2010 Fall Forum

As we hit the mid-semester mark, GSAC is looking ahead to our annual All-Department Meeting. To generate ideas for this meeting and to think about issues in the department more generally, we graduate students will be meeting first for our Fall Forum.

This year, the Fall Forum will be held on Wednesday October 20th, from 1:00-3:00pm in Ballantine 004.

This meeting will be our opportunity to discuss--in a gradutate student-only environment--the ongoing changes in the department, as well as any other issues on your mind, from teaching opportunities to budgetary changes. This is also a great time to pool our knowledge about many of the transitions the department is undergoing, and to make us all more knowledgeable English department citizens! So--if there is ANYTHING on your mind in terms of how the department is running and/or serving you; if you would like to be involved in a dialogue with the faculty about the future direction of the department; or if you are interested in hanging out while listening to your peers and eating some snacks for a couple of hours, PLEASE COME to the Fall Forum on Wednesday October 20th. From this discussion, we will get a sense of the key issues concerning the graduate students that we can then take to the faculty in the All Department Meeting.

Of course, we encourage you to come to the All-Department Meeting, but please make time to attend the Fall Forum; our ability to effectively communicate with the faculty and state our needs depends largely on your participation in this first discussion. If you're teaching at this time or have other conflicts, but still want to make your voice heard, please feel free to email GSAC (engsac@indiana.edu) or any of your GSAC representatives individually to discuss your concerns, vision for the department's future, or whatever! We would love to hear from you, and we're anxious to be able to represent your interests fairly and fully to the faculty in this year's All-Department Meeting.

2010 GSAC Book Sale

The annual GSAC Book Sale provides two benefits to our community: (1) you get an awesome selection of extremely cheap books; and (2) the proceeds help fund GSAC's many departmental activities. So, make sure to stop by this year for some quality rummaging!

The sale will be held Nov. 10-12 (W-F) in Ballantine 419. Hours of operation will be 10am-3pm. Look for an email soon about help staffing the sale.

New Departmental Directory

The 2010-2011 Departmental Directory is now posted online! You can access it at: http://www.indiana.edu/~engweb/research/studentAdvisory.shtml. There is a link near the bottom of the page, and you must enter your IU user name and password to open it.

2009 Fall Forum Concerns

If you have questions or concerns for GSAC and/or for the faculty, but you cannot make the Fall Forum, Feel free to leave a comment in response to this post articulating your concerns.

2009 Fall Forum

It’s that time of year again—midterms are upon us, pumpkins fill the streets, and your friendly GSAC representatives need YOUR help to prepare for the annual All Department Meeting by coming with ideas and issues to our grad student only discussion, the Fall Forum!

• Fall Forum will be held on Friday, October 30th, 11am–1pm, Ballantine 310
• All Department Meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 11th, 4pm–6pm, Chemistry 001.

The department is making several changes to the budget, conference funding, AI teaching opportunities, and course requirements- all things that directly affect graduate students. They have asked for our input, and we want to be sure that we're accurately representing your opinions. So—if there is ANYTHING on your mind in terms of how the department is running and/or serving you; if you have complaints or comments you would like to air regarding course offerings,exams, teaching opportunities, printing quotas, course registration, or budgetary changes.; if you would like to be involved in a dialogue with the faculty about the future direction of the department; or if you are interested in hanging out while listening to your peers and eating some snacks for a couple of hours, PLEASE COME to the Fall Forum on Friday, October 30th from 11–1 in Ballantine 310. This forum will involve no faculty—just GSAC and you—so you should come (with no fear of repercussions) prepared to voice your honest opinions and complaints. From this discussion, we will get a sense of the key issues concerning the graduate students that we can then take to the faculty in the All Department Meeting.

Of course, we encourage you to come to the All Department Meeting, but please make time to attend the Fall Forum; our ability to effectively communicate with the faculty and state our needs depends largely on your participation in this first discussion.

Thanks, and looking forward to seeing you next Friday!

Fall 2009 Works in Progress

Just a preliminary announcement: GSAC will be holding its first Works in Progress Colloquium on November 18th at 8:00 pm in the Ballantine Lounge (BH 008). We will be reprising last spring's creative/critical collaboration. More details to come soon!

Questions or Concerns for GSAC?

We're setting up this particular post (available as a link in the "Common Questions" section as well) as a permanent space for any of the general questions you folks may have. This can range anywhere from questions about exams and the dissertation prospectus to questions you may have about the computers in the Work Room. In other words, nothing's too mundane or complicated here, and if your comment proves to be a major concern, we will always create a new post to address it more fully and in a more organized fashion.

So, please post any questions you may have in the comments section (and feel free to maintain your anonymity).