Last TGIF today!

Hello All,

We have our last TGIF at the faculty club from 4 to 7 PM. We are having special food and we hope all of you can join us.

Thank you
Ram

CARS report released

Hey everyone, as your graduate student representative to CARS I wanted to remind you that the CARS recommendations have been released to the university.

To read the report and offer your comments, go to: https://secureweb.brandeis.edu/transformation/report/
there's a lot to read- but the executive summary is very clear, and section 5 is about graduate programs.

Be sure to check it out - thanks!!
Jane

Its elections time!

Hello Everyone,

It is elections time at the GSA. The nominations period just ended and now we are giving time for the nominated representatives to campaign in their individual schools. I am really happy to see several wonderful candidates on the nominations list. If you forgot to nominate a candidate, or would like to run for the Senate or Board of Trustees representative yourself, it may not be too late. Please email Alwina Bennett (alwina@brandeis.edu) with your nominations and a paragraph describing why students should vote you and what you plan on doing after being elected.

For the full list of nominees and to read about the candidates, please click on this link: http://www.brandeis.edu/gradstudent/gsa/about/elections/index.html

We hope you all will have a fun and relaxing break and ready to kick off elections next week.

Thanks
Ram Iyer
GSA President

Changes to GSA elections process for 2009 - 10

Hello members of Brandeis community,

As we plan for the upcoming elections, the current GSA is planning to incorporate a few changes to enhance the process and make it aligned with that in other schools.

We have identified the following goals which we hope to address by these changes:

1. Increased authority and visibility to the Graduate Student Senate.
2. Increased collaboration between the Senate and the Executive Committee (EC)
   
3. Aligning our process with that of other graduate schools and overall general elections process
4. Making sure candidates elected for EC positions are well qualified and are able to meet and exceed our expectations.

To that extent, here are the steps we will have to take to achieve these goals

1. Graduate student body should elect their representatives in the form of senators (from each grad school, based on its relative size).
2. Newly elected senators should then nominate the EC members from within themselves. By doing so, we will ensure only the best candidates are elected for the EC positions and also they will be increasingly responsible for meeting the expectations of the student body.
   

The current constitution does not allow us to conduct elections in the above mentioned way. As a result, we will have to slightly change the elections procedures section to reflect the new process.

You will be receiving a small survey using surveymonkey going to all graduate students. It is very quick and will only need a few seconds of your time. We hope you will take the time to vote and help us strengthen the process and identify strong and qualified leaders in the years to come.

Thank you
Ram Iyer
GSA President

NYTimes article: Doctoral Candidates Anticipate Hard Times

Quote:
"Fulltime faculty jobs have not been easy to come by in recent decades, but this year the new crop of Ph.D. candidates is finding the prospects worse than ever. Public universities are bracing for severe cuts as state legislatures grapple with yawning deficits. At the same time, even the wealthiest private colleges have seen their endowments sink and donations slacken since the financial crisis. So a chill has set in at many higher education institutions, where partial or full-fledge hiring freezes have been imposed."

more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/07/arts/07grad.html?em

NEW discussion forum on my.brandeis.edu

The campus-wide Brandeis blog is moving to the (private) 'Forums' section on my.brandeis.edu which will guarantee that the posts and content are accessed by members of the Brandeis community only. These forums are composed of the several subcommittees established to advise the university administrators on future re-structing decisions.

See message by Prof. Tim Hickey below for more information.

Carlos Y.

=======================================
Posts from 2009-01-30:

==============================

========================
tjhickey: "New Discussion Lists on my.brandeis.edu"
Post 56 (on 2009-01-30 19:58:17)
--------------------
Dear BrandeisBlog members,

We have created four online discussion lists on the my.brandeis.edu discussion list page:

http://my.brandeis.edu/bboard/index

These discussion lists are visible to all Brandeis Community members and only to those members --

** students, faculty, administrators, staff, alumni, and anyone with a unetid can read and post **

I think these lists will better suit our purposes than this blog, but I thank you all for signing up. We will keep this blog open for a while if anyone want to continue posting, but the CARS lists will be read by the faculty and administrators tasked with developing specific Brandeis plans, so your efforts there will be most helpful.

Here is some more information about the new discussion lists ...

You have to login to my.brandeis to even see the forum, let along join it, and this inconvenience at least guarantees that we can talk among ourselves, the Brandeis community, without being deluged by outside, non-Brandeisian voices.

Here are the discussion lists we have created so far:

The Third Semester http://my.brandeis.edu/bboard/q-and-a?topic_id=3173&topic=CARS%20subcommittee%20on%20the%20Third%20Semester%20Plan
The Business Major http://my.brandeis.edu/bboard/q-and-a?topic_id=3176&topic=CARS%20subcomittee%20on%20creating%20a%20Business%20Major
The Degree Requirements and Advising http://my.brandeis.edu/bboard/q-and-a?topic_id=3174&topic=CARS%20subcommittee%20on%20Degree%20Requirements%20and%20Advising
The Curricular Innovation and Restructuring forum http://my.brandeis.edu/bboard/q-and-a?topic_id=3175&topic=CARS%20committee%3a%20Curricular%20Innovation%20and%20Restructuring

Caution: (sigh...)
The only problem with these links is that sometimes all those weird characters in the URL (?=%...) can get messed up by your email reader
or the line can be broken into two pieces and only half the link is active ....

Links to these discussion lists have also been posted on the front page of the BrandeisPlans wiki
http://wiki.cs.brandeis.edu/faculty
(from off campus ... username: faculty password: change! )

Here is the introductory post for the third semester forum:

January 30, 2009
02:41 PM Tell us your ideas and constructive comments
The CARS committee has set up this particular forum to solicit wonderful, exciting, creative ideas on the general topic of adding a third semester to the Brandeis academic calendar. There are many possible approaches from establishing a variant of the Dartmouth D-plan with a mandatory sophomore summer (for all newly admitted students, not necessarily you!) to year-round schooling proposals. In addition to the third semester proposals, we also would like ideas about how to build in a semester-away plan for Fall and Spring semesters.

We are looking for plans that will allow us as a University to make better use of our campus which currently is quite underused during the summer months. Good plans will keep the campus alive with students learning and participating in research and other creative and experiential activities all year round, while also allowing students to leave the campus for a semester (summer, spring, or fall).

At this early point in the accelerated process we need your ideas. We also will all benefit if you can comment (respectfully, of course!) on ideas presented in this forum and suggest improvements.

Best wishes for all of us!
---Tim---

Minutes of Meeting 'Financial situation and impact on Graduate Students" Jan.29/09

Dear Fellow Graduate Students:

Below are the minutes of the meeting on “Financial Situation & Impact on Graduate Students” that took place yesterday 01/29 in campus.

Many Thanks to Eileen Kranz (GSA Treasurer) and Alwina Bennett (Assistant Provost) for compiling and editing the minutes, as well as Alwina and Ram Iyer (GSA President) for organizing this encounter between Administration and the Graduate student community!

Best,

CY

Graduate Student Association Meeting, January 29, 2009

Ram Iyer, GSA President introduced Adam Jaffe, Dean of Arts & Sciences, Greg Freeze, Dean of the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, Dean Lisa Lynch, Heller School, Associate Dean Tren Dolbear, International Business School, and Provost Marty Krauss-

Dean Freeze gave a brief overview of the current situation and its impact on A&S Graduate Students:

All funded students will continue to receive stipends

Programs will remain in existence; graduate students will receive degrees

GSAS travel stipends ($500)-- still available

Increase in services: Career Counseling, Graduate Student Center will continue

Increase in support for doctoral students- Mellon Award, Redstone Awards, Dissertation support 15 times as much as last year- increased stipend for UPI

Cosponsor with GSA research for M.A. students

Doctoral admissions reduced by 50% (will improve CA opportunities for existing students)

Main point: if you’re here now, you won’t be affected.

Relationship between 5^th year funding and UWS courses:

SOME of the UWS classes are looking for 5^th year people who can provide teaching service as a UWS instructor. Everyone will be expected to do some form of service during their 5^th year (as a TF perhaps). This service will be for ONE semester of the fifth year. There is some flexibility: an extra class may be taught earlier in career to fulfill the service requirement. There will continue to be 8 funded UWS teaching positions.

Will restructuring/departments closing affect value of degree?

We don’t know what’s going to happen. Graduate education at Brandeis runs at a deficit-Grad schools everywhere are considered revenue negative. It may affect us in some way, but if we restructure we will have only the best students at Brandeis. The single most important thing is your dissertation and your advisor- that’s what you can stand behind- a lot of it is in your hands.

For MA’s and international students: what is the impact on grants/loans? University deals with private banks- so there should be no problem on getting loans.. Grad student applications are up by 25%

What support is there for conference attendance? Might the sciences apply for GSAS money since their grant money is drying up?

Situations would be evaluated—most science departments have lots of research funds to support conference attendance by their students.

If some programs are potentially going to be consolidated, could we have more clarity on the impact of this?

With the current situation with the endowment and philanthropy- we cannot sustain the current level of operations in the graduate school. What we are trying to do as a small research institution is very hard to do. We compete with universities that have a much larger base than we do. We need to rebalance our structure . We need to maintain a critical mass of doctoral students to maintain a thriving research institution. We are talking of developing new programs to generate new revenue. We need to achieve a new equilibrium. Possibly reducing the number of Ph.D stipends. Possibly closing or merging certain programs: What does that mean for us? For current students it means nothing. Even if we do close the program, we will honor our decision to help you finish that degree. We know that getting a degree from a program that had its lights turned out shortly after is not desirable- but is not the main determinant of you as a professional. The work you did here should speak for itself. A steering committee has been appointed- involves the kinds of changes taking places in the grad school and will be taking place over the next several months. The faculty is talking about things that need to happen quickly because it will affect the incoming freshman class- much of this needs to be completed by March 1^st. The committee met this morning- 9 faculty were appointed & decided to have student representation- which will be selected by the GSA Executive Committee: [NOTE: Jane Harries, doctoral student in Psychology was appointed.]

No information on what departments might be “reorganized” or “eliminated was available.

What are the financial status of Heller and IBS

Dean Lynch: The funding arrangements in Heller are very different. Students are typically supported for 2 years unless funded by a training grant. 33 endowments are currently underwater and we cannot draw from them this year. Heller is currently working with donors to either get new funding that will be able to maintain our current level of funding. Heller would like to be able to guarantee 3^rd year funding next for doctoral students in the future. The big challenge is dealing with underwater endowments- their intentions were to guarantee funding to graduate student research. Research assistant support- sponsored research is higher this year than in past years. We have improved our database of scholarship support.

Dean Dolbear: We only admit doctoral students every other year- Kate Goldfield is sending an email out inviting all IBS students to talk about issues at IBS in the next week or so.. We don’t spend extra money. Master’s students do not receive any scholarship money. We are tightening our belts. For the most part we feel this will not change the students’ lives very much- which is why we are not making a huge deal out of the crisis. We are waiting to see what happens elsewhere in the university before we make any decisions.

Students asked about the decision to close the Rose. There was concern that there was no communication or consultation.

The faculty is just as unhappy and just as uninvolved as students are. Administration is happy to meet with graduate student to communicate what’s going on but as far as the decision-making process, there is not a role in the DECISIONS for grad students.

When will these decisions be made- who makes them?

All programs have compiled information that the committee can use to analyze and evaluate how they operate. The committee is in the process of reviewing that information. There is a very short deadline, but it’s difficult to give specifics— decisions will be made within the next several months. According to the faculty handbook, the closing of a program must involve a “deliberative process”; the committee would make recommendations on the closure or consolidation of a program in the context of a larger consolidation or restructuring. Will be discussed by the Graduate Council. The final decision belongs to the PROVOST.

How did we get in this mess?

Three factors; the decline in the endowment, a decline in unrestricted short term giving, and a decline in the net revenue from undergraduate tuition. We are looking at an unsustainable, unbalanced revenue stream. The plan that the BOT has adopted- 1 is structural change to remedy that imbalance. 2- is to reduce the costs of running the university. Proceeds we hope to gain from selling the art from the Rose will help to implement that plan. Without the backup of funding, we would sink before we fully put into place the new structure. For the moment- weathering the recession… we had built up a $100 million savings account which will ALL be spent in 2 years. If another recession occurs without rebuilding that fund, we would have to close the university. If we didn’t have the money now, we’d be sending you home and turning the lights out.

Who are you firing?

No one will be fired- we are restructuring so the programs can be offered with fewer faculty. It IS possible that the program YOU are in is slated for closure, we will honor our commitments to you, but the faculty may choose to leave a school that doesn’t have a Ph.D program in their field.

When will we learn what programs are closing? How will you decide?

Announcements will be made sometime in the spring. We will evaluate the quality of the program, quality of the students. Some notion of the intrinsic importance- can we imagine a university without a program in X? From the institutions perspective- where are the synergies and how do programs complement each other?

Will the University cut master’s programs?

NO we are only cutting programs that COST us money.

What information would be helpful from US (the grad students) for your long-term planning?

We know all the statistics of the grad students (GRE’s, performance, duration of completion, satisfaction, jobs post-Brandeis). We’d be happy to hear any additional information that you would deem valuable.

Would a lending program be possible with the RoseArt?

That has been discussed/is being discussed.

Could you use the M.A. program to prop up the doctoral programs.- use tuition through first year or so to fund the Ph.D’s through their programs?

We are looking at that model. There may be ways to modify the ways we do the Ph.D. programs.

Is there any way to set up partnerships with other schools?

To some extent, but there are barriers based on our location etc… we are looking into some aspects of that

Are these things going to affect the sciences in the same way it will be affecting the humanities?

All of the programs are being affected equally across the board. ed.

What can we be doing to help?

IF someone asks if Brandeis is going down the tubes say NO! We have some problems but we are addressing them!

Is there a way in which students will be more informed about the decisions being made? Layoffs in particular.

Dean Jaffe: There have been layoffs at Brandeis- mostly staff outside of the academic areas: Facilities, LTS, Finances. Altogether about 70 positions were eliminated- some were vacant, not all layoffs. In terms of restructuring- this is motivated by the belief that we’ve done what cutting can possibly be done and still function. There’s no guarantee that there won’t be more layoffs, but I hope not. In hindsight we should have had this meeting a week ago. I’m happy to do this again and to work with Ram and the GSA to determine when and under what circumstances. Any lack of communication is not a result of a desire to HIDE things, it’s more just that there’s a lot going on.

More questions? You may email= He generally responds to his email within 24 HOURS1