I. Call to Order


II. Additions to the Agenda

• New reps - one social science and one humanities position open on Steering - let us know if interested

III. Departmental Meetings
French - Tara Golba

• Dental/vision/health care questions
• Is spousal health care coverage different if the couple has children? No children=1/2 covered, Children=all paid
• Olive & Grant and Olive & Crown are dangerous intersections
• Green shuttle line - can it start earlier and run later (8:20 am classes until 7-8 pm?)
• Blue shuttle line - takes too long
• Online Course Evaluations - can you request official OCE's from Yale for job applications?
• Expansion of Yale College - affects teaching load - more students in language classes - will these depts have to hire more adjunct profs?
• French department teaching apprenticeship - model for program, but only one student has done it so far
• No one know rules of this apprenticeship - is it only for 4th year 2nd semester students? Not all students know about it
• Mentoring - request requisite meetings of first year grad students with assigned advisor
• Also - outline more guidelines for each year of study

Pharmacology - Genevieve Ko

• Large number of first-years turned out - vocal about orientation in BBS
• Wanted a buddy program over the summer - for e-mails, etc...
• Could John Alvaro send the rotation packets to students over the summer
• Students encouraged to apply for fellowships in 1st & 2nd years - some depts have workshops for this but not theirs
• Have junior faculty mentor students for fellowship applications?
• Concern about walk to Amistad (Congress & Cedar?) garage - security leaves at 6:00 pm - are there blue phones along this route?
• There is one guard on-staff at the Tack security facility to walk students to the garage - also 432-WALK

IV. Health Care Committee Meeting - Julie Button et. al.

• Birth Control price changes affected Yale more than other Ivys because of our prescription plan
• Other schools have a co-pay system - their plans absorbed the cost
• Student health care task force looked at the Prescription Plus plan & hired a consultant - look at plans offered by peer institutions
• We have to opt-out of Prescription Plus
• We pay a percentage rather than a co-pay
• Total premium is $1617 per semester - cheaper because all of our health care is consolidated in one place
• Approximately 5200 people enrolled in PPlus and 64-66% actually use it
• We are covered for out-of-network emergency services
• Grad students working in the field may also need access to more routine care (out of U.S. coverage is particularly bad)
• Instate a buy-in option in the plan for those traveling?
• We pay more for prescriptions but less for health care
• Students are not employees so cannot be included in that dental plan

V. Library Committee Report - Elina Bloch and Siobhan Quinlan

• Thursday, 8 am
• Digital archive created - preservation database - like google.books but with more
• First on-campus-based database
• Renovations - SML will have a new international reference room
• Research for students who are abroad - now students from here access libraries where they are going
• Exhibition space
• Renovate to have music/art use space more than now
• Not enough space in BASS library - for new colleges will build a library space
• Library Plus
• Trying to get students into the library and also trying to bring classrooms in (there are already classrooms in BASS)
• Personal librarians - to each incoming freshman/faculty members (not grad students)
• Grad students have access to field-specific reference librarians
• Renovated Egyptology room
• GPSS is putting together a YDN article (Siobhan is writing it) - what do you want to be improved - send it to Siobhan
• Library hours - look into how peer institution facilities are run (Stephen) - get people to sign a letter
• Hours on Fridays, Saturdays, and during breaks could use improvement
• Possibility of key-card access? Probably unlikely - security staff is the problem
• Do survey of what people want? Study space or circulation?
• Jeremy Green was on a focus group for the SS library - maybe the results from this could be passed on to Siobhan?
• What is happening with MUDD library? It is being knocked down due to digitization
• Aren't sure of the location of the new stat lab
• The rest of the MUDD collection will go to LSF
• Yale has no 24-hr centralized study space - other schools have this and colleges have space, too
• Other large-city Ivys do not have this either? What is the difference between 24-hr and until 2:00 am space?
• Another meeting is coming up in December

VI. Improving Residential Areas Around Science Hill - Call for Input - Laura Thomas

• In response to an e-mail - received in the Chemistry department
• The Yale Science Chairs Council (SCC)
• Discussion with Yale re: improving and developing residential ares around Science Hill (East Rock, Prospect, Science Park)
• Improve neighborhood quality/security
• Would like info from students
• Examples of issues: street lighting, blue lights/phones, bike lanes, shuttle services, etc...
• Please send thoughts in order of priority to your own department chair or to the SCC Chair and Geology & Geophysics Chair David Bercovici

VII. Mentoring Week Update and Request for Help

• Mentoring week coming up in February
• Last year had student/faculty panels in departments, a student-to-student session at HGS, and keynote speaker Kathy Barker
• This year: Monday - student-to-student (or recent grad) event During week - have famous speakers come to several departments to talk about mentoring (tentative - Comp Sci, Psych, Comp Lit, Neuroscience)
• Panel with GTC & career services - earlier-career faculty panel to discussion transition from grad school to faculty positions
• Coffee coupons - have students take mentors to get coffee
• Mentoring week is a GSA initiated event with support from the grad school
• The goal is to raise awareness and conversations about mentoring issues
• Need help with attendance at events, advertising, setting things up
• To volunteer - e-mail Bobbi, Stephen, or Eli

VIII. Break into Committees

• Committees - be sure to have meetings - this is where a lot of work gets done

IX. Motion to Adjourn - Second