BE Board:Internal

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This page is meant to be a repository for internal info useful only to board members and to ensure an easy transition to a new board. Most is relevant only to the coordinators. Sean 11:58, 23 August 2006 (EDT)

Website, wiki, e-mail lists

The lists (all at mit.edu) can be administered through Moira Athena list management (requires certificates).

• "beboard" reaches everyone on the board and is self-owned.

• "bestudents" reaches all graduate students, as well as Dalia and Mariann. "be-postdocs" reaches mos/all? postdocs. If using "bestudents", make sure to send also to "be-mengstudents" so the M.Eng. students are not left out. The M.Eng'ers are on "be-list" along with faculty and staff. Use grave caution in sending to be-list, as people get annoyed by inappropriate messages.

• Each position has its own generic e-mail list, which is self-owned, so when the transition happens, the old officer should add the new officer(s) and then take themselves off the list for their position.

• Events can be added to the Google calendar "MIT Biological Engineering" by e-mailing the BE Board Secretary.

Meetings

Coordinators should e-mail bestudents about upcoming board meetings a week or so ahead. Include a link to the agenda page, mention lunch, and give a bit of text about what will be discussed.

Coordinators should reserve a room and order lunch ($100 budget, submit receipt to Mariann, e-mail the treasurer, use tax-exempt form). Don't forget to have drinks, cups, napkins, plates, plastic utensils. Quiznos (order the day before, no delivery), Indian (name?), Royal East, Bertucci's (order early, they're late otherwise) have been used. Usually one of the meeting rooms in 56 is big enough. For the first meeting of the year, the transition meeting or any other where many, non-board members will attend, 56-614 works.

Room reservations

56-614: Mariann in the BE HQ...you need to grab keys from the office before they close around 4:45.

56-3XX: JoAnn Sorrento

56-4XX: I think it's Amy, but JoAnn is generally really nice about helping you figure it out.

Stata: someone from Tidor lab

Tech Square: Olga Parkin

Initiatives

Run any major changes by Doug.

Repeating

ISS

Important to get this planned early because scheduling can be hard. Best to line up as many speakers as early as possible, because people will often need to reschedule. Dan Darling can help with getting contacts from industry. There is money budgeted to fly in a speaker or house a couple of them ($1000). This is usually more of an issue for academic speakers. If a professor can recruit, the lab may be able to help pay for the stay. There is also $60 per speaker for a gift and another $60 for refreshments (budgeted 2006-07). Don't forget that there are plenty of speakers available within a few hours of Boston. The visiting committee also have offered to help with finding links since many of them are in high places at corporations.

Diversity

Inter-lab lunches, cultural lunches, seminars with invited speakers on diversity in corporate and academic settings

Annual

First-year dinners (late Sept./early Oct.)

In the budget, but confirm $10/person subsidy and number of attendees with dept.

Check with TA's as to good dates given homework schedule in 420/430/440

Fall BBQ ?

Holiday party

Organized by Olga and JoAnn, they may ask for help

BE/ChemE BBQ (August)

Not budgeted for. Confirm departmental funding or available board money for this before going ahead. Board had to pay in 2006.

Intramurals

Send out an e-mail at the beginning of each semester to measure interest in offered sports and recruit captains. Send this big e-mail to the be-list, but not subsequent ones, since professors tend to complain about getting too many of these. However, some professors (Al G., David Schauer, Matt Lang...) have played before and may be interested.

Association of Student Activities (ASA)

ASA database site

The listed president (one of the co-coordinators) will be able to click the Student Group Officer Access link that will take you to the ASA BE Board web page and allow you to make modifications. MIT personal certificates are required.

The rest of the world will have to search all the student groups for Biological Engineering. Click on the link and you will get a summary of the group page. The treasurer and room reservation signatories (social chairs) also need to be listed.

Every year the "president" should sign and submit the hazing policy form on the website and distribute the hazing law at the first meeting of the year. In addition, the ASA will request a copy of our constitution either by posting a URL on the ASA database or by submitting a hard copy along with the hazing form. An electronic copy of the constitution is posted in the BE Board locker.

Here is an e-mail from ASA:

>The database contains the following information about your group:
>
>The Athena locker:      beboard
>
>The officer's e-mail list :    beboard
>
>The general e-mail list :      beboard
>
>Lastly, this e-mail has been cc'd to funds@mit.edu.  That address
>reaches the staff of the Student Activities Finances Office who will
>help you setup the group's main account and funding account, as well
>as provide you with help to obtain advanced payments or reimbursements
>for your group's need.
>
>We also direct your attention to the resources available to you through
>the Student Activities staff in W20-549. As part of the Student Life
>Program office, the Student Activities staff is available
>to provide event-planning assistance, advice on organizational issues,
>leadership development opportunities, and information about campus
>resources.  Please feel free to drop by and further acquaint yourself
>with the office and staff.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>The ASA Executive Board
>asa-exec@mit.edu

Social Chairs

I. Financial Information

2006-2007 Expenditures Per Event

In the past we have paid for the events from our own personal accounts, and then submit receipts for reimbursement to Mariann in 56-651. Reimbursement is via check and typically takes 1-2 weeks. Original, itemized receipts are required for reimbursement.

Remember that MIT is a tax-exempt organization. You cannot be reimbursed for any money you spend on tax, so make sure you take the tax-exempt certificate and information with you when you purchase supplies.

After the event, all expenses should be e-mailed to the treasurer for record keeping.

In 2006-2007, we got additional money for social events from the GSC chairs. This must be approved through the GSC in advance and all e-mails that go out to students about the event must state that the event is sponsored by GSC. No GSC funds may be used to purchase alcohol. In 2006-2007 this amount totaled $1000, all used for social events. Available funding is as follows: $250 per representative per semester who attends all general council meetings and an additional $250 for representatives who serve on institute committees. The reimbursement process for these expenses goes through GSC instead of Mariann and requires special paperwork.

II. Event Planning

In 2006-2007, we aimed for one social event per month. Therefore, we scheduled TGIFs for months that did not have a department sponsored social events, such as the BE Retreat, Holiday Party or Fall Party.

MIT Event Registration: Some events that we have must be registered with MIT. This process takes a few days and MIT requires that the registration process be complete 5 days in advance. See more information at (http://web.mit.edu/infocenter/eventreg.html). There are two types of event registration forms, one for student groups and one for departments. Since our money comes for the department, you must use the departmental event registration form, which can be picked up in the information office in lobby 7. Events registered with MIT that have alcoholic beverages must have a sponsor for registration. The sponsor will need to sign a form stating that they will be present for the entire event and not drink alcoholic beverages. The sponsor cannot be a graduate student and must be an MIT affiliated staff member. In the past, Dan Darling, Erik Mallinson and Doug Lauffenburger have served as sponsors for our events. Even if you do not need a faculty/staff member for registration purposes, we try to approach individual faculty members and encourage them to attend the events.

There is storage space for BE Board related items in a closet in the computer room in the basement of building 26. There are some leftovers from previous social events and four boxes of wine glasses that were purchased for the 2007 IAP wine & cheese tasting. Ask the previous social chairs or the academic representatives for the code to the door.

Schering Plough has contacted us (via Linda Griffith in 2007) for the last two years offering to sponsor a TGIF for the department to award a Schering Plough Biotechnology Award to a graduate student. In 2007 the event included drinks and pizza from the R&D pub at the end of May, which they paid for directly via credit card. In 2007 our contact at Schering Plough was John Bowers <john.bowers@spcorp.com>.

III. Event Announcement

We announce each event at least a week before, and send a second reminder e-mail the day before. Remember that be-list, be-students and be-postdocs are moderated lists, therefore emails must be approved before they go out. This has been quick during normal working hours, however it may be delayed on weekends and after hours. All social announcements were sent to: be-list@mit.edu, be-postdocs@mit.edu, be-mengstudents@mit.edu. If an e-mail needs to go out quickly to all students, send it to the respective class lists, which are not moderated (be-200X@mit.edu). Advertising for events cannot explicitly mention alcohol being served, but can indicate the need for ID, etc.

Also, new for 2007-2007, we would like to include a link to the BE Board webpage in all e-mails that go out to students. Additionally, the event should be added to the BE webpage via google calendar (see instructions in BE Board Internal documents).

IV. Additional Tasks

In the past, the BE Board social chairs served on the event planning committee for the annual BE Retreat. However, this process may change for the 2007-2008 year.

The BE social chairs also serve on the planning committee for social events sponsored by the department. In 2006-2007, this included the fall party and the holiday party. However, an MIT staff member is typically in charge of the event.

We have also worked in the past in conjunction with the Chemical Engineering Graduate Student Council to put on a BBQ in early August.

It is also great to get pictures from BE Events and post them on the ‘Pictures’ section of the BE Board webpage.