On Tuesday, April 7, members of the Graduate Student Assembly (GSA) met in Eastside Main Conference Room for their final meeting of the 2014-2015 school year.

The meeting began with Assistant Director of Student Affairs Hallie Arena, who facilitated the meeting, introducing Jess Edwards, the new Associate Director of Graduate Alumni Relations, to the group.

The relatively new position was created to foster relationships with graduate student alumni, who have, “different needs than undergraduate alumni,” according to Edwards.

Edwards and Arena were interested in getting feedback from GSA about how to best connect current students with alumni. The members of GSA had no specific suggestions at the time of the meeting, but Edwards assured members that she is, “an open door to take good, bad, and ugly feedback.”

The agenda then moved to GSA’s budget. At the beginning of the meeting, GSA had $379.50 available. This month, there was a proposal for a new Keurig machine to replace the broken one at Eastside; for this, GSA granted $119.99. There was also a request for a new toaster to replace the broken one in Eastside’s downstairs kitchenette. The exact price of a new toaster was unknown, but GSA agreed to purchase one.

Counseling Psychology student Jason Lucarelli suggested that the previous Keurig machine might have broken because they are only supposed to be used with filtered water.  Arena said she would contact facilities to see if a Brita water filter could be put on the faucet of the kitchenette sink, and GSA agreed to pay for the filter if it was possible.

Next on the agenda were the GSA Excellence Awards. Only 14 students applied for the awards, which, according to Arena, decreased from last year’s approximately 22 applicants. Eight applied in the category of Professional Excellence, two in the category of Empirical Excellence, and four in the category of Creative Excellence.  Winners will be notified at the Student Organization and Leadership Awards Banquet on Tuesday, April 14 in the AFC Gym.

Next, Arena discussed events that may interest graduate students. First, she discussed the Hunger Banquet on Saturday, April 11 at Eden Hall Campus. At this event, students will have a chance to enjoy food made by students in the Food Studies program served in bowls made throughout the school year by students through the Empty Bowls program.

Closing Convocation is scheduled for Tuesday, April 14 at 4:30 p.m. in the Chapel.

On Wednesday, April 15, there will be a Military Student Lunch. Students in the military and veterans, many of whom are graduate students, will receive a free lunch in Anderson Dining Hall.

The Global Focus program will host a concert on Saturday, April 18 by Zambian musician Mathew Tembo on the Quad at 6:30 p.m. The rain location will be the AFC Gym.

Moonlight Breakfast—during which students will receive a free meal served by faculty and will have the chance to win prizes through a raffle—will take place on Tuesday, April 21 at 8 p.m. in Anderson.

University Day and Buckets and Blossoms will take place on Friday, May 1 beginning at 9:30 a.m. Students will have the opportunity to help beautify the campus by planting bulbs and distributing mulch. Afterwards, there will be a free picnic lunch on the quad.

The final event Arena mentioned was the Graduate Student Reception—“Basically a fancy Mug Club that your families are invited to,” she said—on Thursday, May 14 at 4:30 p.m. in the Melon Board Room. The event will be hosted through the Alumni Relations Office, and students may bring one to two guests. Students are requested to RSVP.

GSA finished the meeting with an open forum. There were complaints about computers at Eastside running especially slow, which Arena said she would look into.  Professional Writing student Nyota Robinson asked why there was only one color printer on the Woodland Road campus; Arena said that it was to save on expenses. There were also complaints about the Internet connection at Eastside and in graduate housing being faulty.  Arena said students should use the old Wi-Fi connection, “ChathamWifi0910.” This option will disappear when the new Wi-Fi begins working properly.

Finally, Arena addressed concerns about GSA recruitment for the fall of 2015. She said that attempting to recruit members in the spring often doesn’t work because students, “change their minds over the summer;” fall is the best time to recruit. Although the September meeting is usually light in attendance, GSA is still able to, “get the ball rolling,” she said.

On Tuesday, March 3, members of the Graduate Student Assembly (GSA) met in the Conover Room on the Shadyside campus to discuss events, opportunities, and problems relevant to the graduate student body.

Assistant Director of Student Affairs Hallie Arena began the meeting by discussing GSA’s budget.  There were no funding requests for the March meeting, so the GSA’s budget remains at $379.

If there are no funding requests at the next meeting—which will be GSA’s last for the semester—the remaining funds would be available for the GSA to use.  Arena asked members for ideas about how to use the funds if they remain available, and members suggested spending the money on t-shirts for GSA, an “abridged” version of Mug Club (which usually costs about $500 to host) open to all graduate students, or a social event at a local bar.  No official decision on the matter was made.

Next, Arena introduced upcoming events that are particularly relevant to graduate students.

Spring Break will take place on March 9 through 13, and Arena mentioned that there will be events taking place during that week for students who remain on campus.  These can be found on My.Chatham.

The next Graduate Student Lunch will take place on Wednesday, March 18 at 11:30 a.m.  This lunch will be available for students on the Shadyside campus because the last GSA Lunch occurred at Eastside.

The next Mug Club will be on Thursday, March 19 at 4 p.m. at Eastside, and the next installment of the graduate reading series Word Circus will be on Friday, March 20 at 7:30 p.m. at Most Wanted Fine Arts in Garfield.

GSA will be hosting a Penguins Watch Party on Saturday, March 21 at 9 p.m. at Buffalo Blues on South Highland Avenue.  This event is open to all graduate students, so Arena asked GSA members to spread the word because “the more people that come, the more often [we will] get funded to do these kinds of things.”

Point Park University’s graduate student assembly is hosting their Third Annual Global Trivia Bowl on Thursday, April 2 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.  All graduate students in the city are invited to socialize and compete to win prizes.

Also on April 2, Chatham’s undergraduate organization Naturality is hosting One Night Without Shoes at 8 p.m. in the Rea Coffee House in partnership with the MFA in Creative Writing program.  This “barefoot party” and reading event is meant to bring awareness to world poverty.

Spring Carnival will take place on Saturday, April 4 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the AFC Patio. This family friendly event will include an Easter egg hunt, an Easter bunny for entertainment, a bounce house, music, games, and crafts.  It is open to the entire Chatham community.

Next, the GSA discussed the GSA Excellence Awards. The application is available in the Leadership, Organization, and Closing Convocation Awards section of My.Chatham.

Students may nominate themselves and apply online. If a faculty member nominates a student, they will be notified by email and asked to apply on My.Chatham.

GSA discussed minor changes in the application’s wording to make it clearer and easier for students applying.

Finally, the group held their open forum.

To cover old business, the Eastside Water Filtration System has been fixed. The lights in the OT Lab Classroom are not burned out; they have been removed deliberately due to complaints about glare on screens in the classroom. The issue of AutoCad software ejecting students from the program has not yet been resolved.

Grievances introduced at the meeting included the Eastside Cafeteria closing earlier than scheduled, difficulties with the ID scanner on Eastside’s campus main door facing Penn Avenue, and the lack of a prayer room at the Eastside Campus. Arena said she would look into these issues.

The next GSA meeting will occur on Tuesday, April 4 at 5 p.m. in the Eastside Main Conference Room.

On Tuesday, February 3, the Graduate Student Assembly (GSA) gathered in the Eastside Main Conference Room for their second meeting this semester to discuss issues relevant to the graduate student body.

The meeting began with a discussion of events that would, “specifically appeal to graduate students,” according to Assistant Director of Student Affairs Hallie Arena, who led the meeting.

The first was the Mongolian Grille with Guest Grillers, scheduled for Thursday, February 5 at bd’s Mongolian Grill at SouthSide Works. Although $25 seemed steep to some, Arena said, “If you think about it, it’s all you can eat, all you can drink, and it’s supporting Relay for Life.”

Next, GSA talked about the Graduate Student Lunches, the next of which is scheduled for Wednesday, February 11.  According to Arena, the first ever Graduate Student Lunch last month generated, “lots of angry emails” from students who did not get a voucher.

“There are only so many people I can buy lunch for on a budget,” she said.

Arena’s main concern is making this program better suit graduate students.  Last month, there were 30 vouchers available on the Shadyside campus and 30 on the Eastside campus.  One proposed alternative was to host one Graduate Student Lunch per campus every other month, with 60 free lunches at Eastside one month and 60 free lunches at Anderson the next.

A decision will be made when it can be determined whether Eastside’s café can accommodate such volume.

Other upcoming events include Brews & Yoga on Thursday, February 12, when, for a fee, students and guests can come to the Woodland Art Gallery and Café Rachel for a yoga class, a free drink, and snacks; the “Pack the House” event at the home Basketball Game on Saturday, February 14, which will be a family-friendly event at which the first 145 attendees will receive a free t-shirt; a Mug Club meeting on Thursday, February 19, in Café Rachel; and the graduate reading series Word Circus on Friday, February 20, at Most Wanted Fine Arts in Garfield.

Next, GSA continued their discussion about the GSA Excellence Awards. The application will be accessible on My.Chatham, and students will be able to submit one PDF document electronically, as well as hardcopies of letters of recommendation if they so choose.

GSA discussed the Excellence Awards’ timeline, and they decided that the application should be made available in mid-February and be due in mid-March.

Next, GSA discussed funding requests.

They granted $250 to Fermentation Club to cover their needed supplies and activities for the rest of the semester. They allocated $95 to the Chinese Student Association to fund a Dumpling Making Event for Chinese New Year. Finally, they dispensed $300 of a $400 request for a graduate student to travel with the English honor society Sigma Tau Delta to an international conference in New Mexico.

This leaves GSA with a budget of $382.50 for the rest of the semester.

GSA ended their meeting, as usual, with an Open Forum.

First, they discussed equipment in the Athletic and Fitness Center. The treadmills and exercise bicycles have been fixed. One of the elliptical machines and one of the stair climber machines are irreparable, and they will be removed and replaced soon.

To respond to a query from GSA’s last meeting, Arena contacted IT regarding the expiration of Chatham passwords without warning. According to IT, students can change their email settings so that emails regarding email expiration do not go to their junk folder.

GSA also discussed the new wireless network, which may cause difficulties initially; the user-friendliness of Moodle; the option of an online live chat with IT so that students need not call when they have technological problems; computers kicking students out of design programs in the middle of their work until they enter a password; a possible waitlist for a sought-after spin class; and denied card access to buildings in which students have classes.

Several GSA members have received peer complaints about the Eastside Shuttle not running on schedule. Beginning this semester, the shuttle has been making stops at the Negley Busway upon request. Physical Therapy student Matt Repko suggested that the Oakland shuttle take on the trips to the Busway since students often use the Eastside shuttle to get to classes on time. Arena said she would look into this possibility.

The next GSA meeting will occur on Tuesday, March 3 at 5 p.m. in the Conover Room in the Shadyside campus’s Mellon Building.

 

On Tuesday, January 13, members of the Graduate Student Assembly (GSA) gathered for their first meeting of the semester in the Conover Room to discuss events and issues regarding the graduate student body.

After welcoming new and returning GSA members, Assistant Director of Student Affairs Hallie Arena, who led the meeting, began the program.

First, Arena presented upcoming events relevant to graduate students.  The agenda was, “kind of event heavy,” according to Arena, because it was the first meeting of the semester.

First discussed was the memorial to graduate student Kim Cox—who passed away over winter break after suffering an aneurysm—on Wednesday, January 14.

“It’s supposed to be a celebration [of her life],” said Rachel Faas, a Masters of Education student.

Next was the first of the GSA Lunches also set for January 14.  For these lunches, students can pick up vouchers in the Carriage House or Eastside’s second floor lounge to be used in Anderson or at Eastside.  The next GSA Lunch is scheduled for Wednesday, February 11.

Arena also mentioned a class available to graduate students at a discounted rate at the Pittsburgh Glass Center on Saturday, January 17, and encouraged students needing to fulfill service requirements to participate in the MLK Day of Service on Monday, January 19.

Looking further into the future, Arena said the first Mug Club meeting would be on Thursday, January 22 at 4 p.m. at Eastside.  Through Mug Club, GSA offers graduate students free pizza and beverages, as well as the opportunity to socialize with their peers.  Last semester, the club met at 3 p.m., but Arena hopes this time change will allow for students whose classes conflicted with meetings to attend.  Mug Club will also attempt their first meeting on the Shadyside campus on Tuesday, January 27 at 5 p.m. in Café Rachel.

Finally, Arena mentioned the upcoming Mongolian Grill BBQ with Guest Grillers on Thursday, February 5 at 6 p.m.  As a fundraiser for Relay for Life, students can pay $25 for dinner and the entertainment of seeing Chatham faculty attempting to grill.

“[Many of] these are things that grad students asked for, so I hope a lot of grad students sign up for them,” said Arena.

Next on the agenda was the GSA Excellence Award.  Every year, GSA grants three students who have demonstrated professional, creative, or empirical excellence through their graduate work with $500 checks.  According to Arena, GSA tries to make updates to the program every year.

She asked students to provide feedback to help improve the process for applicants and judges.

“It’s meant to be an opportunity, not a burden,” said Arena.

After discussion about application requirements, the award categories, and submission methods, the assembly decided to reduce the number of letters of recommendation from three with one coming from a current program faculty member to two from any source.  They also considered adding a fourth category—excellence in service—although no final decision was made, and there was talk of having students upload all of their application materials as one PDF to Moodle so that judges would receive one file per applicant.

GSA will discuss the application further at their next meeting.  They plan to distribute applications in February for a March deadline.

Finally came the Open Forum portion of the meeting in which students submit questions or concerns for deliberation. Topics included a request for increased lighting along the Fifth Avenue entrance (which, according to Arena, is up to the Woodland Road Association, not the University) and complaints about cold temperatures in the Art and Design Center, some maintenance issues, the expiration of Chatham passwords without warning, professors not submitting required texts to the bookstore, and graduation fees for students not walking at graduation.  Arena promised to find answers to these questions as soon as possible.

For future Open Forums, Arena encouraged GSA members to seek out topics other than only those from their personal experience.

“I need you to be leaders in your programs,” she said.  “Please be a representative, and talk to your class.”

The next GSA meeting will occur on Tuesday, February 3 at 5 p.m. in the Eastside Main Conference Room.

Each month Chatham holds a Graduate Student Assembly meeting to provide graduate students a place to express their opinions about the climate on campus. This month’s meeting was held on Tuesday, November 4 in the Conover Room in the basement of Mellon Hall.

As students came in, Hallie Arena, Assistant Director of Student Affairs, who facilitates the meetings, encouraged them to help themselves to the food provided for the meeting. “l asked and they said no one should eat lasagna off of paper plates,” she said, joking about the fact that they were provided with real plates at the event.

By 5:00 p.m. the approximately 20 graduate students in attendance filled most of the seats at the table, and Arena called the meeting to order and invited Zauyah Waite, Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students, to speak.

The first order of business, as was evident from the itinerary projected on a screen at the front of the room, was the recent Undergraduate Town Hall meeting, and specifically whether or not the graduate students would be interested in having a Town Hall of their own.

After explaining what the Town Hall meeting is–an opportunity for the entire student body to come together and either publicly or anonymously express their opinions on Chatham’s shortcomings directly to the administration–she said that it would be a good opportunity for the graduate students to get to know their administrators, saying, “You all have more contact with me than you do with the rest of the Vice Presidents.”

“I think what we want to do is provide a better and more vigorous learning environment for graduate students,” Waite said. “You obviously have different needs than the undergraduates,” she continued, which is why it would be important to “have an intellectual conversation with administration.”

Arena added that she thought it would be beneficial, saying, “We just had one, and it seemed really successful for the undergraduate students.”

While the GSA students seemed open to the idea, some expressed concerns.

“I think it’s a good idea,” said accounting student Erin Wallace. “But I don’t know how forthcoming people would be.”

After a short discussion about the merits of a Town Hall meeting, note cards were passed out to the students, and on them they were asked to write what improvement Chatham could make in preparation for going coeducational.

“Are there things that this institution needs to be doing to handle the population that we have, as well as the incoming coeducational population?” Waite asked.

They were also asked to write down ideas regarding more graduate students activities.

“What is it that can bring graduate students together across majors?” Waite added.

This prompted a discussion of activities at Chatham, specifically their inaccessibility for many graduate students.

“Events related to film happen when we have class,” said Film and Digital Technology (FTD) major Aya Moudden. She went on to explain that most of the FTD classes occurred from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., which is also when Chatham has most if its film screenings.

Another students added that the same problem applied to the Interior Architecture students.

Waite addressed this issue of the timing of event by saying that most undergraduate students “generally settle down by 10:00 p.m.,” but she and Arena both promised to look in to the issue.

At that point Waite had to leave the meeting, and Arena moved to the next topic on the agenda, which was promoting various events on campus. In particular she encouraged graduate students to attend Thanksgiving Dinner in November, Candlelight and Eggnog in December, and Relay for Life in February.

The rest of the meeting was dedicated to problems that the graduate students were having in their day-to-day Chatham experience.

These consisted of complaints about scheduling issues (specifically prerequisites not showing up), the inconsistency of the shuttle, general improvements to the athletic facilities, getting color printers at the Eastside campus, and issues with the dining experience at Eastside, all of which Arena promised to pass on to the appropriate people.

GSA meetings are on the first Tuesday of each month. Anyone interested in becoming a member should email Arena at harena@chatham.edu.