Senate Meeting Minutes – November 4, 2020

Graduate Student Government Senate Meeting

November 4, 2020
2:00 pm – 3:30 pm
Zoom Recording: http://bit.ly/GSGSM1104

AGENDA

1. VP of Academic Affairs
2. Ruff Around the Edges Contest – Winners Announcement
3. Resources available at Northeastern
4. GSG Kahoot Quiz
5. GSG Achievements
6. Questions

 

ITEMS DISCUSSED

1. Vice President of Academic Affairs

VP of Academic Affairs Reema Yadav spoke about her goals and vision for the academic year.

Goals: (1) Academic affairs manual (2) Academic survey for budget priorities (3) Academic survey for social media and (4) Student ambassadors.

Reema encouraged the attendees to sign up for the Academic Affairs Committee and she will send a committee meeting invite soon. She encouraged students from all colleges of Northeastern to sign up for the committee to keep the surveys diverse. She said that the committee aims to offer support and resources to students from the university by planning activities to enhance the academic experience of graduate students in every aspect.

2. Ruff Around the Edges – Winners Announcement

Winners of the contest Ruff Around the Edges were announced by Divya Subbaian. The contest befitting the current virtual life we are living was held between 24^th October and 30^th October where all graduate students were given an opportunity to showcase their talent by designing or by sending a photograph of a holiday themed Virtual Zoom Background.

1^st Place – Mayur Bhatia (College of Engineering)

2^nd Place – Urmi Patankar (College of Sciences)

3^rd Place – Tanvi Gupta (College of Professional Studies)

Prizes won: 1^st  Place – Google Nest Mini and GSG merchandise; 2^nd Place – GSG T-shirts and GSG merchandise; 3^rd Place – GSG merchandise.

3. Resources available at Northeastern

Executive Vice President, Divya Subbaian spoke about the resources available at Northeastern: Disability Resource Center (DRC), Office of Prevention and Education (OPEN), Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution (OSCCR), We Care, University Health and Counseling Services (UHCS), Center for Spirituality, Dialogue and Service, LGBTQA Center, Asian American Center, and Center for Intercultural Engagement.

Vice President of Marketing and Outreach, Santhoshi Bathina shared how a lot of students are not aware of the amazing services that the university offers and encouraged them to utilize the services and presented information about additional resources at the university, including the following:

• Office of Global Services (OGS) – Academic Skills Advising, book an Academic Skills Advising appointment to discuss and get help with time management (surrounding academics and co-op), organization, study skills, cultural adjustment, exam techniques, homesickness, stress and anxiety; Global Student Mentor Program that supports incoming international students to transition to college life at Northeastern and to the culture of the United States, to foster engagement with the Northeastern community, and to improve resource utilization. 
• Employer Engagement and Career Design – helps with Co-ops, job searches, building resume, cover letters, mock interviews, and networking techniques.
• Off-Campus Student Services – offers services and information about renting, giving information about safe neighborhood, helping with finding roommates and apartments. For international students who are new to the terms in legal documents, they have a document that simplifies it.
• Global Student Success provide international and non-native English-speaking students with high-quality language, academic, and cultural support in global understanding and intercultural skills. Visit https://international.northeastern.edu/gss/about-gss/ for more.
• Center for Financial Independence – destination for students interested in learning about personal financial management, as well as those eager to impart their own financial expertise and advice to their peers.

For all the information about specific programs, visit https://studentlife.northeastern.edu/ and follow the pages on social media for latest updates.

Office Hours:

Executive Vice President Divya Subbaian spoke about fixed GSG Office Hours for the semester that was announced on social media. Students can book appointments easily from the link https://bit.ly/officehoursGSG. Each E-board member is available for 1hour/week at specific times mentioned in the schedule posted on website https://www.northeastern.edu/gsg/contact-us/.

4. GSG Kahoot Quiz

An interactive fun plus knowledgeable Kahoot quiz was conducted by Divya Subbaian, where attendees got to answer questions related to GSGs history. Winner of the quiz was Shamika Gogate and she won a $20 Grubhub gift card.

5. GSG Achievements

On request of a few attendees from the previous meetings, President Gagan Dep Prabhu presented a list of GSG achievements. The list of achievements are as follows:

1. Increased stipends for Graduate RAs and TAs
2. Career Services
3. Graduate Student Organizations
4. RedEye Shuttle Service
5. Game Room
6. Awards for Graduate Students
7. Tableau Dashboard for Financial Data
8. Recognition for College of Professional Studies
9. Project funding

Additional achievements are opening additional graduate Study Spaces and quiet fourth floor in Snell Library, updating information about the GSG manual, and sharing information with GSG members, especially those who will be continuing to work with GSG in the years to come.

6. Questions

Romaric Belmier Mbakop commended and congratulated the work of the members of GSG.

Raja Karunanidhi of Northeastern University’s Seattle campus attended the meeting and looks forward to joining future meetings. He said that students at the Seattle campus are not as familiar with GSG and shared his interest in representing GSG at the Seattle campus.

President Gagan Prabhu shared GSGs regional campus vision and plans to set up digital campuses across various Northeastern Universities.

• Grania Machado who joined Northeastern this Fall 2020 shared that it is her first GSG meeting and found it interesting and informative. She asked about the slow service of the RedEye during COVID-19.

Answer: President Gagan Prabhu asked her to send an email to the NUPD and shoot an email to him in case they do not respond.

The next meeting is scheduled for Saturday, November 21 from 2:00pm to 3:30pm.

 

ADJOURNMENT

The Senate meeting was adjourned at 3:25pm by Vice President Marketing and Outreach Santhoshi Bathina.

 

Meeting Attendance

S.No	Name	Northeastern Email	College	Committee
1	Aditi Jain	jain.adit@northeastern.edu	College of Engineering	Student Affairs Committee
2	Alfred Navato	navato.a@northeastern.edu	College of Engineering	Programs and Operations Committee
3	Ansh Vaghela	vaghela.a@northeastern.edu	College of Professional Studies	Financial Affairs Committee
4	Apoorva Mishra	mishra.ap@northeastern.edu	College of Engineering	Marketing and Outreach Committee
5	Aryan Patidar	patidar.ar@northeastern.edu	College of Engineering	Programs and Operations Committee
6	Chirag Patel	patel.chir@northeastern.edu	College of Engineering	Financial Affairs Committee
7	Danzel Jones	jones.danz@northeastern.edu	Graduate Students of Color Collective	None, I don't want to sign up for Committees!
8	Deependra Singh	singh.de@northeastern.edu	COE	-
9	Divya Subbaian	subbaian.d@northeastern.edu	COE	-
10	Gagan Dep Prabhu	prabhu.g@northeastern.edu	COE	-
11	Grania Machado	machado.g@northeastern.edu	Khoury College of Computer Sciences	Marketing and Outreach Committee
12	Huiyu Huang	huang.huiy@northeastern.edu	College of Engineering	None, I don't want to sign up for Committees!
13	Jaison John	john.jai@northeastern.edu	Khoury College of Computer Sciences	None, I don't want to sign up for committees!
14	Jared Beaulieu	beaulieu.ja@northeastern.edu	D'Amore-McKim School of Business	Programs and Operations Committee
15	Jerry Goodwin	goodwin.j@northeastern.edu	College of Professional Studies	Marketing and Outreach Committee
16	Jugal Sheth	sheth.ju@northeastern.edu	College of Engineering	None, I don't want to sign up for Committees!
17	Kamalesh	kore.k@northeastern.edu	College of Engineering	Financial Affairs Committee
18	Laura Johnson	johnson.lau@northeastern.edu		None, I don't want to sign up for Committees!
19	Nikunj Doshi	doshi.nik@northeastern.edu	College of Engineering	Marketing and Outreach Committee
20	Niranjan Vaidya	vaidya.nir@northeastern.edu	College of Professional Studies	Involved in Strategic Planning Committee
21	Omkar Tiware	tiware.o@northeastern.edu	College of Professional Studies	Financial Affairs Committee
22	Omkar Tiware	tiware.o@northeastern.edu	College of Professional Studies	Financial Affairs Committee
23	Orhun Kok	kok.o@northeastern.edu	College of Science	Financial Affairs Committee
24	Pallak Singh	singh.pal@northeastern.edu	Graduate Women in Science and Engineering (GWiSE)	None, I don't want to sign up for Committees!
25	Prajakta Deshpande	deshpande.pr@northeastern.edu	COE	-
26	Raja Karunanidhi	karunanidhi.r@northeastern.edu	College of Professional Studies	Student Affairs Committee
27	Reema Yadav	yadav.ree@northeastern.edu	College of Engineering	-
28	Romaric Belmier Mbakop	mbakop.r@northeastern.edu	College of Engineering	Student Affairs Committee
29	Sakshi Basavanth Patil	basavanthpatil.s@northeastern.edu	College of Engineering	Student Affairs Committee
30	Samuel Chuan	Chuan.s@northeastern.edu	College of Arts, Media and Design	Marketing and Outreach Committee
31	Sandeep Karapa Srivatsav	karapasrivatsav.s@northeastern.edu	College of Professional Studies	Academic Affairs Committee
32	Santhoshi Bathina	bathina.s@northeastern.edu	COE	-
33	Shamika Shirish Gogate	gogate.s@northeastern.edu	College of Engineering	None, I don't want to sign up for Committees!
34	Simone Winston	Winston.si@northeastern.edu	College of Professional Studies	-
35	Sumantra Bhattacharya	bhattacharya.su@northeastern.edu	D'Amore-McKim School of Business	Student Affairs Committee
36	Tanay Bhagwat	bhagwat.t@northeastern.edu	College of Science	Student Affairs Committee
37	Taylor Lemieux	Lemieux.t@northeastern.edu	D'Amore-McKim School of Business	Programs and Operations Committee