I. Approval of the Minutes

The minutes of the meeting on October 15 are attached.

II. Mentoring of Graduate Students

At our last meeting, Ian Reynolds brought up the issue of how we (UCGS, schools, departments) could evaluate mentoring and improve the mentoring our graduate students receive. I would like UCGS to review what it currently does in this area. I attach "Suggestions on Choosing a Dissertation Advisor" which we still circulate and have up on the Web; "Improving Research Supervision," which we circulated once but do not circulate now; and Research Student and Supervisor, which is sent to a faculty member upon appointment to the Graduate Faculty. Should we continue doing this? Should we do more?

III. Pitt's Presentation on the Internet

The Committee on the University of Pittsburgh's Presentation on the Internet is reviewing the pages which were designed a little over a year ago as well as the usefulness of the organization of these pages and the currency and usefulness of the information available. I would like to discuss the usefulness of the attached pages: Graduate Admissions and Financial Aid and Academic and Research Units / Graduate Programs. I also would like to discuss how effective your pages are for recruiting graduate students and for assisting graduate students already in the program. Are we satisfied or should we be doing more? Please surf the Net before this meeting.

IV. Graduate Student Concerns

The President of the Graduate and Professional Student Association has suggested several issues which should be considered by UCGS. These include changes in the way in which the University assists in meeting the housing needs of graduate students; safety improvements; research integrity; student health coverage. I will present the current concern about these issues. UCGS should give some guidance to the Graduate Student Affairs Committee on whether (and how) to respond.

cc: Sam Conte