Next grad caucus meeting May 26 3:30 - AND requesting volunteers for the biology BBQ

Hello grads

It's time for the Biology graduate caucus meeting.  We have moved the meeting day to Wednesdays to allow for more people to attend, which means our next meeting will be:

BISC grad caucus meeting: Wednesday May 26, 3:30 - 4:30 in B9242

As always there will be refreshments.  This will be an important meeting; we will be drawing for travel awards, and we will be starting to set up a plan for this years' event schedule.  If you would like to be considered for a travel award and have not emailed me yet, please do so prior to the meeting.

In addition, the biology department is requesting volunteers to help with the BBQ next Friday, May 28.  In particular they're looking for folks with the Serving it Right certificate, but all help will be welcome (we need help with everything from grilling, to set up/cleanup, to bartending).  Please drop me a line if you are able to help.

Thanks, and we look forward to seeing you at the meeting.
 

Brett Favaro

Caucus Chair

Important: Graduate Student Housing Survey

Hello everyone,

As  graduate students many of you know that searching for a place to live in a new and unfamiliar city can be an overwhelming experience. 

In order to help new incoming graduate students that are going through this process, the Biology grad student caucus has put together a short survey for current graduate students to share their thoughts about the neighborhoods that they currently live in. 

We hope that the results from this survey will benefit new grad students by providing them with useful information about how the needs of graduates are met in different neighborhoods. 

Please help out by completing the survey at http://websurvey.sfu.ca/survey/36970751, which is available starting today until June 20th.

The survey is very short and will take 5-10 minutes to complete. 

Please answer all questions.  All answers are confidential -- no personally identifying information will be used to display results.

Thank you for your participation,

Alex Chubaty

BISC Caucus Webmaster

The BISC grad caucus is giving away travel awards!

Hi everyone

The biology grad caucus is issuing travel awards!  These are $100 awards drawn at random for the purposes of covering thesis-related travel expenses for travel between September 2009 and August 2010 that has not already been covered by other sources.

If you would like to be considered for a travel award, please email me your full name.  You don't have to do anything else, as it's just a random draw.

We will conduct the draw at the next caucus meeting, which will be Wednesday May 26 at 3:30, in B9242.

Regards,

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Brett Favaro

Caucus Chair

BISC Caucus Election Results

Hello Everyone,

Below are the results of the election from last Friday. Congratulations to all the winners!

    1. Chair - Brett Favaro

    2. Associate Chair - Stephanie Green

    3. Secretary - Matt Huntley

    4. Treasurer - Dhani Kalidasan

    5. Member at Large - Janey Lam

    6. Webmaster - Alex Chubaty

    7. Event Committee Officers (3 positions) -  vacant

    8. GSS Representative - Thomas Unsoeld

    9. TSSU Steward - Brian LaBore

    10. Faculty Mole - Samineh Deheshi

    11. DSC Representative (1 position, 2-year term) - Samantha Franks

    12. DGSC Representative 1-yr term - Jenn Sunday; 2-yr term - Erica Jeffery

    12. International Students Representative - Muhammad Arshad

We also voted and passed four constitutional amendments as follows:

1. Lines 122, 123: Clarify that there are two representative positions each for the Departmental Grad Studies Committee (DGSC) and Departmental Scholarship Committee (DSC)
2. Lines 151: Specify that Graduate Council refers to GSS Council
3. Lines 157-162:  Clarify that officer and representative positions are for one-year terms except for DGSC and DSC rep positions which can be for one- or two-year terms, such that there is always a one year overlap between the positions.
4. Lines 185-186: Specify that when there is only one nomination for any given position, not just for the GSS council rep, that position must still be ratified by a majority at a caucus meeting.


Please find the updated constitution at http://www.sfu.ca/biology/grad_caucus/Business/constitution.html.

Thank you
Isabelle Raymond

Reminder: Caucus meeting, Friday April 30th, 3:30pm

Hello Grads,

This is a reminder that we have Caucus meeting and elections tomorrow, Friday April 30th, 3:30-4:30 (bio grad lounge).

Isabelle

Last Day for Caucus Nominations!

Hello grads,

Today is the last day to submit your nomination for any of the caucus positions!

Nominations close at the end of the day today.

Starting tomorrow, and ending on April 29th,  we have a one week campaigning period. 

Please note: the one week campaigning period is mandatory per our constitution but you are not required to campaign in any way; in fact if you are the only nominee...

There is however one position with two nominees.

Info about the duties: 

http://www.sfu.ca/biology/grad_caucus/Business/constitution.html

http://www.sfu.ca/biology/grad_caucus/about.html

A. Elections will be held for the following positions (Nominees in parentheses):

    1. Chair (Brett Favaro)

    2. Associate Chair 

     3. Secretary (Matt Huntley)

    4. Treasurer (Dhani Kalidasan)

    5. Member at Large (Janey Lam)

    6. Webmaster (Alex Chubaty)

    7. Event Committee Officers (3 positions)    

    8. GSS Representative (Thomas Unsoeld)

    9. TSSU Steward (Brian LaBore)

    10. Faculty Mole (Samineh Deheshi, Juliana Yeung)

    11. DSC Representative (1 position, 2-year term) (Samantha Franks)

    12. DGSC Representative (Jenn Sunday, 1-year term) (Erica Jeffery, 2-year term)

    12. International Students Representative (Muhammad Arshad)

Thank you,

Isabelle Raymond

BISC Caucus Chair

We still need Caucus nominations!

Hello grads,

We have nominees for most positions, but we still need nominations for Secretary, Associate Chair, and Events committee officer (3 positions).

Please look here for info about the duties of these positions:
http://www.sfu.ca/biology/grad_caucus/Business/constitution.html
http://www.sfu.ca/biology/grad_caucus/about.html

The duties of the Secretary are really fairly straightforward. You need to attend Caucus meetings, take minutes, then write them up and send them to everyone, and that's really pretty much it.

The Associate Chair is basically there to help the Chair and share in the chairing duties. The events committee, along with the Chair and Associate Chair, and other grad volunteers, organize caucus events.

Please send me your nominations before April 22nd.

A. Elections will be held for the following positions (Nominees in parentheses):

    1. Chair (Brett Favaro)

    2. Associate Chair

    3. Secretary

    4. Treasurer (Dhani Kalidasan)

    5. Member at Large (Janey Lam)

    6. Webmaster (Alex Chubaty)

    7. Event Committee Officers (3 positions)   

    8. GSS Representative (Thomas Unsoeld)

    9. TSSU Steward (Brian LaBore)

    10. Faculty Mole (Samineh Deheshi, Juliana Yeung)

    11. DSC Representative (1 position, 2-year term) (Samantha Franks)

    12. DGSC Representative (Jenn Sunday, 1-year term) (Erica Jeffery, 2-year term)

    12. International Students Representative

B. Proposed constitutional amendments

 1. There are two rep positions for the DGSC and DSC.  
 2. Officer and representative positions are for one-year terms except for DGSC and DSC rep positions which can be for two-year terms.
 3. When there is only one nomination for any given position, not just for the GSS council rep, that position must still be ratified by a majority at a caucus meeting.
 4. Amendments to the constitution no longer require ratification by the GSS and become binding upon approval by Caucus.


Thank you,
Isabelle Raymond
BISC Caucus Chair

Call for Nominations!!

Hello grads,

There are still numerous Caucus positions available.

Please consider nominating yourself or someone else to one of these positions.

Without your help events such as the Welcome Party, BBQ, Movie night, Christmas party, Symposium, and Grad hosted speaker can't happen!!

While planning some of the events can be a bit time consuming, we have tried to organize the caucus in such as way as to spread out the workload as much as possible. With the chair, associate chair, and the three event officers, as well as other grad volunteers, all working together and sharing the workload, organizing the events has been fairly straightforward, efficient, and yes, fun!

Nominations will close on April 22nd.Voting will take place April 30th at the Caucus meeting.

A. Elections will be held for the following positions (Nominees in parentheses):

    1. Chair

    2. Associate Chair

    3. Secretary

    4. Treasurer (Dhani Kalidasan)

    5. Member at Large (Janey Lam)

    6. Webmaster (Alex Chubaty)

    7. Event Committee Officers (3 positions)   

    8. GSS Representative (Thomas Unsoeld)

    9. TSSU Steward

    10. Faculty Mole (Samineh Deheshi)

    11. DSC Representative (1 position, 2-year term)

    12. DGSC Representative (Jenn Sunday, 1-year term) (Erica Jeffery, 2-year term)

    12. International Students Representative

B. Proposed constitutional amendments.

1. There are two rep positions for the DGSC and DSC.  
2. Officer and representative positions are for one-year terms except for DGSC and DSC rep positions which can be for two-year terms.
3. When there is only one nomination for any given position, not just for the GSS council rep, that position must still be ratified by a majority at a caucus meeting.
4. Amendments to the constitution no longer require ratification by the GSS and become binding upon approval by Caucus.
   

Thank you,

Isabelle Raymond
BISC Caucus Chair