Present at Meeting: Diane Bessel, David Blake, Cindy Cooper, Suzette Cote, Sheri Crosby, Gretchen Erb, Danis Gehl, Don Matteson, Olayta Rigsby, Erin Robinson, BinBin Tan, Neil Wieloch.
Introductions (see list of members in attendance).
Introduction of Officers and description of jobs. See attached sheet for description.
Discussion of Committees and Election/Appointment of SGSA members to committees. Three committees, Grievance Committee, Faculty-Student Committee, and GSA Senate are in need of SGSA members to sit on committee and/or attend meetings. The grievance com
mittee requires two Ph.D. students. Erin Robinson and Suzette Cote were selected. The Faculty-Student Committee requires one masters student and two Ph.D. students. Cindy Cooper, Neil Wieloch, and Gretchen Erb will sit on this committee. Cindy Cooper will
represent SGSA to the GSA Senate. Don Matteson and Erin Robinson will serve as alternates.
Eastern Sociological Society: SGSA has been in dialogue with Ted Mills about volunteering our services at the annual Eastern Sociological Society meeting in Boston on March 4, 5, 6, 7. Ted has expressed an interest in our working with the conference,
and has offered some incentives (including possible waiving of conference fee) for our benefit. A number of people have expressed an interest in attending the conference and volunteering their services.
SGSA Conference: An information session has been scheduled for Friday, September 18th at 2pm in the Sociology lounge to discuss the SGSA conference for this year. Following on last year's conference in April, we are considering an interdisciplinary ap
proach for this years conference. All members are invited to attend this meeting. Flyers will be made to promote the meeting.
Social Gatherings: The new student/faculty welcome on September 4th was well attended. A potluck has been scheduled for September 25th beginning at 7pm. Cindy Cooper will host the event. Directions will be provided soon. The SGSA made a $25.00 donatio
n to the party.
A recommendation has been made to combine meetings with potlucks in the future. These may be held either in the Sociology Lounge or at people's homes. Input of members, on this suggestion, is sought.
Social Movements Discussion Group: Neil is considering the possibility of starting a reading group to talk about social movements. The group may meet every few weeks to discuss readings. Several people at the meeting expressed an interest.
Other Activities for SGSA: Members expressed an interest in some other group activities besides the potluck socials. Picnics, hikes, bowling, paintball, and movie nights have been proposed for the year.
Webpage: Don Matteson spoke on the SGSA web page. The web page is to be a "central repository for information on SGSA." It will list the professional activities of members. If members already have a web page, it can be linked to the SGSA web page. Fi
nally, if a member has information, suggestions, agenda items, ideas to be brought up at the meetings, this can be done through the web page.
Data Survey Sets: Don has placed copies of several data sets in the student library cabinet. These include the 1994 and 1995 National Health Interview Survey on Disability, Phase I and II, and the National Center for Educational Stats. Don has also
placed his copy of Getting What You Came For, and Information for Statistics II on Path Analysis, Factor Analysis, and Logistics in the library.
Professionalism: A discussion of Brown Bag lunches was both animated and extensive. It was suggested that Dr. Farrell be invited to the next SGSA meeting to discuss how we can work together on the brown bags. The question of what is our role and what
is the role of our advisor in organizing these professional lunches ensued.
A discussion of the department and its major disciplines was held.
The next meeting will be scheduled after the officers review the surveys from SGSA members and judge what is the best time for future meetings. The SGSA allocated $30.00 for the purchase of pizza for the next meeting.
The meeting was then adjourned.
