Sage Minutes (Revised)
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
4:00 p.m., 3132 Wescoe

Attending: Heather Bastian, Keri Behre, Nate Williams, Kristen Lillvis, Ann Martinez, Justin Sevenker, Katie Egging, Amy Hume, Angela Kordahl, Amy Sherman, Gaywyn Moore, Alicia Sutliff

Call to Order. Minutes amended and approved.

Presidents: Emails to prospective grad students received overwhelming volunteers. Mabel S. Fry committee is forming, needs to be done within a week. Bastian asked for volunteers for committee. Hume asked if there was a formal rule for nominating people who'd won the previous year. Bastian stated that if someone has won recently, we typically don't consider them. Volunteers were Sevenker, Egging, Martinez and Kordahl.

Book sale fundraiser is scheduled for 2nd week of April. An email will be sent after spring break soliciting donations. We'll solicit volunteers and will have a sign up sheet on SAGE office door. We also need volunteers will take leftover books to Half Price Books, esp. given the office move--hopefully within a week after the sale ends.

Wescoe Mixer is being organized. Bastian has contacted grad students from other departments in Wescoe who are interested in a mixer among grad program. Some programs have already expressed interest. Bastian requested approval to spend $50 to rent a place (with full rental amount split among grad programs), if needed. Williams moved, Egging second. Bastian talked to social committee about making this our big semester shindig.

Secretary: No report.

Treasurer: Current account is $353.81. Lillvis presented travel award info. Two travel awards were given. One recipient wasn't eligible because travel was later in the year. Recipients were Williams and Hume.

Hume mentioned potential revisions to the travel awards for fiscal year, bringing up two issues with the current method. The first issue was the time taken away from research in relation to the award, the second issue addressed the participation in SAGE events. Hume mentioned that exhaustion of resources wasn't a factor this year. Behre mentioned that exhaustion of resources for our department is based on the every-other-year rule and the understanding that students cannot receive departmental funding two years in a row. Hume mentioned the external factors that might prevent people from applying: outside jobs, family commitments, etc. Behre asked for clarification on time it took to apply. Hume stated that the process takes away from our research time. Behre mentioned that this is true of all applications. Hume stated that SAGE participation was heavily weighted, and that SAGE needs to attempt to represent all members. Hume read email from Susan Thomas stating that there are events that she can't attend due to work or teaching schedule, and Friday events that interfere with religious beliefs, while she's an active part of a committee and handles SAGE Advice. Egging mentioned that the activities Thomas mentioned (committee work and SAGE Advice) would be noted on the current form, and that an application containing such activities would likely be competitive should ranking be necessary. Hume mentioned that she was unsure of departmental matching funds until later in the process. Lillvis mentioned that Prof. Barnard notified people of who was in the running. Bastian reiterated that exhaustion of resources is the primary criteria, before any SAGE involvement is considered; therefore, a person could be uninvolved in SAGE and still receive the funds. Egging mentioned that SAGE has a number of events that work a variety of schedules and that the current system seems to work. Behre mentioned that our funds were cut from last year, so we are using our own money to fund this. Hume stated that the current method does indeed limit it to those who are most involved in some areas. Lillvis stated that that wasn't necessarily the case. Hume stated that that was not how it appeared on the form. Egging mentioned that someone on a committee that meets once a semester probably shouldn't be weighed the same as a committee that meets weekly or monthly. Behre asked for a motion to consider changing the current system. Hume moved, no second. Bastian mentioned that funding wasn't being withheld from anyone. Hume stated that she's fine with having two awards and wanted a more representative way to determine this formula. Discussion ensued. Bastian tabled the issue, requesting concrete suggestions for changes to travel award at a later time if needed.

First-year Liaison: No report

Academics Anonymous: Sometime in April, a discussion on Harry Potter in academics and teaching Harry Potter is going to occur.

Advisory: Peter Grund will be signing contract. An offer was extended to Camp for the Medievalist position. May need to redo our evaluation forms because University is redoing their forms. There may be an emergency procedures meeting, with new info forthcoming.

GTA appointment was discussed. Changes in ranking for course offerings have occurred.

1. New GTAS

2. Continuing GTAS below 5 year limit and Ph.D.s who've taught less than 5 years as Ph.D.s (Years taught as a Master's candidate would not counted for these Ph.D. candidates)

3. Full time lecturers

4. Graduate student lecturers who have taught between 10 and 16 semesters beyond the M.A. Recent Ph.D.'s are allowed one year of teaching beyond the completion of their degree.

5. Adjunct, part time lecturers, and part time lecturer graduate students beyond 16 semesters

These changes have helped out on the 10-semester limit.

There will be a reduced teaching load for graduate students at the dissertation stage. The cap for class size will be lowered for them (2 sections with 10 people per class). Egging asked if they had discussed the dual teaching of 200- or 300-level courses in this scenario, where teachers would have two preps. Sutliff mentioned that the lowered Ph.D. teaching will not be used as a recruiting tool, as mistakenly mentioned earlier.

Joe Harrington's application for Grad Advisor was reviewed at last meeting. See those meeting minutes for more info.

FSE: Meeting Friday to discuss handbook selection and assessment.

Grad Assembly: No report.

Grad Committee: No report.

GTAL: No report.

Lecturers and Readers: No report.

Library: No report.

MFA: No report.

Professionalization skills: There is one in the works in the first few weeks of April on job preparation.

Public & Alumni relations: No report.

SAGE Advice: No report.

Social committee: No report.

Summer Institutes: No report.

Supplemental funds: Lots of approvals have gone through. Egging will ask if we're eligible to apply for departmental funding only every other year. This will be clarified.

Website: No report.

Old business: None.

New business: See Treasurer's report.

Discussion: None.

Meeting adjourned. Sutliff moved. Lillvis seconded.

Next meeting will be 4pm on April 2nd.

Minutes submitted by Nathaniel Williams, Secretary.