[Bgsa] Important News from the Faculty Meeting

[Matthew Wolak]

Dear fellow graduate students,

This is an *URGENT MESSAGE*: please take the 5 minutes needed to read this
and respond to the questions at the end.

 This past Tuesday, I represented the EEOB graduate students at the Biology
Department faculty meeting. The College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences
(CNAS) dean, Dean Baldwin, was there to talk to the faculty about the budget
cuts for UCR and the ramifications/responsibilities of CNAS and in
particular the Biology Department. I will be brief and give you the
take-home message from the meeting. The budget “chopping block” contains
graduate students, specifically TA related matters, and that seems to be
about it. The good news is that throughout the tense discourse about the
budget (all seeming to be directly affecting graduate students), our faculty
(i.e., our own advisors) constantly took turns to stand up for us. The
faculty clearly stated to Dean Baldwin that he *could not* do this to the
graduate students of this college.

Therefore, we need to make it known how graduate students are directly
aligned with the major goals of this University (research and teaching) and
that any cuts which diminish the resource pool graduate students need to
complete our degrees (i.e., TA positions) would adversely affect the
research and teaching goals of this university. The URGENCY is that these
decisions will be made any day now. I am drafting a letter which will state
our case and argue for the continued support of graduate students in this
college (CNAS). I will send it out for comments shortly. To “prove our
worth” in a constructive way and show that we seek every means possible to
do our work, I would like each of you to reply to this message and fill out
the following 6 pieces of information *ASAP*:

 *Fellowships received and the amount of time each supported you (in
quarters):*

 *GSR positions and the amount of time they supported you (in quarters):*

 *Number of quarters you have been a TA while at UCR:*

 *Any grants you have applied for that would either bring in money to the
university (e.g., if you “co-wrote” a grant with your PI) or support your
time as a graduate student (e.g., fellowship):*

 *Any grants you received (as a “co-PI” with your advisor) and the amount of
money brought in:*

 *Comments regarding the importance of TA-ships in fulfilling your career
goals (e.g., allows me to do research towards a dissertation, improves my
teaching skills, provides a way to connect with undergraduates and get them
to work in my lab, etc.):*

I thank you in advance for your timely and speedy reply. Let me know if you
have any further suggestions.

Matthew


Matthew Wolak
Ph.D. Candidate Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology Program
Department of Biology
University of California Riverside
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