I. REPORT TO SUSAN HENRY ON GSAC INITIATIVES

GSAC members prepared written summaries of the initiatives they've worked on during the 1999-2000 academic year. David will compile the summaries into a report for Susan Henry to use in updating the Advisory Board. The initiatives covered by the summaries were: graduate career resources, departmental ombudspersons, calibrating expectations, and MCS social events.

II. MCS SOCIAL EVENT

An MCS graduate student cocktail party/poster session is being planned for mid to late September. In order to avoid conflicts with other events, GSAC members will find out from their departments which dates in September are already booked for events (retreats, seminars, etc.) This information should be provided at the next meeting so that a date can be decided upon and Lorraine can book a room in the UC before summer. Early in the fall, an informal e-mail invitation/RSVP for the event should be sent to the graduate d-lists in order to gauge interest and to help Lorraine in planning how much food and drink to order.

III. DRAFT POLICY FOR DEPARTMENTAL OMBUDSPERSON

Based on input given by the faculty guests at the last GSAC meeting, Kathryn and Rich provided a draft policy for departmental ombudsperson. GSAC reviewed the draft in detail and made changes. David will incorporate the changes, get input on the draft from GSAC members, and provide the revised draft to Lorraine to post on the GSCA web site. An e-mail will be sent to the graduate student d-lists advising them that a policy has been drafted and is available for their review. They will be asked to provide feed back to the GSAC members in their department. The draft policy will be submitted at the next department heads meeting for review and discussion.

Draft Policy: Ombudsperson for Graduate Affaris

IV. CALIBRATING EXPECTATIONS: BENCHMARKING