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2009 Graduate Mentoring Awards

from Left: Marianne Constable, Department of Rhetoric (Sarlo);
Amani Nuru-Jeter, Department of Public Health (Sarlo),
Loren Partridge, Department of History of Art (FMA),
Inez Fung, Department of Planetary Science (FMA).
(Carla Hesse, Department of History (FMA), not seen here, at a conference overseas.)

Presented by the Graduate Council, the Graduate Assembly, and the Graduate Division.

Today, awards are being presented to the winners of The Sarlo Distinguished Graduate Student Mentoring Award, and the Graduate Assembly Distinguished Faculty Mentoring Awards. The former is funded by a grant from the Sarlo Foundation, a supporting foundation of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin, and Sonoma Counties. The latter comes from the Graduate Assembly.

The 2009 Sarlo Distinguished Graduate Student Mentoring Award Recipients are
Marianne Constable, a professor in the Department of Rhetoric
and
Amani Nuru-Jeter, an assistant Professor in the School of Public Health.


The 2009 Graduate Assembly Distinguished Faculty Mentoring Award Recipients are
Inez Fung, a professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Science,

Carla Hesse, a professor in the Department of History,
and
Loren Partridge, chair and professor in the Department of History of Art.

For more information, please visit:
Best practices for faculty mentoring of graduate students adopted by the Graduate Council, March 6, 2006
The Sarlo Foundation
Graduate Assembly Distinguished Faculty Mentoring Awards
and The Sarlo Distinguished Graduate Student Mentoring Awards website.

April Meeting Recap

A recap of the April delegates meeting followed by some forwarded
announcements:

1) Please keep in mind ASUC elections are underway. For information and to
vote, go to www.elections.asuc.org

2) We heard from Vice Chancellor of Equity and Inclusion, Gibor Basri

3) Resolution results: 0903a (amended in accordance with the Rules
committee analysis and approved); 0903b (approved); 0903c (amended in
accordance with the Rules committee analysis and approved); 0903g (amended
in accordance with the Budget committee analysis and approved); 0903e&f
tabled until the May meeting.

4) Below I've included a revised April officer report from Project
Coordinator Liaison, Zelideth Maria Rivas, as well as a message from
Budget Chair Nish Rajan about the ASUC elections (the ASUC voter guide is
attached to this email).

a) Project Coordinator Liaison Report:
This month, the projects has concentrated on outlining their environmental
sustainability policies which includes offering discounts at events for
people who bring their own mugs and higher level of co-sponsorship for
environmentally conscious groups.

April 16: Death and Taxes party (GSC and GSSP) @ Alumni House @ 6-9, $4,
$1 off for those that bring their own mug
April 18: Cal Day GA Open House 9AM-4PM (GMORR)
April 18: American Indian Grads Cal Day Recruiting (GMORR)
April 23: Lecture of Color @ 7:30PM @ Wheeler (GMSP)
April 24: WOCI brown bag series Heller Lounge
April 25: Bay Cruise (GSC) – SOLD OUT
April Women’s writing workshop and performance with slam poet (GWP)
April Panel/Dinner with Women Professor: Dialogue on Personal and
Professional Journey (GWP)
May 1: Women of Color Brown Bag Discussion (WOCI)
May 4: Berkeley Review of Ed and L&S – Guest Lecturer Ana Celia Fratella
from UCSD (GMORR)
May 9: Solidarity Sunday (GMORR)
May Graduate Women’s Study Hall (GWP)
May Spring Fiesta (GWP)


b) Message from Nish:

Hello Delegates,

As requested after the presentation by the ASUC senators at the delegates
meeting last week, please find attached a voter guide to the ASUC
elections in PDF form. This guide is available in printed form in today's
(April 6th Monday) Daily Californian.

There you will see many candidates running for executive office
(President, Executive VP, External Affairs VP, Academic affairs VP and
Student Advocate. Many of these positions play similar roles as the
Executive board does on the GA.

There are also many candidates for the Senate. There are only 20 seats
available on the Senate for those candidates. Many of those candidates
have cogent platforms. Some have less cogent ones. A description of the
various party statements follows on the last page.

Also on the last page are the main propositions being considered in this
election. The propositions are mostly procedural but seek to change the
procedure of recall elections (presumably balancing the power to check
senators with the possibility of expensive, inefficient recall processes),
unintentional typos, suspension of ASUC bylaws (balancing procedural rule
with efficiency) and polling in residence areas.

The campus faces many challenging issues in the coming months and years. A
strong empowered graduate student electorate will be key for a variety of
important issues that will be on the ballot in the next three years. I
would encourage all of you to make your colleagues aware of these issues
and promote a more involved grad student body.

I am happy to answer any questions you may have on this issue. Please feel
free to respond to this email with clarifications etc.

thanks,
Nish

March Meeting Quick Notes

DELEGATES MEETING
March 5, 2009

• Announcements

• ASUC Report

Recall election led to recall.

• Debra Behrens, Andrew Green of the Career Center

Excellent services available at careers.berkeley.edu

• Tu Tran, on Textbook Affordability

To Faculty: Steps to Make Textbooks More Affordable from Textbook Affordability Task Force.

1. Submit textbook list ("adoption") by April 15 for the Fall 2009 semester. Timely submission allows the campus bookstore to acquire as many used textbooks as possible.
2. Negotiate with publisher directly; they are required by law to reveal net prices. Consider the cost of a textbook before adopting.
3. Avoid excessively bundled course materials or packages.
4. Choose high qualtiy, inexpensive versions o textbooks whenever possible (eg. no frills._
5. Reevaluate whether a textbook is required or recommended.
6. Use the same textbook each time you teach the same cource. Coordinate with other faculty to use the same text book for multiple courses. Do not change editions unless absolutely necessary for teaching quality.
7. Alternatively, give students the the options to use an older edition. Inform students of the major differences and online supplements; avoid references to specific pages and assigning problems from the textbook.
8. Inquire about electronic books that are inexpensive or even free.

• Mind and Body Awareness Week

• Disability Awareness Week

• Systemwide Policy on Sustainability

• Student Lobby Conference

• The UC Berkeley Graduate Assembly was voted Graduate Assembly of the Year for 2009 by the UCSA!

I. Approval of Agenda and November Minutes
a. Minutes are posted at: http://ga.berkeley.edu/gis.aspx?uid=181

II. Speaker
a. Executive Vice Chancellor & Provost George Breslauer

III. Reports
a. Reports are posted at: http://ga.berkeley.edu/gis.aspx?uid=13
b. Funding
c. Online Course Evaluation Update: Task force is working on task

IV: Resolutions were referred to committees.

V. Elections
a. Funding Chair: ASAD ULLAH
b. President: MIGUEL DAAL
c. Campus Affairs Vice President: TRIFFED ABEL
d. External Affairs Vice President: ALBERTO ORTEGA
e. Rules Officer: MEGHAN ANDERSON
f. Budget Officer: NISH RAJAN
g. Project Coordinator Liaison: LUCERO CHAVEZ
h. Environmental Sustainability: DANNY KRAMER
j. Technology Chair: BRAD FROEHLE
k. International Student Affairs Chair: FARREN BRIGGS
l. Grad Council (3 principals and 1alternate) GWEN HARRISON SCHWARTZ, PAM BERKELEY, DAN WORK (MIRANDA RITTEMAN)

(congratulations to the newly elected)

The Berkeley Graduate: Archival Begins

Archival Status: IN PROGRESS

Ironically, the beginning is the end.
Prepare to go back in time!

(Great scott!)


Upcoming Update Schedule:

Mondays: Minutes/GA Progress Updates
Tuesdays: Local Reviews/Professional Development
Wednesdays: As Seen On Campus
Thursdays: Contests/Around the Internet
Fridays: News Redux/Around the Departments
Saturdays/Sundays: Arts and Audio

Mario Salvo Lectures!

We were sitting at a meeting tonight (where we got to listen to the Chancellor talk about some fun stuff, so we're not complaining), and consequently missed the annual Mario Salvo Memorial Lectures.

However, if you would like to hear the classic version,

here are parts 1:

and 2:

woot!

Not to geek out too much, but those are totally Ron Moore's crib sheets for Galen Tyrol's union speeches in Battlestar Galactica. Just sayin'...

December Graduate Assembly Meeting: Quick Notes Part 1

Guest speaker Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau spoke to the assembly:

He covered:

• The Best Event of his 42 Years in Academia
• Faculty Searches and Retaining Excellence
• Graduate Student Excellence
• Berkeley Looking forward: Access and Excellence
• Hewlett Packard Chairs and Graduate Student Support
• Budget Cuts and the University Financial Situation
• Student Fees
• And progress on projects such as:

Moving ahead on Lower Sproul

Equity and Inclusion Initiatives

Student Mental Health

Campus Safety

And followed up with some question and answer.

Here was one of our favorite parts as observers:

It IS almost like asking you how to make a string quartet more efficient
...sometimes we just want to hug that guy.