CUNY Graduate Center
Doctoral Students Council
Steering Committee Minutes

August 31, 2007

Attendees: Alissa Ackerman, Greg Donovan, Rob Faunce, Anton Masterovoy,
Nancy Medina, Denise Torres, Brenda Vollman, Danielle Wu
Absent: None

Chair: Rob Faunce (RF)
Minutes: Brenda Vollman (BV)

Meeting commenced at 6:13pm

I. Approval of Agenda

Motion to approve - Denise Torres (DT), 2nd Alissa Ackerman (AA), approved by
unanimous consent.

II. Approval of Old Minutes

a. May 29, 2007 minutes: Motion to approve – BV, 2nd AA, approved by
unanimous consent.

b. May 11, 2007 minutes:
Discussion – RF explains the issue of the minutes – that Patrina Huff (PH)
indicated that the minutes that were voted on previously were sent only as a
placeholder for the website, and that the final version of the minutes for vote was
not presented. The issue is that there is a procedural constitutional problem with
the minutes originally approved for the May 11, 2007 meeting.

Motion to approve - DT, 2nd AA, approved by unanimous consent.

III. Old Business

a. Reps for 2007-2008: RF indicates that we have 65 certified members of
the Plenary.
b. SC Member & USS Rep: At Large Steering Committee member Andrea
Efthymiou (AF) and USS representative Jessica Anderson (JA) resigned their
posts on the Steering Committee due to other commitments. We will seek a new
Steering Committee member at the first Plenary on Sept 7, 2007.

RF pointed out that Steering Committee members may also serve as both an at-
large SC member as well as the USS rep, but may not receive a second stipend.
Alissa Ackerman nominated herself for the position, DT 2nd – approved by
unanimous consent.

Nancy Medina (NM) enters at 6:32pm

IV. Student Affairs Report (Gregory)

a. Outreach Strategies: Gregory Donovan (GD) said that the email address
to which we should be referring students is dsc@cunydsc.org. This is an email
that will forward all items to the steering committee gmail account. There is also
the possibility of introducing a free text messaging communication system for
DSC reminders. This may prove to be useful during elections.

b. Elections Process: GD says that he is exploring ways to introduce this
process as an online endeavor.

c. Office Technology: GD sent DSC office technology requests to OIT and
believes that these will be fulfilled soon.

d. Committees:

A brief description of the various standing committees occurred, at which time
various Steering Committee members agreed to chair committees, as noted
below.

Motion to approve committee chairs - GD, 2nd RF, approved by unanimous
consent.

Grants (Professional Development and Cultural Affairs) Committees – BV
Scholarly Achievement Award Committee – BV
Health Issues Committee – DT
Community Building Committee - Danielle Wu (DW)
Library Committee – Anton Masterovoy (AM)

AA and NM indicate interest in creating ad-hoc committees; these will be
discussed more fully at next weeks Plenary.

V. Communications Report (Rob)

a. Advocate: James Hoff (JH), advocate editor, met with RF on July 15 and
RF says he seems excited about the coming year.

b. Administrators Letters: RF informs the Steering Committee that he has
sent out introduction letters on behalf of the DSC to various administrators of GC.
Several have now been scheduled to meet with the Executive Committee.

c. DSC Website & Forums: A meeting has been scheduled with the
webmaster to go over site changes in terms of structure and information
provided.
d. Curriculum and Degrees Committee Opening: The previous member
resigned. The first meeting is Sept 11th, and RF has requested Alice Eisenberg
as to whether or not we currently have an alternate. We will elect a C&D rep or
alternate at this coming Plenary.

VI. Business Report (Brenda)
a. Budget BV reports that the budget that was approved at the Plenary in
May has not changed. In FY 2006 - 07, chartered orgs spent, on average, $326
(with 21 chartered orgs), which is approximately $7000.

VII. USS Report (Greg) reports that JA attended the meeting in August.

VIII. Health Issues Committee (Denise)

7:05 DW leaves meeting

a. Wellness Center: DT indicates that the current status of the GC
Wellness Center is that there is no Nurse Practitioner currently on staff, and the
timeline for acquiring one is unclear. The Matthew Schoengood and the Student
Affairs office are in communication with the Executive Committee of the DSC and
will provide follow-up when a more detailed timeline is available.

BV says that she will work out suggestion for use of the earmarked $12 for health
issues so that we can continue to subsidize medical tests, although possibly
using a per student capped amount based on previous per student subsidy
numbers. The details will be presented to the Plenary.

RF says that we need to get folks talking so that we can provide anecdotal
information to the Student Affairs Office about the concerns of the students
regarding this issue.

IX. New Business

a. Locker Lottery: BV indicates that the lottery is over as of August 31st, and
that there were fewer requests than lockers, so everyone who entered
will be notified by Sept 7th, 2007, of their award.

b. Meeting duty sign up: BV handed a sign up sheet for volunteers to
Chair, provide food and take minutes for Fall Steering Committee and
Plenary Minutes.

X. Announcements - None

XI. Adjournment
Motion to approve - GD 2nd AA, approved by unanimous consent.
Meeting adjourns at 7:24pm.

Respectfully submitted by Brenda Vollman, DSC Co-chair for Business
Management, on September 4, 2007