Council of Graduate Students General Assembly Meeting

1. Council of Graduate StudentsGeneral Assembly Meeting April 24th 2008

2. Agenda • Announcements: • Leadership Award Recipients • Travel Grant Recipients  • Elections:   • Guest Speaker: Gayla Marty (Graduate School Dean’s office) discusses Grad School Communications • Update: GAPSA Meeting • Appreciation: • Current Officers • Top GA Attendees

3. Leadership Awards • Noelle Noonan - Music • Honorable Mentions • Isaac Kamola - Political Science • Robyn Skrebes - Public Policy

4. Travel Awards • Zhen Wang—Political Science • Catherine Kelly—Education • DebarchanaGhosh—Geography • Lynne Baker—Conservation Biology • Fernando Herrera Calderón—History • William Daddario—Theatre • Leah Domine—Ecology, Evolution & Behavior • Julia Rauchfuss—Geography

5. President • The President is the chief executive of COGS. The President must be accessible to all facets of the University Graduate School population and aware of the needs of and the issues relevant to graduate students. • organizes and runs GA meetings. • organizes and runs Deans Meetings. • represents COGS before the University administration, University organizations, and outside groups • serves as a liaison between the above mentioned bodies and graduate students • serves as a member of the Graduate School Executive Committee • officially represents COGS to the GAPSA Executive Committee. • identify, study, and attempts to resolve potential and real problems confronting graduate students • is responsible for the efficient operation of the Council • supervises all other COGS officers and office staff

6. Executive Vice President • Fills in for the President where needed and assists the President in representing COGS before University and non-University organizations. • fills in for the President as needed • represent COGS before University and non-University entities • act as an official liaison between University Senate and COGS • maintains a list of all committees COGS has seats on and communicates with all committee representatives that COGS has. • recruit students for non-internal committees

7. Vice President of Finance • The Vice-President for Finance is responsible for all aspects of fiscal policy. • coordinates, monitors and plans fiscal policy • makes monetary disbursements for COGS • organizes and presents the annual budget • represents COGS in all matters concerning finance • maintains the COGS Endowment and dispersal of the COGS Travel and Education Grants and the COGS Leadership Awards • files taxes and other paperwork required with local authorities • works with GAPSA on the fees request

8. Vice President of External Relations • Responsible for printed communications to all graduate students, including the GradLetter and the Extra email list. Maintains contact with departments and DGSs. Requires usual Exec Committee time commitment, about 3 hours per month to create publications, plus other obligations as necessary. • aid in COGS recruitment activities • publish and distributes the GradLetter, the COGS Extra! electronic newsletter, and other publications • maintains communications with graduate programs and DGS • coordinates recruitment of program reps through DGS and/or program student councils • oversees COGS Leadership Award • oversees COGS sponsored functions for all graduate students

9. Vice President of Internal Relations • The Vice President for Internal Relations is responsible for establishing and maintaining working relations with the graduate programs and the Directors of Graduate Studies. The VP-IR is also in charge of outgoing communication to the general graduate student population from COGS. • communicate with General Assembly members outside of the General Assembly meetings • coordinate P&R Council activities • oversee COGS internal committees (ad hoc or otherwise) • oversees the preparations for General Assembly meetings

10. Vice President of Communications • Responsible for the COGS website and all COGS advertising (MN Daily, etc).Takes minutes at the GA meetings. • maintains and updates the COGS web pages • summarizes minutes of General Assembly meetings and Executive Committee meetings; make them available on COGS web site • documents all motions and votes at the meetings; post them on the COGS web site • updates and maintains internal documents (constitution and bylaws)

11. Policy and Review Council Chairs • Biological Sciences • Education and Psychology • Health Sciences • Language, Literature and the Arts • Engineering, Physical and Mathematical Sciences • Social Sciences • Responsibilities: • Find representatives for your P&R council • Help run workshops for COGS • Attend GA and Exec meetings

12. Senators • The COGS Student Senators represent COGS to the University Senate. Senate meetings are approximately once a month for most of a Thursday (from 11am until 4pm or so, depending on the agendas). Senators also represent COGS to the GAPSA General Assembly (along with the President of COGS). Senators are extremely important positions as they directly promote COGS' interests to the University at large. • Monthly Senate meetings (~5 hours) • Monthly COGS GA meeting (2 hours) • Monthly GAPSA meeting (2 hours)

13. Guest Speaker • Gayla Marty • Director of Communication for the Graduate School

14. GAPSA Update • Elections completed last night • Resolution passed regarding best financial practices

15. Appreciation • Current Officers • Bryan Gordon • Eric Grashorn • Matt Kaplan • Andy Exley • Jenny Corcoran • Caroline Hilk • Sarah Stoddard • Eli Meyerhoff • Eden Kaiser • Geoff Hart • Scott Johnson • Top GA Attendees • Alyssa Anderson (Entomology) • Angela George (HLLCL) • Duane Robinson (Vet Medicine) • Tim Salo (Computer Science) • RenataTicha (Education Psychology) • Andy Warta (Chemical Engineering) • Pamela Weisenhorn (Ecology, Evolution & Behavior) • Pam Wesely (Education, Curriculum & Instruction) • Xi Zhu (Sociology)

16. Adjourned! Have a great rest of the semester…