Oct. 14, 2024

 

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The UNLV Graduate & Professional Student Association

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NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING

GPSA EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING 44-07

MINUTES

Wednesday, September 11th, 2024

11:30AM

HYBRID PUBLIC MEETING:

IN PERSON: GRADUATE COMMONS CONFERNCE ROOM

LIED LIBRARY 2ND FLOOR

VIRTUAL:

PASSCODE: GPSAUNLV

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE AGENDA AND PUBLIC MEETING NOTE:

PERTAINING TO VIRTUAL MEETINGS:

This meeting will be held via teleconference only pursuant to Section 1 of the Declaration of Emergency Directive 006 (“Directive 006”) issued by the State of Nevada Executive Department. If a physical location is required for the meeting, participants may be able to access the livestream by visiting the Graduate Commons at the Lied Library 2nd floor.

Public Comment may be submitted via email to gpsapresident@unlv.edu.

Messages received by 9:00 AM on the Monday prior to the meeting may be entered into the record during the meeting. Any other public comment form submissions and/or voicemails received prior to the adjournment of the meeting will be transcribed and included in the permanent record.

Members of the public wishing to listen to the meeting may do so via:

CONTINUED:

Below is an agenda of all items scheduled to be presented and considered at the meeting. Notification is hereby provided that items on the agenda may be taken out of the order and presented, two or more agenda items may be combined for consideration, and an agenda item may be removed from the agenda or discussion relating to an item on the agenda may be delayed at any time.

Some agenda items are noted as having accompanying reference material. Copies of the reference materials that are distributed at the meeting may be requested by emailing the Executive Board at gpsa@unlv.edu.  

This meeting’s agenda has been posted in accordance with NRS 241.020. Copies of the agenda and reference material will be made available as follows: 1. Digitally at the UNLV.edu/GPSA/Agendas and the Nevada Public Notice Website, 2. Physically located on the First Floor of the Lied Library at 4505 S. Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas, NV, 3. Physically located in the Carol C. Harter Classroom Building Complex (CHB) at 4505 S. Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas, NV.

Reasonable efforts will be made to assist and accommodate persons with a disability attending the meeting. Please email the GPSA Manager at gpsa@unlv.edu in advance so that arrangements may be made.

PUBLIC COMMENT:

Public comment will be taken during this agenda item. No action may be taken on a matter raised under this item until the matter is included on an agenda as an item on which action may be taken. Comments will be limited to three minutes per person. Persons making comment will be asked to begin by stating their name for the record and to spell their last name. The Board Chair may elect to allow additional public comment on a specific agenda item when that agenda item is being considered. In accordance with Attorney General Opinion No. 00-047, as restated in the Attorney General’s Open Meeting Law Manual, the Chair may prohibit comment if the content of that comment is a topic that is not relevant to, or within the authority of, the Body, or if the content is willfully disruptive of the meeting by being irrelevant, repetitious, slanderous, offensive, inflammatory, irrational or amounting to personal attacks or interfering with the rights of other speakers.

EXECUTIVE BOARD

PRESIDENT

VICE PRESIDENT

TREASURER

SECRETARY

☑ Teresa Marie

☑Aliciah Carr

☑Devin Lopez

☑David King

PRESIDENT’S CABINET (EX-OFFICIO, NON-VOTING)

Engagement & Outreach Director

Chief of Staff

Director of Operations

Director of Communications & Marketing

◻ Ariadna Gutierrez

◻VACANT

◻ VACANT

◻ Delight Ejiaka

Members of the Public Present

☑Virginia Smercina – GPSA Business Manager

☑Bill Robinson – GPSA Faculty Advisor

CALL TO ORDER

        Called to order at 11:30 am

ROLL CALL

Quorom has been established.

  1. PUBLIC COMMENT                                                                                                INFORMATION ONLY

(See foregoing notation regarding public comment)

  1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES                                                                                   FOR POSSIBLE ACTION
    1. The GPSA Executive Board will consider approval of the minutes from the August 2024 Executive Board Meetings (44-05 & 44-06) as posted to the public GPSA Agenda's  Drive.
  2. REPORTS & RECOMMENDATIONS                                                                  INFORMATION ONLY

3a) GPSA Executive Board & Committees

    1. President

President Marie will report to the GPSA Executive Board concerning UNLV related issues or events important to the UNLV graduate student body.

President Marie discussed the funding formula adjustment at the Board of Regents, which shifted a significant amount of money from UNLV to smaller community colleges and universities, including Nevada State. Faculty Advisor Robinson explained that the funding formula is changing from being all student credit hours to including a head count component, which would affect community colleges with a large difference between head count and body count. The funds are being reallocated from UNLV and UNR, with the aim of holding them harmless. The discussion also touched on the underfunding of UNLV compared to other R1 institutions, with a deficit of approximately 150 million dollars.

    1. Vice President

Vice President Carr will report to the GPSA Executive Board concerning UNLV related issues or events important to the UNLV graduate student body.

Vice president Carr reported that $23,429.43 was requested for the month of August from the Sponsorship Program and of that $12,984.35 was approved. One person declined, which makes the approved total $10,944.13. For the September cycle, the tier system has to be invoked because the amount requested was considerably large.

    1. Treasurer

Treasurer Lopez will report to the GPSA Executive Board concerning UNLV related issues or events important to the UNLV graduate Student body.

Treasurer Lopez discussed the budget and the upcoming ways and means meeting.

    1. Secretary

Secretary King will report to the GPSA Executive Board concerning UNLV related issues or events important to the UNLV graduate Student body.

No reports.

3b) GPSA Business Manager & Advisor


Business Manager Smercina will report to the GPSA Executive Board concerning UNLV related issues or events important to the UNLV graduate student body.

Business Manager Smercina shared updates regarding attendance tracking for GPSA council members.

3c) GPSA Faculty Advisor

       

       Faculty Advisor Bill Robinson will report to the Executive Board concerning UNLV related issues or events important to the UNLV graduate student body.

       Faculty Advisor Robison discussed the new policy on Speech and Advocacy in Public Areas regarding the right for the University to prohibit protesting/organizing based on symbols or graphics deemed disruptive.

3d) GPSA President’s Cabinet

  1. Engagement & Outreach Director
  2. Director of Operations
  3. Director of Communications & Marketing
  4. Chief of Staff

  1. UNFINISHED BUSINESS                                                                                     FOR POSSIBLE ACTION

Unfinished Business is any motion or action item that was under discussion and was postponed or moved to this  meeting at the discretion of the public body as approved by the chair.

4a) Annual Goals                                                                                                    INFORMATION ONLY

President Marie requests time to discuss with the executive board the annual goals and initiatives of GPSA. These are the things that the executive board and the president's cabinet want to work on carrying out over the next 2024-2025 year.

President Marie discussed the importance of fostering a sense of community on campus. She also highlighted the need for better tracking and reporting of annual goals, using the example of graduate housing. She mentioned a project on graduate student housing, which is currently in its first phase, involving a survey to gather baseline data. President Marie also brought up the issue of food insecurity across all seven institutions, which Chancellor Charlton has included in the legislative budget ask. Faculty Advisor Robinson suggested reaching out to Ian Mcdonough, the chair of the Econ department, for insights on how to approach food insecurity.

President Marie discussed the objectives and goals of GPSA. She emphasized the need to justify the association's requests and to serve the entire graduate and professional student population. President Marie also discussed the expansion of graduate rebel appreciation day events and the hosting of a voter registration event. She mentioned the need to clarify the process for fee increases and the importance of catering to the unique experiences of graduate students.

President Marie and Vice President Carr discussed the need to gather data to support a GPSA fee increase for the upcoming year. President Marie suggested that the executive leadership should devise a plan through town halls, surveys, and council feedback. They also discussed the need to present the goals to the council, which would vote on them.

President Marie, Business Manager Smercina, and Treasurer Lopez discussed various concerns and potential solutions for graduate students at UNLV. They highlighted issues such as housing, tutoring services, mental health, safety, and parking concerns. President Marie mentioned that she had brought up these concerns to the Chancellor and that they were planning to address them. Treasurer Lopez expressed concerns about international student housing and the lack of resources for graduate students. They also discussed the possibility of creating a centralized emergency funding system and the need for a dedicated space for graduate students at the Shadow Lane campus. President Marie suggested that these issues could be included in the annual goals for GPSA to address.

President Marie and Vice President Carr discussed the issue of graduate students lacking resources and mentorship at UNLV. President Marie mentioned that the Graduate College has a grant to develop better resources for students and train faculty to be mentors. They also discussed the possibility of integrating more graduate student-focused resources into the Grad Academy or the ASC. The conversation also touched on the topic of childcare support, with President Marie clarifying that no money is currently being given to the preschool. They agreed to add childcare support as a goal under the initiative of expanding childcare support.

President Marie discussed the need for a stronger sense of community among graduate and professional students, with a focus on organizing regular community events and social gatherings. She also discussed the need to update internal governing documents to reflect recent structural changes and enhance organizational effectiveness. Additionally, President Marie mentioned the need to improve campus safety measures and to establish an ad hoc fee increase committee to develop a fee increase proposal plan.

  1. NEW BUSINESS                                                                                                    FOR POSSIBLE ACTION

New business is any motion that is new to this meeting. All items will be for action unless otherwise stated.

  1. PUBLIC COMMENT                                                                                             INFORMATION ONLY

(See foregoing notation regarding public comment)

  1. ANNOUNCEMENTS                                                                                                 INFORMATION ONLY

  1. ADJOURNMENT

Adjourned at 1:51pm.