SASgov, General Body Meeting, October 7, 2008, 5:30-7:30 pm, 1^st floor, 3619 Locust

Next Meeting: October 21, 2008, 5:30-7:30, Location TBA

Reps Present: Peter Cobb, Kevin Funderburk, Tae-eun Kim, Serena Rezny, Peter Clericuzio, XiaoyuPeng, Charles Ham, Liza Strakhov, Jacob Uriel, Allison Sullivan, Madeleine Wilcox, Jonathan Fedors, Matthew Closter, Linda Lee, Kristen Sincavage, Andrew Hogan, Kathy Koo, Robert Lannon, MirkoVisontai, Neil Crimes, Sarah Abichandani, ElskeStraver, Bryan Chen, Rosella Cappella, Nick Harris, Juntow Wei, Steven Vose, Leslie Warden, Tim Shokair, Stephanie Milk, Wenting Li

Exec Present: Caroline Bishop, Carla Cue, Chris Schaefer, Rafael Walker, Deidre Loughridge, Andrew Rupinski

Agenda:

1. Dinner and Committee Time
2. Speaker: Julie Miller Vick, Career Services
3. Approval of the Minutes
4. Officer/ Committee Reports
5. GAPSA Report
6. New Business

Details:

1. Dinner and Committee Time

1. Speaker: Julie Miller Vick, Career Services

Career Services has a program which is called the Insider’s Guide to Graduate Education at Penn which will be held next Tuesday, October 14. They will talk about getting off to a good start as a PhD student, dealing with setbacks, managing relations with your advisor, how to pick a committee, etc. They have another program which will be about how to teach at different kinds of institutions. Go to their website for all the different workshops. They have workshops on how to write a CVS, going to academic conferences, applying for academic jobs, etc. They have a book called the Academic Job Search Handbook available for $10 which goes through the whole process about how to apply, interviewing, negotiating an offer. It also has sample CVs of people who have already gotten jobs. Career Services also does programming for other careers too. They have programs for students who do not want to go into academia. They are available by appointment or walk-in. They do mock interviews where they will play it back so that you can talk about it. People come in because they have decided they do not want to go on with their degree or they want to talk about the non-traditional career path. You are able to come in even after you leave. They have job listings on their website. Be sure to get on one of the job listings e-mails. You can sign up for them on their website or e-mail Julie Vick. They come to departments and student associations. They do workshops specifically for certain departments. They have a letter or credentials service so that letters can be kept on file and sent out. It is a good idea to set up a credentials file in their office so that you will always have that letter of recommendation. Career services is centralized and not just for undergrads and even has people who specialize in working with graduate students. There are surveys of people to see where they have gone after graduation on their website so you can see what else is available after you graduate.

1. Approval of the Minutes

Minutes approved.

1. Officer/ Committee Reports

Rafael (Policy)- He met with the collector in library. There will be a pilot committee with SAS as the target group. The plan is to see how the committee works and then extend it to the rest of the university. There was a meeting for SHIAC  (Student Health Insurance Advisory Committee). Raphael would like to everyone to talk to their grad groups and learn what feelings are about insurance as this year is an important year. They are now asking for comments. Send Raphael an e-mail (sasgov-policy@sas.upenn.edu) with suggestions for insurance.

Chris (Public Affairs)- We have a website but is not completely online. Today was spent proofreading it. It should be up in the next few weeks. Chris is still looking into getting sweatshirts for sasgov reps. SASgov would cover most of the cost for it.

Carla (Communications)- Drinks are coming.

Caroline (President)- We have a new logo for SASgov! We have a Latin motto which says, “We teach and we learn.”

Deidre (Finance)- Interdisciplinary funding is ready. It will be in upcoming e-mails so look for it. It is funding for events which include grad students from more than one group. Deadline for fall is October 31^st. Think about what you want to do with another department and apply for the money! Forms will be sent out if the website is not up.

Andrew (Social)- Next Saturday is the postponed picnic, followed by the football game. There will be a pre-registration site so that we can see how many people will be coming.  There is a happy hour two days before that.  We still need help with the Halloween happy hour and November Happy hour.

1. GAPSA Report

Leslie Warden- Research council met for the first time, without its chair. We started talking about what goals should be so if there is anything that you think should be talked about at university level then talk to Leslie. There is an ad hoc gradfest committee this year. Dock St. happy hour was a success. There is also talk of a campus climate survey. Elections are taking place for VC Research and VC International Students. Travel grant deadline for research students is coming up. It is October 10^th. It is either $300 or half of the cost. Remember that there is also SAS travel funding.

1. New Business

No new business!