Sage Minutes
October 4, 2006
3:00 p.m., 3132 Wescoe

John Wiehl, Heather Bastian, Keri Behre, Alicia Sutliff, Ryan McCarty, Katie Egging, Nate Williams, Justin Sevenker, Steve Mitchley, attending.

Minutes approved.

President’s Report

• There are books left. We clean them out Sunday, Oct. 7. Please offer 25 percent of the list price. Do you have a poster or some other item to contribute for decorating?

• We’d like to consider doing another fundraiser, for the regular price of SAGE doing business. Maybe something different from the book sale. Fundraising ideas include, “buy a grad student.” Volunteers offer themselves for 1-3 hours. Graduate students can buy each other, and faculty could “buy” graduate students. We’d pick a time frame. Keri suggested that buyers could get a certificate. Perhaps do it nameless on the form, but they could choose from a list of students. There would be a one hour minimum. $20/hour, perhaps $50 for three. Keri said, we should list our names on the form, so that they can see our names. Perhaps provide rules on contact?

• John just put up a form on courses we request. Please fill them out. They are available in the lab.
  Note that grad students can’t serve on the screening committees for new faculty. Grad student input will still be welcomed.

• Marta thanks volunteers for her January conference on Latino Studies in 2008

Secretary Report: Nothing to report

Treasurer’s Report (Keri):

• We have $363.09. About $42 is from book sales to grad students. Plus there’s more to come from the sales to half-price bookstores.

• Regarding the Halloween party, let’s stick with prizes allocated $35. We need non-departmentally involved judges. Heather’s father and brother could do it. How do we purchase beverages and food? SAGE will provide mixers and sodas, or should we get a ponykeg, + BYOB. Decision: SAGE should provide some material, maybe soda, juice and tonic, and make it BYOB. Social committee can spend up to $40 on food and refreshments. Ryan motioned, Katie second. Approved

First year liaison (Justin): Nothing to report yet.

Academics Anonymous (Mica): Did not attend.

Advisory Committee (Alicia):

• At the 3rd meeting, went over how many students are enrolled; the figures look good. There are changes coming in the undergraduate major requirements, which are now going to the voting dept.

• Going to this meeting is the English dept hiring plan. They need to overhaul the way we break into categories, how it needs to change and universities are changing. It’s something they are considering. Not any time soon. It would be a lot of work. 18 people will be eligible for retirement in the next 4 years.

FSE (Heather):

• We assigned 3 committees. Now we are looking at English 101’s goals and making adjustments, shifting things to make the classes different. Then the 101 texts will be gone through again.

• Then we have the awards committee, who will handle the first-year student awards. Maybe an assessment committee will be formed to figure out what we are accomplishing. How would we assess. An exit exam? Don’t know that it will come to pass.

Graduate Assembly (Alicia): Grad student workshops are coming up on networking, marketing yourself outside the academy, etc. They need a graduate senator.

Grad Committee:

• We divided into 2 subcommittees for revision of 800 and for graduate student recruitment. We proposed, would you be willing to put people up in your house? Wining and dining. They do it now, but it’s haphazard. We only ask the top students. We put together a proposal that’s going to the Provost, for $5,000 for a year.

• Targeting minority student for recruitment will continue.

• Regarding 800, the subcommittee meeting is on Friday. Is it an intro to the academy or intro to grad studies. Putting a call out, Ryan said, is more theory and more of the idea of the profession. They could be combined with other things. If you think of things that cover both, bring them up to Ryan.

GTA/L (Angela/Kristin, submitted after the meeting): The committee's meeting overlapped with the SAGE meeting yesterday.

• Sonya will distribute a call for nominations (self-nominations welcomed) for the university-wide GTA award. 1-2 people will be selected to represent the department; we have been very successful in the past.

• In the spring, the committee will be reviewing the new GTA mentoring system, examining the advantages and disadvantages of the changes. It seems to be going well so far. If you have any feedback regarding your experience, please send it to one of the GTA/L representatives (Katie Martin, Kristin Bovaird-Abbo, Angela Glover).

• The committee is also looking at the process of reviewing lecturers to see if a peer-review system might be implemented. This is in response to the recent changes to the GTA review process. We are also considering ways to make lecturers more comfortable in the department--making them more aware of opportunities, travel funds, etc.

• The chair has charged the committee with the task of exploring the implications of continuing to hire full-time lecturers (4-4 teaching load). We currently have seven, and the university has promised us 12. This new position has already impacted the department's part-time lecturers, as some are now required to teach 3-1, rather than 2-2 (or 3-2), which renders them ineligible for health insurance. This might be a concern for graduate students who have exceeded the five year limit for GTAships, as part-time lectureships will become fewer in number. We also discussed the desire to have full-time lecturers. We will continue to explore this issue. Again, if you have any feedback, questions, suggestions, please send them to one of the GTA/L reps.

Lecturers: We’ve had a great response to the lecture by Leonard Pitts, so they moved location to the Lied Center

Library (John reported) – The are continuing to test LION, new database.

MFA (Chloe): Did not attend.

Professionalization (Alicia): Meeting next week for professionalization workshops.

Public/Alumni Relations (Jen): Meeting tomorrow.

SAGE Advice (Sarah): Did not attend. Heather asked SAGE members to send Sarah dates of birthdays and other events for the calendar.

Social Committee (Keri): – We are gathering at 7:30, Henry’s upstairs, and making Halloween plans.

Summer Institutes: Marta is chair. You are encouraged to make suggestions.

Supplemental funds (Katie): Nothing to report.

Web master: Nothing to report.

Everyone: Go see the play Leaves of Words. Need a good attendance.

Meeting adjourned.

The next meeting is Wed Nov 1 at 3:00 in the conference room.

Minutes submitted by Jen Humphrey, Secretary.