BE Board:Coordinator

For current website see begradboard.mit.edu

Description

The Student Board Coordinators organize and run monthly BE board meetings. They ensure that BE board initiatives are carried out and serve as contacts between the students and the faculty/administration. For 2006/2007, the BE board coordinators are Amy Nichols & Sean Clarke.

Activities

This is an attempt to document some of the things that we do for future generations:) Hopefully it will serve as a description of the position and help make sure that future coordinators have an idea what events they need to think about.

August

• Handover of info and activities from the previous year's board.
• For the coordinators, signatories on the ASA website must be updated, information about room reservations, treasurer and budget information must be passed on.
• Put together panel with Dalia for incoming class Q&A session.
• Check with the second-years to ensure the first-year welcome party is organized, preferably before orientation. Traditionally the responsibility for organizing this party lies with the second-year class and it's held at one of their houses. It shouldn't be a board-run event.

September

• This year the major event in September/October has been the graduate program review.
  1. Feedback was solicited from the students directly via email.
  2. The survey was also used to collect feedback.
  3. We met with the graduate committee to report on interim feedback.
• The coordinators organize the first-year dinners. Groups of new and older students go for dinner to local restaurants with $10 subsidized per student.
• The coordinators should also check to make sure that the September TGIF is organized. This is often one of the bigger TGIFs and is more heavily funded than others.
• This year, we had to run a supplementary election to fill an additional academic rep. position.
• The first board meeting of the year is also in September. The coordinators should also try and choose a time for monthly meetings that will allow as many students as possible to attend. Best to wait until people's schedules have settled down a bit before doing this.
• The coordinators should ensure that all the new board members meet with their predecessors to ensure that all the right information is transferred.
• The coordinators can also assist the academic reps. in putting together and analysing the student survey. Critically important in this is encouraging all board members to make sure that people in their labs fill out the survey.

October

• This year the coordinators presented student feedback regarding the program at the faculty retreat. We were part of active discussions about how the program could be made better. The faculty are very receptive to the views of students on this issue.
• We are also planning to implement a student directory that would allow people to sort by class, by lab and see photos of their fellow BE students. This would help people to get to know the incoming class and it would also help those looking to join a lab to find out who would be good for them to talk to.
• We have been discussing the idea of a new event fund to make it easier for us to support new events.
• Sometime between October and November the first-year representative should be chosen. Formal nominations should be gathered, to encourage all those interested to run. Elections can be held less formally if agreed upon by the candidates.

November

• Retreat planning begins sometime between now and December. Generally academic chairs and social chairs participate.
• We have been e-mkailing about student directory and new event fund.

December

• More of the same at this point. Most of the beginning of the year activities are completed. Things have become more routine. Only changes at this point are random events that may come up. Generally contacted by Doug or the academic office if anything occurs.

January

• IAP we generally don't have a meeting unless any specific agenda items come up that must be discussed.
• New meeting schedules may need to be decided upon between now and after the first few weeks of the Spring semester.

February

• Retreat planning is in full swing. Updates are coming. We forgot to have a poster printed for BE Board for the retreat this year. Next year, we must remember to make a poster for the retreat. Coordinate with secretary on this.
• We have been contacted by Doug about coordinating student lunches with faculty candidates and collecting student feedback about the candidates.
• Dalia has e-mailed about the recruitment weekend. In general, the board are asked to coordinate the Q&A panel for the recruitment weekend. We also check to make sure a social event is being planned for the students Friday night (generally an unaffiliated and informal party at Edgerton or one of the graduate dorms).

March

• We have been contacted by Doug about coordinating a panel to meet with the visiting committee that comes through every two years. This is an independent board that reviews the progress of the department and makes suggestions to administration. The panel will represent the graduate student views. Much of the stuff we will be discussing will be based on feedback from the annual survey.
• With retreat planning taking up a lot of time, it would be good to check to make sure regular events are still coming along and help where help is needed.

April

• Continue with regular activities.

May

• We were updated with faculty search outcomes and visiting committee reports.
• Begin considering next year's budget proposal, due to Doug prior to July 1.

June

• Along with treasurer, make sure that the budget proposal is completed and agreed upon. From experience, it is necessary to include all items that will be coordinated by the board, even those funded separately by the department (holiday party, retreat, fall social).

July

• Planning for elections in August. Shore up position descriptions and roles, prepare for online elections
• Also discussed storage space and google calendars.

Ideas for the future

• In future years, the board could look at organizing season passes for skiing. This would take the responsibility off the shoulders of those who have been good enough to do it up until now.
• We should continue to emphasize nominating students in BE for awards and recognizing their contributions.