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

The draft agenda for the Annual General Meeting of the Advanced Degree Students Association is now available. Also available are the results of the referendum on amending the ADSA Constitution and the latest draft of proposed changes to the ADSA Policies and Procedures. The final financial statement will be posted next week, and any other materials will be available at the meeting, which will be from 11am to noon on Thursday, April 3rd, in Boardroom 1 at TST.