Hi everyone.

Here is the agenda for the next ADSA board meeting on January 14. As always you are welcome to attend, it will be in the seminar room at TST at 10am. If you could please just let me know if you are coming so that we can make sure there are enough chairs (unless you like standing against the wall). Also, as always, if there is anything else you think we need to be talking about please let me, your college rep or anyone else on the ADSA board know and we’ll be more than happy and willing to take it up.

Advanced Degree Students’ Association

Agenda

January 14, 2015

1: Opening Prayer

2: College Reps

-Emmanuel

-Knox

-Regis

-Trinity

-Saint Mikes

-Wycliffe

3: Department Reps

-History

-Theology

-Pastoral

-Biblical

-MA

4: Other Committees

-Academic Council

-GSC

-Library

-Board of Trustees

5: Conference

6: PD Seminar (Mental Health)

7: Survey Results

8: Townhall

9: Other business

Hi everyone,

Sorry these have gotten out so late, Christmas and end/start of term has put me a bit behind.

As always, if you have any questions/concerns or just want to say hi please feel free to email me or anyone on the ADSA board.

Thanks!

Becca

ADSA Minutes                                                                                               November 13, 2014

1. Meeting called to Order 10:07 with prayer by Becca.

Note: Minutes are disseminated to board members by email as of last meeting.

1. Department Reps

History- none

Theology- none, has meeting in 2 weeks

Pastoral- none

Library- December 1^st meeting

Academic Council- nothing earth shattering, set a date for faculty assembly which was had and the new PhD program was the major topic. This was the same info that was distributed by listerv to all students on Nov. 12. No news on MA or D.Min. programs.

MA-none

GSC- last meeting canceled

Conference- work will continue after AAR/SBL

1. College Reps

Emmanuel-none

Knox- had celebration for 170^th anniversary

Wycliffe-none

Trinity- none

St Mikes- Trivia night went well, Dec 12 Christmas Party cancelled. John Meagher annual lecture will be November 14, lecture on Bioethics @ 7:00.

Regis- Lonergan Lecture well attended

1. Surveys- moved to later in meeting

1. PD seminars

Thesis- went “awesome”, but with low attendance. Jerry did well.

Mental Health- ready to go on the 19^th. People from counseling booked.

January- addition of the conference has changed the makeup of Spring semester for students. The board decides to scrap the Jan. seminar because of all that is going on, with the possibility of something else later in the year.

1. Travel Bursaries-

Becca forgot names so drawing will take place later in the day and she will inform the board of winners

Funding- Alan found money that is restricted to ON students. Becca feels that it would be to complicated and annoying for ADSA to deal with these restrictions. Fees might also change soon that would make more money available to ADSA. Board respectfully declines.

1. Other Business

US Student Loans- Becca discussed with Alan, Jerry, and Diane. The US doesn’t grant money to non-degree schools loan money. The loans were being certified by U of T even though hey were not supposed to. This action was a correction after the Department of Education audit. Many of the reactions were about communication. Individuals responses by colleges was however good. At the request of the Board, Becca will attempt to organize a meeting with registrars/representatives of colleges, TST, U of T, the US Consulate, and possibly the School of Nursing and Med School, to discuss this issue and funding as a whole.

4)   Surveys

Writing Center- Becca and Michael had a good meeting in which TST sorted out some logistics. Fees will be going down, but the writing center wants a referendum to make sure TST students still want it. This ref. will occur in February. A ref. on raising the ADSA fee to offset the drop will also occur. A town Hall will happen for both beforehand.

TATP- ADSA had access, for which we didn’t pay (maybe), and so they have cancelled TST’s access. Survey was presented to a sample of the students, which was gone over. Alan says TST might be paying for this in the new MOA. Jerry and Alan also spoke about a universal pool of TA’s. another option is for ADSA’s PD seminars to take on this training program. There will be a meeting with Wycliffe to discuss their involvement and desire for TATP.

Christmas Survey- Same as last year except for a few minor changes. Survey is good . TST has stats, this allows ADSA to also have stats.

Jonathan proposed a motion be passed by the board celebrating the completion of the new PhD approval process.

Passed Unanimously

Meeting adjourned @ 11:28

Hello everyone!

Bellow is the Agenda for the ADSA board meeting. It will at 10am on Nov 13 in the seminar room at TST.

Advanced Degree Students’ Association

Agenda

November 13, 2014 Board Meeting 10AM

1: Opening Prayer

2: Department Reps

-History

-Theology

-Pastoral

-Bible

-Library

-MA

-Academic Council

-Graduate Studies Council

-Conference

3: College Reps

-Emmanuel

-Knox

-Wycliffe

-Trinity

-St. Mikes

-Regis

4: Surveys

-Teaching Assistant Training

-Christmas Survey

-and the Writing Center

5: PD Seminars

-Recap of Thesis Writing

-Mental Health

-What to do in January?

-Another seminar or maybe a social gathering or nothing or something else?

6: Travel Bursaries

-Draw names

-Funding

7: Other business

8: Next meeting?

ADSA Minutes

October 15, 2014

1. Meeting called to Order @ 2:03 with Prayer by Michael
2. Introductions
3. Minutes- approval moved Jonathan, 2^nd by Abigail

*from now on minutes will be approved by email so that they might be gotten out sooner. Board members will be considered to have approved the meetings unless they note their objections by email.

4)   Reports

Knox- had AD meeting last week for all AD students

St Mikes– Women’s Tea Time Oct 16 @ 4:00pm. Oct 24-25 Music, Theology and Justice Conference. Oct 30 Trappist Trivia

Trin– Had 1^st AD meeting (small but good turnout)

Hx-had a meeting. CCHS conference Oct 31-Nov 2 with TST students and Faculty presenting

MA- PD seminar Oct 16 on MA Thesis Writing

ADC-PhD program has not yet been approved, but is being worked upon. MA proposal- New MA will replace ThM and current MA (concern for those that already have a MA). ADSA is listed on the TST org chart as a committee of the Graduate Center, done because TST knows who is part of the program, Becca will investigate.

GSC- will have 3 reps for this year with representation going down to 2 next year. Board of Trustees liked the survey but want Jerry to have input next time for clarities sake.

UofT-ICS making progress for student association, we have invited them to events in the past and will continue to do so until they are set up, at which point we will discuss payment options, unknown what the timeline will be. TA training program meetings were encouraging about coming to a deal, asked for a needs assessment, survey will be happening to see if it is needed. Michael is investigating if there is actually a problem that is needed to be solved with regards to the part-time dental discussion.

Conference- we only received $1500 for Judaism and Christian Studies. Also looking for students that are doing Judaism studies work for recruitment for this conference.

5)   PD seminar- Thesis writing seminar for MA students. Gift cards of $25 for presenters

Mental Health-Nov/Dec- Jonathan and Allison

Jobs Seminar- because of Regis and the Bridge class on Jobs we will not be doing anything this year for Jobs. Still looking for other alternatives (possibly a social gathering)

6)   Other – Dominican Institute doing conference “Church Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow” on ecclesiology, Jan 23, 2013.   Call for papers coming soon.

7)   Next Meeting Nov 13, 2014 @ 10am

Meeting closed @ 3:00 pm

ADSA Agenda

September 22, 2014

1: Opening Prayer

2: Introductions (if needed)

3: Approval of Minuets

4: Reports

A: College Reps

-St. Mikes

-Regis

-Trinity

-Wycliffe

-Knox

-Emmanuel

B: Departments

-History

-Pastoral

-Theology

-Biblical

-MA

C: Other Committees

-ADC

-University of Toronto

-Conference

-Other Committees

5: Appointments to Committees

6: Budget

7: Professional Development Seminars

8: Other Business

9: Next meeting date

The AGM Minutes from 3 April 2014 . I’m sorry they have been so long in coming

TST Advanced Degree Students’ Association

Annual General Meeting                                                   Thursday, April 3, 2014

Agenda

1. Welcome
   1. Opening Prayer (Stanley Hauerwas)
   2. Introductions (if necessary)
   3. Approve Agenda
      1. Propose item to second to last – passed
      2. Agenda is approved
2. Ratify Constitutional Amendments
   1. Motion: to accept the results of the referendum (attached page 2) and change section 4 of the ADSA Constitution as proposed.
      1. Changes approved
3. Approve Changes to Board Structure, Duties, and Related Policies
   1. Motion: to change sections C, D, and E of the ADSA Policies and Procedures as proposed (colour handout, pages 1-6) and renumber sections D, E, and F accordingly.
      1. Changes in representation
      2. Secretary will record attendance
      3. Making it clearer as to how to remove officers
      4. Motion to pass
      5. Changes passed
4. Accept Year-End Financial Statements (attached pages 3-4)
   1. Came in under budget on a lot of things
   2. Will be slightly adjusted since TST is covering lunch
   3. Conference budget is discussed
      1. Working out honorarium
      2. New topic next year – Jewish-Christian dialogue (may be money available)
   4. Draw new travel bursary winner
      1. Nick Olkovich was drawn
5. Receive Draft of Annual Report for TST (attached page 5)
   1. Michael goes over the report
   2. Open to revisions
   3. From “nearly” to “over” 50 people attended the conference
   4. Stronger language around thesis defence; unanimous vote to have open thesis defences and unanimous survey approval
6. Receive Preliminary Survey Results (colour handout, pages 7-12)
   1. Volunteers to finish and proof survey report and presentation to TST Board?
   2. People who received nothing? How is that?
      1. Are people reporting for their whole program or just for the current academic year? We need to tighten down he survey.
      2. Benefits and delays
         1. Students are doing a lot of conferences
         2. Also grant applications take a lot of time
         3. TA and RA positions also take up a lot
         4. Non-academic delays are also significant – go over other things mentioned
         5. Most delays around 4 months
         6. Languages and course grades are significant delays
         7. Discuss student expectations
      3. Negative experiences
         1. Have they been reported?
         2. Perhaps anonymous reporting makes people more inclined to report discrimination.
         3. What is number 5 about?
            1. Questions were based on GS survey
         4. 11 people reported abuse – but the onus is on the people to report this
         5. Would you encourage other people into the program?
            1. 71% – but not the 88% of grads that TST claims
            2. But more negative comments this year than last
            3. Make certain comments more anonymous
            4. Our numbers should be seen as relative to other departments; but we shouldn’t entirely discount the survey results
            5. We need to continue to report data and take out certain themes
7. Ratify Elections Results
   1. List of nominations (attached page 6)
      1. Two people for Biblical Dept.
      2. We need to have an election through the Biblical Dept.
         1. Online vote or call a meeting?
         2. Chris will attend meeting in May.
         3. Let’s talk to respective candidates and see if they are both interested.
      3. All other nominations were acclaimed
   2. Discuss and approve elections procedure (if necessary)
      1. MA candidate – Daniel Pettipas
      2. Emmanuel – Allison Murray
      3. Elections ratified with the exception of the Bible Dept.
8. Appointments to Fill Vacancies (if desired)
10. Receive Preliminary Budget for Next Year (attached page 7)
    1. Travel bursaries may be administered by TST
       1. We would still put in money, but they would assess more factors (i.e. location of conference) in terms of granting the bursaries
       2. Social budget will probably be more than $400
       3. Budget adopted
11. Set Date for First Meeting of New Board
    1. Push discussion until August and we’ll figure out a meeting time then
12. Other Business?
    1. Thanks to all for their time and contributions