Town Hall Recap

Thanks again to everyone that showed up for last Thursday’s departmental Town Hall meeting. Participation in conversations like this lead to a great environment for continuing our educations. A summary of the meeting is included below.

 

Town Hall Meeting

Thursday February 2, 2017

Meeting Notes

  1. Read emails about immigration. Big issue. We as a department are very supportive of our faculty and students that are affected by this situation.
    1. Stay in touch with International Office/ office of global affairs on campus
    2. Keep documents up to date, start paperwork early
    3. Issues – talk to Sesa or Runzi Li
  2. Ombudspeople – Glen Johnson and Mosuk Chow
    1. Glenn is also part of C&D committee
    2. Conversations are anonymous
    3. If you don’t feel comfortable talking to anyone in the department you can talk to Eberly HR.
  3. TA Duties
    1. Number of complaints of duties
    2. Discrepancy in quality among different instructor levels
    3. Aim is 15-16 hours, but this will vary!
    4. Undergrad TAs are on the way, but slowly
  4. Meeting time with speaker
    1. Seminar attendance is very important
    2. Want to find a graduate student facilitator
    3. Technical questions first, then broad questions next
    4. Please still feel encouraged to ask questions during the seminar
    5. Recommeneded to read abstract and quick google search of speaker
  5. Office Space
    1. Unusual number of visitors and graduate students
    2. Bring suggestions/complaints to Dave
    3. Space-Use SURVEY to be developed with the Climate & Diversity Committee
  6. Work/Life Balance
    1. Don’t wait to take time for your own interests
  7. Dual Degrees/ Masters
    1. Can’t do both concurrently? Need to double check, but seemingly no.
    2. Need to apply before candidacy/quals!
    3. Possible to petition after that deadline
    4. Graduate minors must be declared before comps
    5. More information on graduate school website

 

It’s very important to HEAR FROM GRADUATE STUDENTS. If there are any issues, please bring it up with whomever you feel most comfortable discussing them with.

 

 

 

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