AGSA Minutes - October 8, 2004

In Attendance:
Lori Eldridge, Amanda Shero, Dan Grover, Matthew Smith, Brandon Lundy, Jacklyn Ramsey, Severs Ionica, Emily Hammerl, Tom Brunton and Nneka Black.

• The graduate student lounge was discussed, including the possibility of curtains in the main area, cleaning the walls and/or painting them.
  • It was unanimously agreed to dispose of the old copy machine and purchase a new toner cartridge for the 'newer' copying machine. If the newer one proves to be as much of a repair problem as the older one, further funds will not be allocated towards it.
  • Furthermore, it was felt that an increase in the number of students using the printers necessitates a modest contribution of money from the students towards their maintenance. It was unanimously decided that a box will be placed in Margaret's office for voluntary donations toward a common fund for future supplies. The goal is for students who use the printers to donate $1 per month in order to supplement the AGSA's investment in toner, paper, etc.
• Skylar Harris, a representative from the History Department, visited to request the support of the AGSA for their upcoming Milton Plessar conference. All in attendance voted to support and $25 will be encumbered. For more information about the conference, Skylar can be contacted at smharris@buffalo.edu.
• Lori Eldridge suggested organizing panels for the upcoming NEAA conference in Lake Placid and emphasized this as a great opportunity for first time presenters.
• It was voted on and unanimously agreed to deny any and all requests for conference funding from AGSA funds.
• A speaker's series was discussed. Amanda Shero asked for funding to sponsor Robert Foster from the University of Rochester. It was unanimously agreed to encumber $25 if the department will match the amount, and $50 if they will not.
  • More funding for the speaker's series is desired. Suggestions for securing additional funds included the GSA, other departments and the undergraduate Anthropology club.
  • Brandon Lundy was nominated for and accepted the position of coordinator of the series.
  • Speakers are still being sought, suggestions are welcome.
• An interest to bring back the brown bag lunches was voiced by many. Lori Eldridge has agreed to send out an e-mail to the list serve in an attempt to get them going again before the end of the month.
  • It was suggested that the topics discussed should include specific methodologies employed in student projects, to facilitate exchange of ideas of approach to different problems.
• It was brought up that the faculty has insisted that a more senior student should be serving on the Graduate committee. The apparent cause for concern among the faculty was due to the creation of a new graduate student handbook this year. It was agreed by all that the best solution to this request was to keep the voted in representative in position and add another student who has been in the department longer. An additional representative has not been decided.
• The issue of double postings on the list serve was also brought up. While many agreed that it is beneficial that many people are posting job listings, grant opportunities and conference announcements, it was agreed that items of this nature should be posted to the academic list serve instead of the general one in order to allow faculty to see what has already been posted and perhaps eliminate some of the double posting.
• Finally, the Halloween party was discussed. The date is to be announced. It was agreed to encumber $50 for food, the person responsible for purchasing food will be voted on at a later date.
• The meeting was adjourned at 5:30. The next meeting will be announced on the AGSA list serve.

Repectfully submitted,

Emily Hammerl,
AGSA Secretary