Parkhurst Dining Services

Hey everyone!

I hope you all are enjoying your first week of winter break!  

The reason for my post is to tell you guys that Parkhurst Dining Services will be having a representative come speak at the next SVA Student Life Council Meeting.  He is not going to be talking about meal plan usage at Doris and Gateway UNLESS students ask him....

SO get your butts out to the meeting and ask! You've been sending me messages, now seek out the guy who has all of the info.  The meeting will be on January 30th in the President's Board Room of Main Building from 12 to 1 pm.  

Happy break to all of you!

Meghann Harris

SVAAC President

MAT Representative

Steps Taken at the last Academic Affairs Council Meeting

Hey everyone!

At the very first Academic Affairs Council meeting, students were asked to fill out sheets of paper stating issues or concerns that they had for the semester and ideas for what SVA could do to help MICA work toward solving them.  

Based off of these sheets, at the last SVAAC meeting of the semester, we created research groups to find out more information on Financial Aid, Departmental Resources, a space for photography artwork, and safety in terms of chemicals / hazardous waste in the classroom.  I, Meghann Harris will be supervising the Financial Aid group, Meredith McFall, our VP will be surpervising the Departmental Resources group, Ellice Park, our secretary, the photography group, and Megan Miller, from student activities, the safety group.

So... here are the meeting minutes (written up by our wonderful Ellice!) for you to scan over.  Check 'em out if you're interested.

Thanks!

Meghann Harris

SVAAC President

MAT Representative

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Student Voice Assoc. Acad. Council Mtg. Minutes

11-20-2008 Noon - 1 PM @ Main 160

Review and Approve Minutes

Departmental Concerns
Based off of the student concerns sheets that each representative filled out at the beginning of the semester, the SVAAC has found four areas to address in small groups:
1. Financial aid (informal resource list for students to put on MICA web site; general questions, general scholarships)
2. Health & Safety (assume has a lot to do with dolphin bldg)
3. Departmental Resources (ie studio space ie model shop ... things open to specific majors, and students at large.. possibly into MICA Red Book?)
4. Space for Documenting Artwork (figure out ideal space; work study position? compile list to pass on and look over; dan myers!)

Additional Department Reports
- DRAWING: Jennifer B.
26 enrolled at least, 10 freshman want to be majors, Friday talk with them about being drawing major at MICA
bc so few, .. micadrawingmajors.blogspot.com
forum to talk about techniques, resources, etc
field trip specifically for drawing majors to see Charles Ritchie
peer to peer critique set up on Wed fox 210 at 4 pm; advertised in cobalt soup and on posters
group of sophomores going to sr studios next week, see reviews
- Exp Anim: n/a
- Int. Media: n/a
- Vid: new representative - Eric Varella

Jan Stinchcomb and Chris Whittey speak

on student concerns:
-are working on issues (esp IL working with Whitney, in line with IL philosophy)
-one thing that stood out: ventillation issue with print making
-most of concerns are being worked on and already recognized
-student concern: new ventilation in the some of the senior studios for drawings majors is filled with dirt and charcoal and is giving students nosebleeds
-Jan Stinchcomb: was changed last year but will continue to check up on the issue

Faculty Hires
-sva informed that a very rigorous search is happened, listings advertised heavily for higher education folk and for full time hires, not so heavily for part time hires
-each dpt has their own process
-concern response: part time hires, how does this affect the students? full time : part time ratios
-reply back: bc so interdisciplinary, may be working three parts.. how much of the curric delivered by those faculty? we exceed norm standards (60:40 ft:pt) there will always be pt faculty

**meghann has heard about the shuttles and meal plan usage (at cafe doris and gateway) concerns, is on it.

**mya wondering about getting to know professors pre-semester class and their syllabi
response: faculty directory online, syllabi colelcted and posted

**announcement: would like feedback about course information
response: clarity with course titles, perhaps subtitles
response 2: would like hard, unbiased information about courses as opposed to students' feedback/opinions


ANNOUNCEMENTS:
town hall mtg 2/18/09 3pm - go! location tbd

Representatives from the Faculty version of the council:
-Jason Sloan: no particular announcements
-Mina Cheon: 

-first yr as chair of student affairs committee; also on faculty executive committee
-happy with the work that's going on in sva, wants reps to encourage their friends to come out
-faculty committee grp acts as liaison between sva and faculty assembly
-there's 5 members in the f.c.
-wants to respond to syllabus idea - the kind of work she does with her students changes every semester to try to update with the times.. the course description may not be entirely accurate, because the dynamics of the class can altar things too.. but more description may be helpful, she thinks. since changes, albeit little ones, are always likely

in terms of SPRING MTGS:
town hall mtg is where fred, ray, dusty are on panel/stage asking questions and answering questions
a lot of faculty meet there,
fall: address and recognize issues
spr: students can be recognized there with their concerns, raise their issues that they might be passionate about
good forum to get information about, where we're going, where we're headed
spread the word! it's a big deal.
also with spr mtgs: without student input, it's just faculty
so look at your section of dpt self study and talk some more.
they'll ask questions on whole, and you can give feedback
glowing rec's are great but your concerns should be raised. doesn't mean that mica won't get accreditted, but it'll go into the report and taken seriously from there
MARK YOUR CALENDAR: March 10 @ NOON. BE THERE.
this is actually a MANDATORY MTG.
the accreditation team is only here monday & tuesday. megan miller will be happy to write you a note (ray as well) to your faculty member to let you out of class to be a part of this effort!


DEVELOPING  2  PROGRAMS:
1. gaming
2. community arts program
also.
this friday 1030: etsy.com, one of those folk are coming

Shuttle Services at the last Student Life Council Meeting

Hey there boys and girls,

In the last SVA Student Life Council Meeting, Rufus Davis and Dave Butkiewicz came to talk about Shuttle Services and Campus Safety.  A lot of students have voiced complaints about both topics, so this may be of interest to a lot of you.  I am posting the meeting minutes sent to me by Karol Martinez and Ashleigh Wilkinson.  

Also, just a heads up, at the first Student Life Council meeting of spring semester, a representative from Parkhurst Dining Services will be coming to speak.  Before the spring semester starts, I will be posting a schedule of the meetings for both the Student Life Council and the Academic Affairs Council, so make sure you check back.  I will also try to post little notes about the subject matter of each meeting.

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SVA Student Life Meeting Minutes

November 14, 2008

12:05 Meeting is started - 

Introduction of officers, Dusty Porter, and Karol Martinez 

Quick welcome and explanation of SVA Student Life

12:10 Katie McNiff from Student Activities speaks about a proposed Recreation Fee-

-Katie handed out a sheet which explained the proposed fee ($55 per semester added to tuition) that would be used to give MICA students:

a. access to UB fitness facility 

b. a full-time Wellness Coordinator at MICA

c. programming from the Wellness Coordinator 

d. a larger and more varied offering of instruction

e. expanded hours at the MICA fitness center

f. funds to travel to regional art schools for weekend sports tournaments

g. annual ski/ snowboarding trip

h. increased funding for sports and recreation based clubs

i. transportation to recreation related activities 

-Katie mentioned that MICA’s small facilities are not serving all students as well as it could be and that this fee would be a major step in making health, wellness, and recreation a priority at MICA

12:14 Brief discussion about proposed Recreation Fee

-Most students in attendance felt the recreation fee would be a good idea commenting that it was time for MICA to catch up and give students more access to health/wellness and recreation 

-There were a few students who said that they would want to know more about how the funds were being allotted before deciding what there opinion was on the matter

-Katie can be reached at  HYPERLINK "mailto:kmcniff@mica.edu" kmcniff@mica.edu

12:17 Christina Holmes gave an update from the Budget Committee-

-Christina is one of the two undergrad representatives on the committee

-She reported that the first meeting was a reflection on the past year and that the next meeting would be more about the future

12:20 Guest speakers Rufus Davis and Dave Butkiewicz from Transportation and Safety

-Rufus Davis, the Manager of Contract Services and Fleet Management, introduces himself and speaks about shuttle service at MICA and the need for student feedback in improving the shuttle system

-Also talked about the need for parking at MICA and the ways in which MICA is trying to find creative solutions to the lack of parking

-New EZ pass meters added to Mount Royal in an effort to create short term parking for those visiting MICA but takes away space for commuters

-Brief discussion about whether the shuttle should run on a schedule without any consensus being reached

-Student concern about the shuttle policy of not dropping off students at known parties and how this could affect students in the area trying to get home and not to the party. This policy is no longer in effect.

-Dave Butkiewicz, the Acting director of Campus Safety, introduced himself and answered student questions including a question about the crime communication policy

-Bike safety was also talked about including the suggestion from students for either enclose bike storage or provide better lighting near bike racks. 

-A student raised concern over the guest policy in academic buildings and it was decided that Dave would review the policy and see if there was a way to allow some pre-approved guests in buildings after 9pm

-A student requested first aid kits to be available at the desks in residence halls

-Dave responded to a question about how Campus Safety was giving information to students by saying that Campus Safety really needed to work on branding itself in the way many other offices at MICA has done. This would include easier accessibility to information online and possibly through pamphlets and posters.

-Rufus can be contacted at  HYPERLINK "mailto:rdavis@mica.edu" rdavis@mica.edu 

-Information about campus safety can be found at  HYPERLINK "http://www.mica.edu/LIFE/safety/index.cfm" http://www.mica.edu/LIFE/safety/index.cfm

12:50 SVA and Club Announcements

The next SVA Student Life meeting will be held on January 30, 2009

Outdoor Club- upcoming camping trip at Gunpowder Falls

MIQA- Transgender Day of Remembrance, Anti-Proposition 8 Protest

Playwriting Club- bi-yearly performances on the 21^st and 22nd

  NAEA-Craft making night

Viking Club has upcoming Super Smash Brothers Tournament

Experimental Fashion Show

Anime Club- Old-school anime night

International Education Week starting Monday Nov. 17

12:55 Meeting Adjourned