AGSA Minutes - November 8, 2007

1. Attendance:
   Amber Kling, Katie Neilson, Ben Kamphaus, Tera Thompson, Dave Witt, Denice Szafran, Ray Whitlow, Patrick Fazioli, Rachel Dwyer, Dan Cadzow, June Carrington

2. IEMA Speaker- Krish Seetah: Voted to encumber $50.00 to co-sponsor- unanimous.

3. Storytellers of the Americas Conference: Voted to encumber $50.00 to co-sponsor- unanimous. The conference is in honor of John Mohawk, who passed away last year.

4. Geography Week: Voted to encumber $25.00 to co-sponsor. One abstention, others present voted yes.

5. Milton Plesur Graduate History Conference: Voted to encumber $50.00 to co-sponsor- unanimous. The conference will feature Nan Enstad from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

6. Coffee Hours: Voted to encumber $45.00 for two coffee hours to be held before the end of the semester- unanimous. We will hold the coffee hours on differing days of the week each time so that we can keep scheduling conflicts to a minimum.

7. Visit from Chris Rieth, New York State Archaeologist: Voted to encumber $100.00 to pay for costs to have Chris Rieth as a speaker- unanimous.

8. Union Update, submitted by Mia Jorgensen: There is little to no union leadership at UB, which is a problem since contract negotiations are going on right now. Potential features of the new contract include an increase in pay, and upgraded health coverage, which may result in a slightly higher co-pay. As a clarification of last meetings notes, the union is requesting more numbers as a show of support, rather than for monetary reasons.

9. Faculty Committee Report, submitted by Ashley Hansen: As a reminder, graduate students are not to sign work orders for the department. Additionally, graduate students are not allowed to sign out equipment

10. Computer Lab: We purchased a new printer with the money encumbered at the September 26 meeting and are working on getting it hooked up to the network. We discussed the paper situation with the printer and will likely be voting to encumber money to purchase paper in the future. We also discussed the future of the computer lab- we feel necessary equipment includes a scanner, printer and possibly three computers with reliable Internet access. The photocopier in the graduate lounge is probably not worth repairing at this point.

11. Notes from Senate meeting: Ray Whitlow and June Carrington. A complete description of these notes was sent out to the AGSA listserv. Highlights include: Discussion of a new focus for the Libraries at UB. There will be more annexing of books as the library will be consolidating space. They are also devoting more attention to gaining electronic resources. There was a meeting to gain student input on this topic. Additionally, various other events include the upcoming Jingle Jingle Jam, and a CV workshop. The Senate also discussed program grants for extra funding, an increase in childcare funding, and the volunteer community service program, which the AGSA participated in last year.

12. The GSA has a new Webmaster. For our own department, Dr. Tina Thurston has taken over responsibility for the website. Denice Szafran has volunteered to help with providing additional information for the AGSA website.

13. June Carrington has volunteered to determine interest level in having Cindy Tysick host a workshop for graduate students wanting to learn more about Endnote and other library resources.

14. Speaker Series: We need one person from each sub-discipline to spearhead the committee. This needs to be done in the next few weeks so we can begin to contact potential speakers for the spring.

Repectfully submitted,

Katie Neilson
AGSA Secretary