The meeting was called to order at 12:37 pm.
The meeting was adjourned at 2:15 pm.
Travel safety
- BGSA received an email from Faculty of Medicine regarding travel safety. Their graduate students register for international travel with 1) U-Go Off Campus Travel Registry, 2) Federal Government Registry, and 3) Sending an email to a Department contact person.
- Biological Sciences has a paper trail in place already for students doing international fieldwork. Michelle C. is going to meet with Dr. Raivio to find out what we currently have in place.
BGSA won the GSA Academic Group Award!
- The award value is $500.
Updates from Departmental Council
Professional Development Requirement for Graduate Students
- New Professional Development Requirements come into effect for students beginning in September 2016.
- Department of Biological Sciences is putting together a 1-page document to summarize the FGSR document for students
- For Department of Biological Sciences, students will have 1 year from their start date to complete their Individual Development Plan (IDP)
- BGSA will provide a workshop in the fall with an overview of the new Professional Development requirements & tips on how to complete the IDP
698/699
- In future terms, graduate students who are mentoring Biology 499 students will fill out a program form and register in 698/699. This will give graduate students formal recognition for mentoring on their transcripts.
Writing workshop feedback
- For next year, we should consider having demonstrations on how to use the Table of Contents features on both PCs and Macs.
Chili-Fest Feedback
- For next year the event should be run for 3 hours instead of 4 hours.
Upcoming Events
Laser Quest
- It is looking like this will be on hold until the summer.
Trivia night
- Planning the next one for the end of March, beginning of April (depends on when Faculty Club is available).
RE Peter Conference
- Everything is underway
- First draft of schedule is being sent out today
- Current funds for the conference include a U of A Alumni grant, a Green grant, and funds from both the Department of Biological Sciences and the Faculty of Science.
- For next year, we could consider running an outreach for kids in conjunction with the RE Peter conference.
Candidacy workshop
- Francesca is planning this.