GESA Meeting September 4, 2007

Minutes

Agenda

1. Introductions

2. Treasurer's report; book fair

3. Update from MA reps

4. Call for area representatives

5. Graduate conference update

6. Fall picnic

Number Present: 27

Introductions

• Amanda Sigler, President (ams4rf@Virginia.edu)
• Ken Price, Vice President (krp5d@Virginia.edu)
• Britt Johnson, Treasurer (brj2z@Virginia.edu)
• Ginny Weckstein, Secretary (vmw4z@Virginia.edu)
• Kelly Chroninger, MA Rep (kbc8b@Virginia.edu)
• Chris McVey, MA Rep (cwm4v@Virginia.edu)

Welcome (back) to GESA! GESA is a social an political organization that addresses the needs of English grad students and serves as a liaison between grad students and faculty. Some of the things we've been involved with in the past include course designs, department procedure, orals process, etc. Other GESA functions include:

• Social functions
• Area committees that in turn organize social events, reading groups, etc., by area of interest
• First year series: a set of panels that addresses issues of professionalization intended for first-year grad students, but of course everyone is welcome to attened. There are typically about three panels per year.
• Cara Lewis, the organizer this year (cll5c@Virginia.edu), hopes to set the first panel for some time in October. Information coming soon.
• We also let you know about departmental changes, new chairs, faculty searches, etc. (And there probably will be at least one faculty search this year that GESA will be involved in.)

Goals for this year:

• Possibility of switching to electronic teaching evaluations for TAs
• Keeping the graduate funding on the departmental consciousness

We also have a GESA website (designed by Kristen Taylor, previously managed by Scott Selisker, now managed by Ginny Weckstein). Its address is: http://www.engl.virginia.edu/gesa/

• E-mail Ginny (vmw4z@Virginia.edu) if you have announcements or photos to put on the (soon to be revamped) website. (GESA blog and flickr page, coming soon!)

Treasurer's Report

• Budget is good! We have $570 and we haven't even collected dues yet.
• Dues are reduced this year, due to our successes with the book fair the past two years. This year they're only $10.
• Envelopes for dues will be in your mailboxes within the next several days
• If you need money for area rep expenses, contact Britt (brj2z@Virginia.edu).

Book Fair

• Begun 2 years ago by Ben Fagan
• Our only fundraiser – and it has been terrifically successful!
• It will be held over Parents' Weekend, which is October 26-28^th.
• Contact Britt (brj2z) if you want to volunteer, either to
• Help organize
• Move books
• Run tables on the day

MA Matters

• Mentoring – all mentors should be set. If you're not set and you want to be, contact Kelly (kbc8b@Virginia.edu) or Chris (cwm4v@Virginia.edu)
• There is a fairly ambiguous 2^nd year master's protocol. Are you confused? So is everyone else!
• Susan Fraiman has sat down with Chris and Kelly to explain your options (and there are a lot).
• We're working on developing some materials to explain the procedure more fully (this document it will go on the website)
• If you have questions, go to Susan Fraiman, or to Chris and Kelly.
• We also have a sheet of teaching opportunities for master's students that will also be going on the website soon!

Call for Area Representatives

• What do area reps do?
• Organize reading groups, gatherings, social events, activities, plan at least one major faculty-student interaction (event) per year. They also report back to GESA on area activities once per month.
• What areas do they cover?
• Medieval, Renaissance, 18thC, 19thC, 20thC, American, and Theory
• We need reps in all areas! Anyone who has been involved before is welcome, but so are newcomers.
• Email Ken (Krp5d@virgnia.edu) or speak with him personally if you're interested in being an area rep.

Graduate Conference Update

• Last year, Brett Edwards was our keynote and Improvisation was our theme. (See http://www.textandimprovisation.com/ for last year's conference website.)
• We're now in the process of organizing the committee for the 2008 conference, which will be held a little earlier, in late February/early March.
• Peter Teigland has graciously volunteered to direct.
• We need to have determined the speaker & theme by the end of this month.
• E-mail to Ken (krp5d@Virginia.edu) or Peter Teigland (pet5cvirginia.edu) if you're interested in being involved.
• The committee may reorganize a little this year:
• We might want co-directors (rather than one single director) this year
• In previous years we may have left out pre-1800 people. So we'd love to have some this year!!!
• If you're going to be around next year, we'd love to have you (so someone can pass the torch, since Peter will be graduating at the end of this year). If you've been around before, we'd love to have you too, of course!

Fall Picnic

• Fun!
• Late September/early October. You'll get an e-mail.

A&S Grad Council Events

• A collective board of grad students across the College of Arts and Scientces
• Sarah Bishop (social), Peter Teigland (honor), Ken – our reps
• Every months we get a grad connetions e-mail.
• A&S Halloween Part Nov. 2^nd at Satellite Ballroom
• Monthly happy hour the last Thursday of every month – meet grads from other departments. Next one is 9/27 from 5:30-7:30 at Mellow Mushroom. (free drinks and pizza. also, engineers.)
• Graduate yoga classes were popular, and are to be continued. They're free. TTime and place to be announced. Likely Wednesday nights. There may be a second date during the week.
• Talk to reps if you want to talk about these issues.