Spring 2023

Wednesday, March 8

Fundraising

• Payment by Cash/Check/Venmo
• Pricing
  • Polo - $45
  • Sweater - $75
  • Long Sleeve - $55

Vinograde Award

• Committee to be created

 

Wednesday, February 22

Graduate Committee Notes

• 26 acceptances

Fundraising

• Need to be ready by the Symposium
• Items to offer
  • Dress Shirts (Short and Long Sleeve)
  • Sweater/Jacket
  •     Mugs/Stickers

 

Friday, January 20

Hedge Fund Meeting

• Will likely be held during one of SIAM/CAM/Grad Student Seminar date TBD
• Will recieve more information once they contact Weber

Spring Symposium

• April 15th date set
• No iSMART
• Department have offered to cover cost of poster printing

Grad Tea

Wednesday, February 8

Symposium

Need to solicit speakers, poster presenters and attendees by March 15th

Flier created by Friday

• Held weekly on Tuesdays for 1:30-4:00pm in undergraduate lounge

Fall 2022

Friday, Noveber 18

Spring Symposium

• Building a committee to setup 
• Aiming for end of April

Encourage grad students to submit TA form

Coedge

• December 14
• New food options
• Studying for Winter Quals

 

Friday, Noveber 11

GPSS Funding

• Half can be spent on food, and the other half on something else

Budgetting for Spring

• Requesting $2500
  • Teas $960
  • Coedge $1000
  • Fundraising Capital $500

DEI Nominations

• Enrique Gomez-Leos elected

Graduate Student Union Petition

 

Friday, September 30

Fall Social

• October 23, 1-4pm

Fundraiser

• Ideas include mugs, hats, stickers, and previous clothing options

DEI Nominations

 

Spring 2022

Monday, February 11

Grad Committee Reports

• Tentative course options to be available in the coming weeks

Fundraiser

• Monday: Give available times, offer to email to set up other time, slip under door 

Co-Edge

• Room 385, 5:20p (2/16) same topic
• Free food! With theoretical veg (potbellies)

Career Day

• March 26, 9am

Spring Social (let's set a tentative time of the semester)

• Beginning of April

Monday, January 31

Fundraiser

• Polos back in stock
• Button up shirt in stock
• Only red jacket in stock

Co-Edge

• Finding an advisor and starting research

SIAM Seminar and Junior Analysis seminar

• Feb 9th, usual time

Fall 2021

Monday, November 15

Co-EDGE: Wednesday, 11/17 at 5:15pm in Carver 401

• Winter Quals: How should I prepare for quals with a month-long gap? How do I actually feel rested and re-energize during break while also studying?

• The floor is also open to discussion about preparing and staying healthy for finals

• Like previous Co-EDGE meetings this semester there will be PotBellys catering with veggie option.

Apparel Fundraiser Delay

• Because of supply chain issues and GSO's point of contact being changed, the GSO apparel fundraiser is delayed to an undetermined date. However we are hopeful that we will still have apparel for this academic year.

 

Monday, November 1

GPSS

• There is a virtual GPSS Wellness Resource Lunch this Friday, 11/05 at 12:10pm to discuss and promote "the many health and wellness resources ISU has to offer." See the attached flier and WebEx link.

  https://iastate.webex.com/iastate/j.php?MTID=m4d6bf4b64139739508966b9273ce9f2b

Co-EDGE: How to study for Winter Quals

• How should I prepare for quals with a month-long gap? How do I actually feel rested and re-energize during break while also studying?

• The floor is also open to discussion about preparing and staying healthy for finals

Graduate Committee Open Forum

• Due to the forum running long, GSO is having its own open meeting 11/15 (Mon) at 4:45 in Carver 409. Please bring any concerns you want brought to the graduate committee  (e.g. if you have a comment that wasn't heard at the most recent graduate committee open forum). GSO will then raise these concerns (or accompany you if you wish to raise them yourself but want support).

• Professor David Herzog, chair of the graduate committee, has enthusiastically conveyed that he cares about graduate student's concerns and always has an open door to discuss anything, even when his door is closed (you could say he has a clopen door policy). 

• If you have any questions about the events of the Grad Committee Open Forum, anyone on Math GSO or the Graduate Committee (perhaps David Herzog ^^) would be happy to chat.

January Quals

• Finally, January quals are to be held within the timeframe of January 12-15 (Wed - Sat), the week before classes start. However, the exams will likely only take place over three of these four days (so either Wednesday or Saturday will be exam-free). 

 

Monday, October 18

Co-Edge

• Industry/company internship, national internship, summer workshop
• Free food with vegetarian option

Fall Social: 10/29 (Fri) 11-2 in graduate lounge

• Fall pies, cider, pumpkin spice creamer, hot coco

Monday, October 4

Upcoming Graduate Student Forum: 10/28 (Thu) at 4:10pm in Gerdin Hall 1148

• The graduate committee is hosting an open forum where graduate students can come to ask any questions and present any comments/concerns they may have.
• If you cannot attend or wish to remain anonymous, please email mathgso@iastate.edu with your question/comment and we will serve as your proxy. We will also ensure a summary of the proceedings are made available to everyone.

Co-Edge: 10/20 (Wed) at 5:15pm in Carver 401

• The topic for this session is "Workshops & Internships: How do I find them? Apply to them? Make the most out of them?"
• We hope to have a panel of fellow graduate students who have participated in some workshop or internship to answer any questions you may have.
• If you have experience with internships/workshops, we would love to have you as a panelist! Reach out to Math GSO :)

Fall Social: 10/29 (Fri) at lunchtime in Grad Lounge

• Math GSO is hosting a fall social the Friday before Halloween (spooky). It will be held over lunchtime (formal times to come later), so drop by!
• There will be autumnal snacks, drinks, decorations, and more! Costumes encouraged (but not required).

Miscellaneous News

• Math GSO has a website! Well, turns out we always had a website, but now we're using it again! All future GSO News Roundups (aka out meeting minutes) will be made available there. Also check out the calendar for any upcoming events! https://www.stuorg.iastate.edu/math-gso

 

 

Spring 2019

Wednesday, March 3

The voting system for the next Math GSO election is changing.

The grad lounge was cleaned last week and will continued to be cleaned at the end of every month.

 

Friday, January 24

Career Day
- There will be four or five speakers that will speak about 30 mins.  The date of career day has yet to be determined.
Co-Edge
- The next Co-Edge meeting will occur on February 6th 
Spring Social
- Math GSO is brainstorming ideas for the spring social
Fridge Cleaning
- The fridge and graduate lounge will continue to be cleaned out at the end of every month.  Pleas continue to use the labeling system.

 

Fall 2019

Thursday, November 7

- GPSS
     GPSS fall social is taking place on 12-8-2019
     The graduate school is looking for stories from its students.  Check the graduate website for details.
- Fundraiser 
     The order form will come out the week before Thanksgiving break.
- Graduate Lounge
     The first monthly refrigerator cleaning went well.  Please remember to date and label your items in the refrigerator.
     GSO will post a warning on the refrigerator and send an email the week of the cleaning.

     Make sure you sign up for classes next semester and fill out the teaching request from that was sent to you.

Thursday, October 10

• GPSS
  Elections were held for the PAG chair.
  GPSS formed committees 
• Fundraiser
  There will be a clothing fundraiser including a polo, fleece, and button up shirts.
• Career Day
  Math GSO will start reaching out to candidates to present at career day.

Thursday, September 26

• Graduate Committee Report
  See Kate's notes on the meeting
• Grad Lounge 
  Masking tape and a sharpie will be put in the lounge so the new labeling system can be put into place.
• Co-Edge
  The September meeting will be taking place on 9/26, the second will be sometime the second week of October.
• GPSS
  Math GSO has submitted its Allocations request
• Fall Social
  An email will be sent out asking for RSVP for the first fall social taking place on 10/30 from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm.
• Fundraising
  Math GSO is keeping the polo option for the fundraiser this year.  A zip up fleece and button up shirt will be added as options.

Thursday, September 12

• Grad Committee Report 

Kate  reviewed what happened in the last Grad Committee meeting 

• GPSS

Ted reviewed what happened in GPSS 
- Discussion of student and major advisor checklist and chapter nine of the grad student handbook. 
- Planing of the fall and spring social 
- PAG grants were reviewed 

• MathGSO Fall Socials

- The first social is planned to happen around lunch time on October ninth and the date for the second is still to be determined.

• CoEdge

- The first CoEdge meeting will happen at the end of September

• Grad Lounge Cleanliness

- A list of rules and guidelines were made concerning the grad lounge.

• Office Hours

- Some office hours are very busy so there is a need for more overflow rooms
- Room reservation policy.  If we can reserve the rooms there will be proof that there are not enough overflow rooms available.

Thursday, August 29

• CoEdge

- Discussed potential topics, and times for this semester's CoEdge meetings.

• Fundraising

- Add some more options when it comes to the apparel fundraiser this year.
- Broaden our clients to include the entire math department including undergrad students.
- Possible "night out" at a local restaurant.

• Planning Fall Social

- Hoping to have a lunch social this fall. 

• Undergrad Tea

- There is a desire to help replace "undergrad tea" and rename it in order to include the whole department.

 

 

Spring 2019

Thursday, April 26

• Graduate Committee
  • Commitee currently working on student progress reports, so Christine (our GC liaison) as been unable to attend the last 3 meetings. 
• T-Shirt Fundraiser
  • Currently, 11 shirts have been ordered.
  • This is less than anticipated. GSO will only follow through with the order if we at least break even
    • Waiting on treasurer Adam to determine if 11 will allow GSO to break even.
• Spring Social
  • To occur Wednesday, May 1 from 1:30-2:30 PM. 
  • Menu
    • Ice cream with sundae bar options
    • Vegan option will be on offer as well
• End-of-year-meeting
  • Newly elected GSO members and incumbents will meet during finals week (time & date TBD) to discuss transition.
  • A large part of this meeting is assigning the new members positions (Pres, VP, etc).
    • There is no constitutional procedure for this process, so we discussed our opinions on how to best do it this year
      • The biggest difference between people's opinions involved whether or not members who are in their last year of GSO should have any say in who get what position.
        • No consensus reached.
      • This also lead to a discussion of the necessity of some positions
        • Some feel eliminating Sec of Comm. and VP positions would encourage more collaboration and less compartmentalized work. 
          • This will be something to bring up for new members to discuss.

Thursday, April 11

• Graduate Committee 
  • Progress reports now to come out in Fall.  Students will report on activities from previous fall semester up until most recent summer.
  • Summer Funding
    • Some students are being punished for professional travel by not getting funding.  Hal wants to change this.
• T-Shirt Fundraiser
  • Shirts will be sold for $12
  • Most likely black shirts with white lettering.
• GSO Elections
  • GSO results are in at 5:00 PM on 4/11.
  • GPSS nominations will be due 5:00 PM 4/12.
  • GPSS elections to begin 4/15.
• CoEdge
  • Next CoEdge is Monday, 4/22.
    • Topic will be professional/career development
    • Kate has secured 5 speakers who are/were recently on the job market.

Thursday, March 28

• Graduate and Professional Student Senate
  • GPSS still looking to interview graduate students for #graduatestudentstories.
    • Contact Joel Jeffries for info on how to share your stories.
• Highlights from Graduate Committee Open Forum
  • Grad Committee has proposed doing Fall progress reports rather than spring ones.
  • 35 students accepted, expect 20-25 to enroll
  • Grad Comm encouraging graduate students to register for classes ASAP as this helps the department get more money from Graduate College.
  • Department has been able to secure more money for graduate student travel
    • Last fall, annual allowance went down from $500 to $300.
    • Not sure of the amount of increase.
  • Chair Hal stated that he will reimburse anyone for buying a "nice," "official" ISU shirt, if they provide evidence that they gave a talk in it.
  • James Rossmanith will be taking over as Director of Graduate Education in the summer.
  • Grad Comm is considering designating one course as one to be taught by first-year graduate students.
• Career Day
  • Exact numbers for food were determined
    • 31 meals in total from The Cafe for a total of <=$300
• GSO and Graduate and Professional Student Senate Elections
  • Call for nominations to come out within the next week.
• Vinograde Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Teaching
  • Committee must be formed
    • Alex Nowak volunteers to be GSO rep on committee
    • Mary Vaughn, Jungmin Choi are consensus choices for the remaining two spots on the committee. 
      • GSO awaits their reply to our request to serve on the Committee.

Thursday, March 14 

• Graduate and Professional Student Senate
  • Iowa State Graduate Student Research Conference to take place on April 10.
  • GPSS still looking to interview graduate students for #graduatestudentstories.
    • Contact Joel Jeffries for info on how to share your stories
• Graduate Committee
  • Progress reports to go out within the next few days.
  • Open Forum
    • Some faculty and students wondering if having open forum after a GC-themed CoEdge on 3/14 would be redundant. 
      • The counterpoint to this is that not all GC members will be at CoEdge and not all students will be able to attend CoEdge. 
  • ?University's new payroll software is complicating graduate student summer salaries.  Currently not affecting students' salaries and our chair, Dr. Schenck, is working to resolve the issue with administration.
• Career Day
  • Food will be from The Cafe.
• T-Shirt Fundraiser
  • Order form to go out as soon as a final draft of the design is completed.
• CoEdge
  • It was brought to the attention of GSO that having Chick-Fil-A was, considering this company's hateful stance towards gay and queer persons, was, at the very least, inconsiderate.
  • GSO will strive to be more thoughtful in its food purchases.
• Vinograde Award
  • This year, the department is giving an award to one Graduate Faculty member in recognition of excellence in graduate teaching.
  • A three person committee consisting of students both in and not in GSO select the winner.
  • There will be a call for nominations as soon as the committee is formed. 

Thursday, February 14

• Graduate and Professional Student Senate
  • GPSS looking to interview grad students and share these interviews through #gradstudentstories.
    • Contact Joel Jeffries for info 
• Graduate Committee
  • Committee is working on making it clear which Grad Student Handbook is the current one.
• Career Day
  • Stefanie Wang has accepted invitation, will book her own flight, and GSO will reimburse her.
  • Since Caterpillar is paying for Nick Payne, GSO will reach out to Zach Voller in hopes of getting a fourth attendee.
  • Food
    • GSO leading towards buffet food (as opposed to boxed lunches), as it will be cheaper.
• T-Shirt Fundraiser
  • Four designs have been submitted.
  • Vote on favorite to be held next week.
• Miscellanea 
  • GSO will take the lead on cleaning grad lounge, as students have complained about the level of filth.
  • Graduate Committee expressing concern over the the fact that students are taking the "easiest quals", at the expense of depth of knowledge in a particular area.

Thursday, January 31

• Graduate and Professional Student Senate
  • Campus Climate Committee wants to assemble a focus group of graduate students with the hope of improving child care resources for faculty & staff.
  • Graduate student social at Perfect Games on 4/12 from 6:00-9:00.
  • GPSS Chief Information Officer Sophie Zhai (gpsscio@iastate.edu) looking for "graduate student stories" for the website.
  • There will be more demand for March PAG grants than they can supply.  People requesting second PAG grant should be prepared to not receive funding.
  • Abstracts for Grad Student Research Conference (taking place on 4/10) due 2/28.
• Graduate Committee
  • Moving grad students down to second floor
    • Postbacs, grad students behind schedule on graduating, terminal masters students will be the first to go to second floor.  
    • Lottery will be held to fill remaining seats in second floor office
    • 385 will be reserved for people with second floor offices to hold office hours.
• CoEdge
  • February Theme: Focusing on academics/research
    • Lecture by J. P. Serre "On writing mathematics" may be shown
  • March Theme: Job search/professional development
• Career Day
  • So that graduate students can volunteer at Sofia Kovalevskaya Day, career day will start at 3:00 pm, with dinner being served at 5:00.
  • Looks like we will be able to afford one more person
    • GSO will reach out to SIAM to ask for funding for guests from industry.
• Spring Social
  • Will take place in April, week to be decided by GSO later, and then day of that week will be based on student survey.
  • Specifics of menu/structure to be put off until after Career Day
• Graduate Lounge
  • Should cost $60-100 to stock lounge for semester with coffee, tea, hot chocolate
    • GSO will discuss the details of this purchase after Career Day spending is finalized (next meeting).

Thursday, January 17

• CoEdge
  • January's topic will be fun things to do in and around Ames.
  • Date not set, but will probably occur on a Tuesday.
• Career Day
  • Nick Payne (MS, 2016) and Kirsten Hogenson (PhD, 2016) are confirmed attendees
  • Possibilities for additional guests
    • Academia: Stefanie Wang (PhD, 2017), John Herr (PhD, 2017)
    • Industry: Zachary Voller (PhD, 2016), Erica Johnson (MS, 2017) 
• T-Shirt Fundraiser
  • Deadline for designs will be 2/1.
  • Announcement to be made by Comms Secretary, Alex N, in 1.) Minutes email and 2.) a separate announcement.
• Miscellaneous Items
  • Erich is removing recycling bins for cans from Grad lounge, as this will no longer be a source of fundraising for GSO.
  • At the next meeting we will pick a date for GSO Spring Social.
  • Kate suggested (and everyone agreed) that an appropriate use of funds would be purchasing coffee and tea for graduate lounge.

 

Fall 2018

Wednesday, October 24

• Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS)
  • PAG Committee is reforming procedures.  Details to come via Joel, our GPSS representative
•  Graduate Committee (GC)
  • New faculty hires means there will be a shortage office space for graduate students.
  • This means more students will be placed in Carver 244. 
    • Options for who gets put in 244 include:
      • 1.) Put all first-years down there
      • rationale: seniority rules
      • 2.) Have a rotation of 3-5 years down there
      • rationale: later-career grad students do not require proximity to maintain community
•  Career Day
  • Erich obtained a list of many graduates who have held post docs in the past.  We would like to invite one of these, in addition to Kirsten Hogenson, Katie Nowak, and Nick Payne.
  • Money is going to be tight, as Kirsten, Katie, and postdocs are all flight distance.
•  Apparrel Fundraising
  • Kate has worked out a way to get the Iowa State “block I” on the polos and 1/4-zips. 
  • Order form to be made soon.

Wednesday, October 10

• Graduate Committee (GC)
  • After looking into it, GC has decided it would be too much work to affiliate AMS chapter with GSO, so this is not happening.
• Fall Social
  • To be held 10/26
  • Consensus of GSO is to hold a pumpkin carving event
  • We will meet next Wednesday to finalize details regarding acquisition of pumpkins and carving materials + room reservation.
• Career Day
  • Tentative date 3/23
  • Short list of names: Nick Payne, Katie Nowak, Pierson Guthrey, Kiersten Hogensen
  • Invitations to go out to these people within the week

Wednesday, September 26

• Graduate & Professional Student Senate (GPSS)
  • Forum speaker addressed issues of graduate student wellness
    • Considering having a peer mentor for wellness affiliated with each department
• Graduate Committee (GC)
  • GC proposed ISU having an AMS Chapter run through GSO
    • Would automatically get funding from AMS
  • Mon Wed classes cannot be scheduled in rooms the department doesn't directly control (ie, does not look feasible)
  • GC trying to gather funds for Woolfe award so that they may offer it over the summer.
• COEDGE
  • GSO would like to hold two in Oct
    • One hosted by Hal
    • Second on mental health and wellness
• Career Day
  • Invite should go out by early Nov
  • Tentative date is Mar 23
• Apparel Fundraising
  • GSO is going to have to have Bonnie (or someone in office) to place the orders on behalf of Math GSO, as only the Math Department itself can order apparel that says "ISU Dept of Mathematics" on it.

Wednesday, September 12

• Graduate & Professional Student Senate (GPSS)
  • Treasurer has prepared and submitted request for regular allocations (ie, GPSS money)
    • This will pay for Career Day
  • Joel expressed desire to communicate information on PAG grants to graduate students
• Graduate Committee (GC)
  • Nominations for grad student awards will be due Friday, Oct 12
  • The Open Forum will be held Oct 4 4:00-5:00 PM
• CoEdge
  • Have to sheck with Alex, Mary, and Beth to decide whether we would like to hold it on Thurs. 9/20 at 4:10, or Fri. 9/21 at 4:10
• Advisor-Advisee Checklist
  • The group held a brainstorming session to add to GC's current version of advisor-advisee checklist (referred to as "Document Regarding Advisors' Roles" in 8/29 minutes).
• Gradaute Lounge
  • Signup sheet for cooperative cleaning and maintenance of Grad Lounge to be posted
  • GSO members to clean on Tues 9/18
  • Signs will be posted in Lounge to promote courteous usage of facilities.
• Apparel Fundraising
  • Because there are no minimal order requirements maintained by the company Kate has been working with, we will offer 1/4 zip sweatshirts, polos, and water bottles in our fundraising sale

Wednesday, August 29

• Graduate Committee (GC)
  • GC would is moving forward with a plan to give first and second year graduate students Fall progress reports, in addition to Spring reports
  • GC would also provide reports to students beyond second year who they feel need an additional progress report
    • Christine unsure of what exactly the circumstances would be under which this would occur
  • GC agrees that there are too many Tues-Thurs classes.  They would like to make some of these Mon-Wed classes.
• Graduate & Professional Student Senate (GPSS)
  • Joel attended GPSS's first meeting of the year
  • Dean of Graduate College addressed GPSS, making them aware of faculty mentor and DODGE training that the Graduate College is offering
• Co-Edge
  • First CoEdge will be devoted to internship opportunities, as the deadlines for many applications are in October
  • May also incorporate a less-formal pre-first-year-orientation-tea-and-cookie Coedge to make sure first-years' needs are being addressed
• T-Shirts & Other Swag
  • Kate has looked into fundraising options
  • GSO would like to provide options beyond the standard t-shirt (zip-up sweaters, polos, water bottles, etc).
• Community Engagement Events: A proposal by Kate
  • The idea is to build community within the math department by reaching out to pre-existing communities
    • Ideas include puzzles & games at the senior center and soup kitchen volunteering
  • Further discussion is needed to decide what exactly GSO's role will be in this
• MATH 150 Issues
  • Many TA's feel the demands of this course are too high
    • Erich wanted to bring this issue to our attention so that we may respond to students appropriately.
• Document Regarding Advisors' Roles
  • Based on a pre-existing Graduate College checklist, Leslie Hogben has drafted a math department-specific document to make both advisors and advisees aware of the conversations that must be had to ensure successful graduate work.
  • Input from GSO is being sought on the drafting of this document. 

Summer 2018

Friday, July 6, 2018

• Pre-Orientation CoEdge (planned for Aug 14 in Brookside Park)

  • We need $35 to pay for a shelter in Brookside Park.

  • Hal has assured Erich that CoEdge funding will not change from 2017-2018 academic year to 2018-2019.
    • We have to figure out what that amount is, exactly.
  • Concerns raised over 
    • Accessing CoEdge funds in the summer
    • Spending GSO money on the shelter and not having it for career day
    • A GSO member having to personally front the $35 setting a bad precedent
• Fall GSO Social
  • We discussed, instead of spending money on food, putting funds toward an activity, like pumpkin carving.
• Grad Student Seminar
  • Adam, former chair of GSS, asked for our opinions on selecting a new chair
  • Three options were suggested, with the third seeming to be the most popoular
    • Have an election, with grad students nominating candidates and voting for one.
    • Have Hal elect the chair
    • Give every grad student the opportunity to apply for the position and have Hal select from candidates
• TA Orientation
  • Josh wanted to confirm that members of GSO would be around and willing to help out at the event.
• Reforming CoEdge
  • As VP, Kate would like to increase the outreach and impact of CoEdge  
    • Not every CoEdge has to be a dinner.  We can do other activities, like scavenger hunts, yoga, guided discussion, etc.
  • We all agreed that CoEdge can and should honestly confront and counteract the isolating nature of grade school via community building.
  • We resolved to each come to our next meeting with ideas on how to revamp CoEdge. 

 

Spring 2018

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

• GPSS
  • Last meeting was last time.
• Graduate Committee
  • We should receive our progress reports by Friday.
  • There was supposed to be an open forum today, but no official email was sent. We will work to make sure these happen earlier in the semester next year.
  • We notified them about trying not to schedule so many grad courses on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but the meeting was closed so don't know if it was discussed.
• Mugs
  • A few people haven't received mugs yet.
• Spring Social
  • Christine is picking up food tonight
• Grad Lounge
  • We will see about getting cleaning wipes for the lounge.
  • People went through the paper towels too quickly, so as a reminder this is a shared space, so make sure to only use what you need. If you are using a lot of the materials provided in the lounge, consider donating some materials back so that other can use the space as well.
• Website
  • We are fully transitioned to the new website.
  • We will be adding a comment form to the website soon.
• Lead TA
  • Josh will be sending out the teaching request forms in the next few weeks.
• New Council Members
  • Below is the new council for next year:
    • President - Erich Jauch
    • Vice-President - Kate Lorenzen
    • Graduate Committee Liaison - Christine Wiersma
    • Treasurer - Adam Blumenthal
    • Webmaster - Alex Nowak
• Peer Mentors
  • We will be seeking volunteers soon, so watch for that email soon.

Tuesday, April 17, 2018

• GPSS
  •  Representative was not in attendance, but sent an email with notes from GPSS meeting
  • Interim Vice President spoke about new university enterprise and learning management systems. Talk of moving everything to one system.
  • Executive reports were given and awards passed out.
  • The Research Conference apparently had a poor turn out, and they are looking into how to fix this.
• Graduate Committee
  • Should be an open forum / straw poll before the end of the semester, possibly April 24th.
  • We will discuss with them scheduling a lot of graduate courses on Tuesdays and Thursdays and conflicting with Recitations
  • Also will ask about progress reports
• Vinograde Award
  • We will be presenting the award at the end of the year department event.
• Mugs
  • Mugs are in. Make sure to pick them up from Christine's office.
• Spring Social
  • It is next Wednesday at 2:30-4:30
  • Feel free to wear ISU attire
• Grad Lounge
  • We will talk to Connie about restocking plates and paper towels.
• Website
  • We are transitioning to the student organization website.
  • We will be fully transitioned by the end of the semester.

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

• GPSS
  •  New council elected for next year. Check out newsletter if interested
  •  Representative of International Student Scholars came to inquire about concerns regarding international students
• Graduate Committee
  • Hasn't met recently
  • Credit proposal passed! It should go into effect this fall. We will inquire about an official announcement.
  • We will inquire about an open forum for this semester.
• Vinograde Award
  • Nominations are in. The committee will meet and decided tomorrow on the winner.
  • We need to:
    • Update the plaque (talk to Connie)
    • Present the award at the ceremony on April 27
• Elections
  • As in our consitution, we will have people vote for their top 3 candidates. 3 points to their top choice, 2 to the second, and 1 to their third.
  • We will get the list of nominees approved with Melanie and open voting by Friday this week.
  • Close voting and make the announcement by Wednesday next week.
  • We will start taking nominatins for GPSS by Friday of next week
• Mugs
  • Mugs should be in any day
• Co-Edge
  • Topic will be Teaching
  • It will be Wednesday April 18
• Spring Social
  • It will be the Wednesday of Dead week approximately 2:30-4:30
  • Their will be cookies, crakers, cheese, etc.
  • Potentially an ISU apparel theme.

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

• Vinograde Award
  • Discussed possible committee members
  • Nomination email with be handled by Alex S (President)
• GPSS
  • Meeting is next week
• Graduate Committee
  • Analysis committees do not want to give out qualifier solutions. Herzog is working to come up with a plan for an alternative
  • Faculty Meeting information
    • Changes to the program (Pending Votes)
      • Grad committee can make clarification and typo corrections without a faculty vote, if no faculty veto the change/clarification.
      • Co-Majors will be required to write a letter explaining their educational plans with a sample POS to improve communication between the two programs
      • The number of credits will be reduced from 48 to 42
        • For Pure students, the cognate requirement will be removed, but still allowed
        • For Applied students, cognates will still be required.
        • A vote from the faculty should be currently underway, and we will notify you once we know it has concluded.
        • Some are concerned the affect this will have on applied courses. We discussed how this could be fixed by working to recruit more applied students and how the new hires should also assist.
    • They also discussed major adviser roles and attempted to facilitate a discussion, but not many comments were made.
• Mugs
  • Mugs have been ordered, and we should receive a proof soon.
• Co-Edge
  • Tabled discussion of April topic until our next meeting
• Elections
  • We will be using Qualtrics to facilitate nominations, and we will send these out by the end of the week
• Website
  • We will add a list of student organizations to the website with contact information
  • Working to transition website to the student organization page for a more formal and professional looking page.

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

• GPSS
  • The president is holding a session with graduate students to discuss issues they feel they have with the university.
  • There was a budget deficit, so they made cuts to the speaker and research conference budgets.
  • The student government president and vice-president elections are coming up.
  • There are three open seats in student government for graduate students.
• Graduate Committee
  • There is no new solution for the current travel form.
  • Faculty Meeting Agenda (Not Official)
    • Song will discuss admission process. They plan to create a new committee with members from each discipline.
    • Bernard will give a presentation on the best practices of the discrete math group for building community.
    • Graduate students' questions.
    • Changes to the catalog.
    • Also a discussion regarding changing credit hour requirement from 48 to 45 or 42.
• Career Day
  • The talks will be 20-25 minutes starting at 10 am.
  • The preliminary order was discussed
  • Finalized where to order food from.

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

• GPSS
  • Meeting is next week.
• Graduate Committee
  • We have given them the sheet with graduate student concerns from survey.
  • They will send us a full agenda for the meeting which we will forward to students.
  • Bernard is giving a talk about recruiting and building community.
  • They will also discuss admissions and transparency of the admissions process
  • Song said they had 85 applicants this year, 17 applied. They offered 15 applied students admission and 17 pure student admission.
  • They plan on 15 incoming students, and our first visiting student is Friday.
• Career Day
  • Still no applied speaker, so emailing Jessica H. and Steven Osborne again.
  • It will be from 10-2.
  • Sending out RSVP email today.
• Mugs
  • Send out reminder email.
  • Printing order form and putting them in mailboxes.
• Co-EDGE
  • Hanging with Hal will be March 21st at 5:00
• Website work
  • We have two solid ideas on updating the website. One using the student organization page, or making a new website using the webmaster’s account.
• Open forum follow-up
  • We have reached out to Melanie regarding the google sheet for traveling. Firstly, she said people who are uncomfortable with posting in the google sheet.
  • We are looking into trying to change the requirements for filling this out at all based on the reasons we given for why it has to exist at all.
  • We will be reaching out to Eli about more supervision for TAs in the summer. Also we discussed creating a list of “experienced TAs” that people can reach out to if they are teaching a stand-alone course for the first time.

Friday, February 9, 2018

• GPSS
  • No Meeting
  • Applications for Spring Allocations is February 23 at 5:00 pm.
  • We already received allocations, so are not eligible.
• Graduate Committee
  • We've had weak Master's applicant this year, those that have beend accepted were provisional
  • They discussed reaching out to students for help in this matter
  • They discussed the likelihood of the Analysis elective
• Co-EDGE
  • Date to be determined
  • The plan is for Hal to discuss for department long term and should be informal
• Open Forum Discussion
  • There has been a discussion to change the current google sheet for absences to a google form instead for the sake of privacy. We will reach out to Melanie regarding the necessity of the sheets existance.
  • Some were concerned with the transparency and visibility of GSO, so we will be sending out a email after each of our meetings to try and remedy this.
  • We discussed a possible restructuring of the mentor program, and possibly research mentor.
  • Some feel there is a real lack of supervision of TA especially during the summer.
  • We discussed the creation of a list of who to see if you have a problem based on the type of problem you are having.
  • We discussed required prospective GSO members add a small description to their application of why they should be members.

Tuesday, January 30, 2018

• Graduate Committee
  • Regarding Qual solutions, the committee is neutral about whether they are provided. They suggested that GSO reach out to each committee chair after exams about providing solutions.
  • March 1st is a graduate faculty meeting. One topic that they will be discussing is responsibilities of a Major Professor. We will send out a survey to graduate students to see if they have concerns regarding graduate faculty they want discussed at this meeting.
  • They want to make sure that the graduate student seminar is running when prospective students visit.
• Undergraduate Committee Meeting regarding Calculus coordination
  • As described in the email we received, the department is moving to coordinated courses for the entire Calculus sequence.
  • We voiced our concern about teaching opportunities for graduate students
  • They said they will make all Summer stand alone courses for graduate students, and they will save lower level sections for graduate students during the Fall and Spring possible including math 207.
  • They will also guarantee for all academia bound students the opportunity to teach 2 stand alone courses. 1 calculus sequence course in the Summer, and 1 lower level during the regular school year.
  • Hal to discuss this during the March Co-EDGE.
• Co-EDGE
  • March Co-EDGE will be "Hanging with Hal".
• Career Day
  • Will reach out to Dr. Kliemann about assistance recruiting presenters.
• Mugs
  • Working on find a university approved vendor.
  • Will have a vendor decided by Friday so that we can send out order form by Monday.