August 19, 2005
MINUTES GABS Meeting 09/05/2007
The first GABS meeting for Fall 2007 was a great success! Thanks to everyone who came out!
The first item on the agenda was the upcoming River Sweep clean-up day on Saturday, September 15th from ~9-11:30am. We will be working with the Marine Science Graduate Students to clean up the Gill’s Creek area down by the Kmart on Garner’s Ferry and Rosewood. Anyone who wants to volunteer should let Megan Dantzler know ASAP (dantzler@biol.sc.edu).
The next item discussed was possible dates and locations for the annual New Graduate Student party. It was tentatively decided that the party will be held on Friday, September 14th at Pam Brannock’s. Details will be forthcoming, so be on the lookout for an email from Megan D!
Any student who has had a recently published manuscript should place a copy on the GABS bulletin board so that everyone can recognize their accomplishment! It was suggested that students with recent publications should be recognized and celebrated at the weekly Thursday Happy Hour gatherings at The Flying Saucer.
If any student becomes aware of any upcoming fellowships, conferences, meetings, etc. that other students might be interested in, the information should be either passed along to Megan D. or sent out via mass email (to students@biol.sc.edu).
Weekly departmental Monday seminars (4pm in CLS 005) will be starting on Monday, September 10th. All Graduate Students are REQUIRED to attend these seminars. Due to poor turnout at the seminars, it was recently suggested at the August Faculty Meeting that attendance might be taken at each seminar and penalties exerted against those students who fail to attend on a regular basis. This situation will hopefully be avoided if we ALL start attending, so be sure to put it on your calendars and remind your faculty adviser to attend as well! Details about the speakers can be found at http://www.biol.sc.edu/seminars.html
Remember also that each Monday graduate students are invited to eat lunch with the seminar speaker. These lunches usually last about 1 hour and there is FREE FOOD! Be on the lookout for emails providing information about each week’s lunch and be sure to attend!
The first GABS invited seminar speaker of the semester will be here on Monday September 24th. A host student is needed to host Dr. Langford during his time here. Students should sign up to meet with Dr. Langford during the day, and attend the graduate student lunch. 3-4 students can also sign up to eat dinner with Dr. Langford on Monday night. BE SURE TO ATTEND HIS SEMINAR MONDAY AFTERNOON, as it will reflect badly on the graduate students if there is poor attendance!
The second GABS invited speaker will be November 5th, so mark that date on your calendars! Details will be provided closer to the date.
An email requesting nominations for GABS invited speakers for Fall 2008 will be sent out soon, so start thinking about scientists that you’d like to have come give a seminar.
Highlites of the last faculty meeting were discussed. There are currently 5 search committees that are on-going, so be sure to attend seminars and provide feedback about the candidates. The Undergraduate Director, Briana Timmerman, is on leave this semester; the interim director is Dr. Bob Lawther.
Both the Graduate School and the Biology Department provide funds for students to attend conferences and take courses outside of the university. Usually there is always extra money, so be sure to check out the fellowships available (http://www.biol.sc.edu/gradstudies/fellowship.html and http://www.gradschool.sc.edu/support/index.html ).
In the past, a mentor-mentee program existed that paired new students with experienced graduate students. There is some interest in reviving this program. Another program, the Iron Sharpens Iron program sponsored by Dr. Bert Ely, allows students to present their research informally to their peers and receive feedback. Meetings will be starting up again soon. Also, a campus-wide program for women and minorities to present their research informally exists. Contact Vida Mingo for details (mingo@biol.sc.edu). The campus-wide Graduate Student Association (GSA) is looking to increase graduate student participation. Check out their website for more information (http://www.gradschool.sc.edu/gsa/).
It was discussed whether to change the day and time of future GABS meetings. Unless a scheduling conflict arises, the meetings will continue to be held on the first Wednesday of each month at 12 noon.
Thank you,
Sarah Refi Hind