Minutes from February 12, 2014

History Graduate Student Association

Minutes of the meeting

(Otherwise known as meeting minutes)

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

((Settle down and get excited))

1. WHA

Our very own Darren Raspa was recently voted in as graduate student liaison to the WHA’s Executive Council and chair of the Graduate Student Caucus (GSC), and our other very own Bryan Turo was voted in as an executive committee member of the GSC. (Yay!) They’ve started to come up with some ideas to pitch to the WHA Executive Council and the GSC such as a potential peer editing website for students & faculty to submit their research and then also the possibility of establishing a mentoring component of the upcoming WHA conference. Both of these are still in the idea stage, so if you have any questions or suggestions please talk to Darren or Bryan. You can also suggest other ideas to Darren at draspa@unm.edu or at whagsc@gmail.com. He’s heading to Salt Lake City to meet with the WHA Executive Council in March, so if you have any suggestions or comments please let him know before then.

2. Grants

Since the HGSA did not offer student grants in the fall, we will be doing two sets of grants in the spring. One set will be for retroactive funding for research done in the summer/fall, and one set will be funding research being done this spring or upcoming summer. For fall grants, we will be offering two $250 grants. The number of spring grants and the funding amounts being awarded will be determined by how much money the HGSA is getting from OGS for the spring.

Once we know this amount, we will send out more concrete information on the number/amount of grants and email out the applications.

3. Upcoming Colloquiums

Just a reminder, we are having a colloquium featuring Gabe Galambos’s research “Holy Spirit Festivals of the Azores: A Convenient and Safe Outlet for Conversos” next Tuesday (note: this is not a Friday) in the History Dept. Common Room from 2-4.

There will also be a colloquium next Friday (note: this is a Friday) featuring Dr. David Prior’s research “From North and South to East and West: Reconstruction and Capitalism’s Global Stem Frontier.” A reception of drinks and light snacks will follow, so come sociable and slightly hungry.

4. Workshops

We are also working on putting together a professionalization workshop this semester. It will probably be held in conjunction with Dr. Mike Ryan’s seminar on Dissertation and Professionalization held Tuesdays from 11am-1.30pm. More details will be announced once this is confirmed.

If you have any suggestions for workshops or if there is a specific topic that you would like to see turned into a workshop, please email me with your ideas or concerns.

5. HGSA Book Sale

We will be holding another book sale this spring, April 9-10. We will have two tables set up at the Shared Knowledge Conference, so if you have any books that you don’t want anymore, please consider donating them to the HGSA so we can sell them at the book sale. More books sold = more HGSA money = more pizza at the meetings = you are happy. So it’s really for your own good.

We are also starting to look for volunteers to sort the books ahead of the book sale and sit at the tables during the actual book sale. Please consider volunteering for either or both of these tasks. (Please see aforementioned not-so-mathematical-equation of why you should do this.)

6. HAHA/End of the Year Party.

Everyone can relax, there will be a HAHA. After much discussion, it was decided that instead of working on two end of the year events like we did last spring there will just be the HAHA. Let there be much rejoicing. HGSA will provide some funds for food, but also be prepared to bring food/beverages to share with others. Yes, you must share. Scott Crago and Bryan Turo have generously volunteered to work on the planning and execution of the HAHA. If you have any ideas, suggestions, comments, concerns, or funny jokes, please contact them.

7. Graduate Student Conference

We are also trying to gauge interest in potentially putting together a graduate-student-only conference hosted by the HGSA and other UNM graduate student organizations. Although this would be a lot of work on our part, this would be a great way for graduate students to gain conference experience without the expense of traveling to a conference or the intimidation of presenting with faculty members. It would also be a great way to bring some attention to UNM and the History Department. Think about it and if you are interested in either working on putting it together or in the potential opportunity of presenting at such a conference, please email me. If you have any suggestions, comments, or more funny jokes, please email me at lpowel5@unm.edu

(We’re almost there, keep reading. You can do it!)

8. Graduate Student Webpage

In eager anticipation of the History Dept’s new webpage, we are gathering everyone’s information. Attached to this email there is a student survey with the information we’re looking for. You’ve already read a lot today, so I’ll make this as simple as possible.

· There are two attachments.

· The FIRST attachment is a form that you can print out, write on, and drop by the HGSA office.

· The SECOND attachment is a form that you can fill out on your computer and then email back to me at lpowel5@unm.edu.

· They are the same form. They ask for the same information.

· Do not fill out both forms and give them both back to me with different information. I will (probably) not think this is funny.

If you have questions, please email me.

9. Future Meetings.

HGSA meetings will be held on the first Wednesday of each month at 2pm. There will be pizza and drinks as usual. All the cool history kids are going, so you should too.

(LAST ONE!!!)

10. Representation

The HGSA is allowed two representatives on the Graduate Advisory Committee, one voting and one non-voting. At the meeting, Jordan Biro, Jennifer McPherson, Maggie DePond, and Laura Powell (me) all put our names up for consideration to act as representatives. Jen and I later staged a coup in which we discussed with Jordan and Maggie how we would really like to be the representatives. After much coup-ing, Jordan and Maggie gave in.

However, if you were not present at the meeting or went home and thought about it some more, please email me and let me know that you would like to be considered. We will then put it to the rest of the History graduate students for a vote.

Also, as president of the HGSA, Elena attends GPSA meetings once a month. We are also allowed an additional voting member and an alternate. If you are interested in attending, please contact Elena for details and so that the necessary forms can be completed. The schedule of meetings is available at http://gpsa.unm.edu/council/council-calendar.html

YOU’RE DONE!!!

Thanks for sticking with it! Way to go you!

If you have any questions, comments, concerns, suggestions, anything…please stop by the HGSA office or email me at lpowel5@unm.edu and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

Thanks everyone!!

Laura Powell

HGSA Secretary

Minutes from February 12, 2014

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