Minutes from WGSA meeting on September 16, 2004:

Shira Peterson: Announced that there are three faculty positions opening up for next year and the Warner school is taking doctoral and master's student volunteers to help screen potential candidates. The positions are available in the Literacy Education, Counseling, and Educational Leadership/Higher Education fields. Interested students should contact the WGSA at wgsa_1@yahoo.com indicating the position they are interested in helping out with and we will, in turn, contact the department.

All: Introductions of the WGSA Officers and all attending the event (we had a great turnout!).

Shana Pies: Introduction of the WGSA and what we are here for; our three main objectives are planning events for students that will help build a sense of community among Warner school students, advocating for students as necessary, and implementing student suggestions for improving the atmosphere of the Warner School.

Melissa Dettbarn: Update on the Warner School Day of Service; a list for additional sign-ups was passed out to all those who attended.

Shaza Khan and Makini Walker - Updates on current projects:
WebCT/e-mail list of all students: Shaza reported that Anne Perrault is working on getting approval for a universal email list for all graduate students at the Warner School. Our idea for using WebCT as a communication forum would not work because we would loose all messages from semester to semester.

Web site: Makini spoke with Aimee Lewis and the Web site will be up and running as soon as we send her the materials we want posted. The Website will be located under the Student Services link on the Warner School home page

Letter from Doctoral Students regarding offices: Shaza relayed that a letter was sent to Dean Borasi regarding the short notification of the doctoral student offices and the fact that some offices still do not have desks in them. The letter was responded to by Raffaella Borasi who offered to meet with any doctoral students interested on September 29th, at 12pm in B-315, to discuss these issues further.

Suggestions taken by attendees:
Paraphernalia: A suggestion to create Warner School paraphernalia (notepads, bags, t-shirts, pencils, pens, etc.) was dropped off in the WGSA suggestion box in the basement Student Lounge. Shana will contact Brian Brent to discuss this opportunity further.

Ongoing Day of Service: Melissa Dettbarn suggested that rather than having one Day of Service per semester, it would be beneficial to increase the frequency to once a month. Her idea stemmed from a greater desire to build community among Warner School students through service opportunities. The WGSA is now working on creating a position entitled the Community Service Chair to lead the organization of these events. Interested individuals should contact the WGSA at wgsa_1@yahoo.com. Regardless of whether or not the position is filled, the current WGSA officers will work to implement this suggestion by the Spring semester (at the latest).

Pot Luck Holiday party: Shaza and Makini suggested organizing a Pot Luck Holiday party to take place over winter vacation. This was an event that took place last year with great success. Colleen Doyle is looking into organizing this. Colleen mentioned that there would not be enough time to organize this party as a Halloween party.

Thank you notes from Warner School: Shana brought up the idea of creating a universal Thank You system for Cooperating Teachers and Counselors that students at the Warner School completed their internships/field experiences with. Many students from different programs expressed that this was already done by their individual department but there was discussion over whether or not this might be beneficial if sent from the Warner School as a whole. No decisions were made on this project.

Doc student panel on interviewing: Shaza brought up an idea for having a panel of Doctoral Students speak to graduating Master's students on interviewing for teaching positions. She noted that many Doctoral students had served on hiring panels in the past and would have a lot of input for Master's students on how to make themselves stand out as candidates. This idea was met with great enthusiasm and many students also mentioned having an online job posting where they could search for open positions in local districts. Shaza is looking into creating this event and will be researching the steps needed to create online job postings.

Conference Funding: Shana brought up an idea that was presented last year regarding using WGSA funds to aid in student travel and other expenses for attending academic conferences. Shaza mentioned that this idea would serve Doctoral Students alone and was wary about using WGSA funds for that purpose. The idea was put on hold.
Subscriptions to Research Journals: Shana also brought up an idea posted last year for using WGSA funds to subscribe to Educational Research Journals that the U of R library did not have available. Laura Farra mentioned that the first step would be to contact the library and mention that the journals were needed by many Warner School students. This idea was put on hold and will be implemented as demand for specific journals is voiced.

Wine tour: Another idea for a Warner school event that was mentioned outside of the meeting was a Wine Tour. Shana mentioned this idea to Colleen Doyle who is looking into costs for the tour and for renting transportation to a local winery.

Finally, a new treasurer was appointed. Laura Farra volunteered for vacant position and the WGSA is very excited to have her join our board. We know that she will be a great asset and help to the WGSA and all Warner School students!

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