[Plsgs] SPS GSC Monday meeting follow up

[Justin Shaffer]

Hello!

I hope this note finds you well. I am writing to follow up on some things
that we discussed at yesterday's meeting. It would be very helpful if you
could please address the following:

*SPS Retreat*
It may be helpful for those attending the SPS retreat, at biosphere 2 this
January 26th, http://cals.arizona.edu/spls/node/536, to organize some kind
of carpooling situation. The meeting runs from 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM, and
those of us needing to set up a poster (7:00 AM) or interested in the
offered continental breakfast (7:30 AM) would need to arrive earlier. If
you are planning to attend the retreat, please indicate, on the doodle poll
below, for which hours you would like to attend:

http://www.doodle.com/74fgg56khtamrrbs

*SPS Merchandise for Raising Graduate Club Funds
*We agreed that it would be fun and helpful to produce some kind of SPS
merchandise (t-shirts, pint glasses, coffee mugs) in order to help raise
funds for the Graduate Student Club. In addition to adding to our current
funds, the sale of this merchandise will assist in funding the newly
proposed GSC Graduate Student Travel Grant (see below). For those artists
among us, or those with friends with artistic abilities, it would be great
if you could provide ideas for a picture or logo that we could use on the
merchandise. Please E-mail me with any thoughts, ideas, or images that fit
the bill, as well as with any suggestions for possible places that would
produce the merchandise for us.

*SPS Coffee Hour
*It would be nice to see each other more frequently. One way to do this is
through a weekly coffee hour, which could also be a nice time to catch up
with staff / faculty, and if scheduled on Tuesdays, an opportunity to meet
any guest seminar speakers. If you are interested in something like this,
please indicate, on the doodle poll below, during which hours you think
would be optimal; though the poll is for Jan. 16th, this would be every
Tuesday during the semester. I suggest either sometime Tuesday morning, or
at 3:00 PM before seminar.

http://www.doodle.com/zthdvzzy9yey95tt

For those of you who were not able to attend the grad student club meeting
yesterday (Monday), here is a brief summary of other things that were
discussed:

*SPS-GSC Graduate Student Travel Grant
*In addition to a portion of our current funds, anything raised through
sales of the SPS merchandise mentioned above will be used to fund a newly
proposed graduate student travel grant. The grant will be offered twice a
year, hopefully aligning well with when most meetings are held (some are in
Winter/Spring and most are in Summer), and will provide up to $250 for
travel to a meeting at which an SPS graduate student is giving a poster or
oral presentation. Funds will be distributed based on an application
process open to any graduate students in SPS, and applications reviewed by
the GSC council.

*Celebration for Students Finishing Up This Term
*It would be nice to celebrate the completion of the program for any
students who are wrapping things up this Spring term. We are planning an
end-of-the-term party for students finishing up, open to all students in
SPS, family, and friends. More to come...

*K-12 Activities
*There was some discussion of organizing some kind of K-12 activity through
SPS, during which we could teach basic topics in plant sciences, to local
K-12 students. I find that these activities are very fun and rewarding, and
can also be helpful as forms of outreach and broader impacts, which are
becoming increasingly important for obtaining funding and things of that
sort. Any one who would be interested in participating in something of this
sort should contact me.

*Team Sports and Recreation
*I am encouraging the organization of any pick-up team sports (soccer,
basketball) or recreation activities (dance-aerobics, weight lifting), as
another means to see each other more frequently outside of an academic
setting. If you are interested make yourself heard and let me know.

*Spring Break Trip
*For those of us who will be hanging around during Spring break this term,
it might be fun to organize some kind of trip together. Let me know if you
will be around and are interested.*

*Best wishes,

Justin
*
*
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