Graduate and Professional Student Assembly Events Committee

Minutes
Graduate & Professional Student Assembly
Meeting of the GPSA Events Committee
September 15th, 2010
Manndible Caf�
6:00–7:00 P.M.

I. Welcome and Introductions

Welcome to all of our new 2010–2011 committee members: Madeline Smith, Rachel Mattes, Roland Foss, Yan-Jiun (YJ) Chen, and Yi Ting (Elsie) Chu.

II. About the Events Committee

1. What does the Events Committee do?

Main responsibility is planning Grad Ball, the annual spring formal. However, we can also host other events for the graduate and professional student community.

2. What events have we done in the past?

(Besides Grad Ball), past events have included the highly successful Grad’s Night Out, skating at Linah rink, several fundraising events, etc.

3. Goals for 2010–2011

The goal for this year is to expand the diversity of events programming in order to include a larger portion of the student body, particularly increasing the number of non-drinking events, wellness-oriented events, and events for students with families.

III. Expectations for members of the Events Committee

1. Time commitment

Committee members can take on as much responsibility as they think is reasonable, but the expectation is that they follow through with what they say they will do. Meetings will be every 2–4 weeks, depending.

2. Informal roles/responsibilities:

• Calendar maintenance
• Food & drink
• Marketing
• Budget/finances

IV. Events Committee 2010–2011 Budget

1. Budget allocation

We received an allocation of $7000 from the GPSA, which provides approximately $4900 for Grad Ball and $2000 for ‘other events.’ We can also look into co-sponsorship of events with the Graduate School or the Big Red Barn for additional event funding.

2. Grad Ball Budget

Willard Straight Hall may be booked. Need to look into alternatives locations or dates.

Duffield Hall atrium? Nicole will look into this.

V. Brainstorming Ideas

Grad Night Out:

• Zombie Pub Crawl (around Halloween)
• The Westy, Felicia’s, Wildfire Lounge, Cayuga Pete’s, ChapterHouse, Pixel
• First Grad Night Out will be the weeks of Sept. 20th or 27th. Nicole will look into the Westy/Felicia’s.

Family Events:

• Ithaca Science Center
• Museum of the Earth
• Possible to do ‘Night at the Museum’ or sleepovers?
• Cayuga Nature Center
• Grad Ski Day (sell discounted lift tickets)
• Should look into providing buses to Greek Peak
• Tubing Day at Greek Peak also possible

Other Ideas:

• Inter-school Mixers (i.e. vet school and engineering school)
  • Yes. Need to think about which combinations of schools to do.
• Cayuga Lake Cruise
  • No. Usually too cold and not much fun.
• Wine tour
  • Yes. Should look into transportation and buses.
• Girl’s Night Out: Spa day
• Guy’s Night Out: Charity poker tournament Benchwarmers? Uncle Joe’s
• Ice skating at Linah Rink
• Coffee, Tea or Brownbag lunch with President Skorton
• Monthly Wellness Program (with COE and the Grad School)
• Fundraiser Poker Tournament
• Bowling at Helen Newman
• Speed Dating/Dating game

Other things that came up:

• Transportation to and from events. Do we know where people live? Is this a reasonable idea for some events?
• GPSA survey. Events committee would like to get some questions on the survey�
• Communications. How do we get in touch with the student body?
• NEW GPSA website: http://www.cornellgpsa.com
• Nicole will look into whether the Events committee can use the discussion forums on the website.
• Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=57874230365
• Assemblies Page: http://assembly.cornell.edu/GPSA/Home
• Events Committee page: http://assembly.cornell.edu/GPSAEvents/Home
• GPSA INFO listserve: “The GPSA sends out a bi-monthly email with information about GPSAFC-funded events on campus, as well as news from your Assembly and the Cornell administration. Click here for the latest version, and don’t forget to sign up for the mail list by writing to lyris@cornell.edu with body text join GPSAINFO-L “Your Name″
• Using GPSA field representatives to forward emails to their department.
• Limited ability to send emails to the entire grad and professional student population by sending it through administration. Needs 2 weeks and prior approval.

Contact: Nicole Baran
Events Committee Chairperson
nmb68@cornell.edu