GSAB Meeting Minutes

1. Delegates are needed to volunteer for the Big Event happening on October 18th.
2. Consensus, IT Research Company, has reached out with regard to potential collaboration with the Graduate Studies department. More information on this will be issued in the next meeting.
3. GSAB needs to strategize and work together to become more engaging in raising more funds for the One Day, One KU event.
4. Formal and professional support is needed to assist international students in navigating current immigration laws and pursuing their ambitions
5. GSAB members need to work on updating their online profiles (https://studentsenate.ku.edu/meet-gsab). Students needing assistance can reach out to me through Teams or email, and I can assist them in doing this as soon as possible. 

1. Jin Wang, our new representative in GSAB, was formally welcomed to the team.
2. Chair of the meeting, Graduate Student Body President, updated members of GSAB on the meetings that took place during the week.
   1. JED is currently working on certain initiatives, namely: Be Well and Mantra. JED has formed boards that will meet in February 2026. Matters raised then will be shared with GSAB.
   2. An update of the Consensus meeting was shared. The ideas of collaboration were shared. Issues behind their marketing approach were questioned. Their credibility and compliance with KU AI guidelines were questioned. Further discussions will be had on the same issue.
   3. An update of the Student Senate Executive meeting was shared. Boards were formed during this meeting, and further information will be shared when they start functioning.
3. GSAB members agreed to share their personal professional headshots in the next 24 hours for a revamp of the GSAB online page.
4. Appointment of the GSAB representatives for the School of Architecture & Design, Law School and Professional Studies is underway.
5. Members of GSAB consented on the need for the appointment of the Community senator and International Graduate representatives, who will represent the GSAB in the KU Senate.
6. Concerns about the proposed rule by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to change "Duration of Status" were raised and addressed in the meeting.
7. The meeting was called to an end by the chairperson at 4:49 pm

In Attendance: 
Fredrick Karanja, Dr. Ric Steele, Ana Martines, Shawn Khokher, Jin Wang, Omowunmi Olaleye, Eduardo Suarez, Grahmm Funk
Not In Attendance: 
Rim Chaif, Peyman Jahanbin, Helena Ferreira, Anne Cao, Clement Feyjimi, Kennedy Frost

 

Meeting Information
Date: Wednesday, November 5th 
Time: 4 – 5:00 pm 
Zoom Link: https://kansas.zoom.us/j/87267936115  
Passcode: 2025

 

Meeting Agenda

1. Icebreaker session + Introductions: (10 mins)

• Icebreaker: Would you rather fly or teleport?
• New members:
  • Ana Paula Martinez – School of Education
  • Eduardo Munoz Suarez – International Students’ representative
  • Trenton Bilhimer – School of Law
    
     

2. Updates on Month Events (10 mins)

• KU Senate 4th Cycle Meeting
  • 99% of student organizations bringing up information to Student Senate are undergraduate focused, while very few are graduate student organizations
  • GSAB members are always welcome at Student Senate Meetings -> 5th cycle is happening tonight at 6:30 in Alderson Auditorium in the Union
• Fee Review Training Session
  • KU allows students to deliberate where their student fees go, and this process is consistently contentious
  • The training session will give participants balance sheets and historical information on previous fee review cycles
    • Training upcoming in December
  • Eduardo asked about the process and specifically about SafeRide being removed last year
    • Follow-up: Is it possible to bring SafeRide back to the table?
• Consensus App Training (Nov 21st: 3-4pm)
  • Integrated AI with Google Scholar-type search for references
  • App has a collaboration with the KU libraries
    • KU has a full year contract
    • Training on November 21st from 3-4pm
      
       

3. Elections/Nominations (15 minutes)

• The committees that need occupancy are the following:
  • Academic Computing and Electronic Communications (ACEC)
    • Assigned: Megan Carlson
  • Academic Policies and Procedures (AP&P)
    • Assigned: Jin Wang
  • Athletic Committee
    • Assigned: Fredrick Karanja
  • Calendar Committee
    • Assigned: Grahmm Funk
  • International Affairs (IA)
    • Assigned: Ana Martinez
  • Libraries Committee
    • Assigned: Shawn Khokher
  • Planning and Resources (P&R)
    • Assigned: Eduardo Suarez
• Community Senator
  • A community senator is someone who will represent GSAB within the KU Student Senate (every Wednesday 6:30-9:00pm)
  • Have a graduate student from CLAS interested in being the community senator?
    
     

4. Brainstorming session: (15 minutes)

• KU and Lawrence City partnership
  • Angel, Andrew (SBP), and Fredrick meeting with a mayoral candidate for Lawrence, Kansas
  • Jin suggested Music Therapy
• Coat drive
  • Teaming up with the Office of Graduate Studies
  • Decorated box at OGS in Strong 213 with social media information distribution -> box will be there for 3 weeks
    • Fredrick decorating the box this week
    • Sabbatini Multicultural Resource Center always has a Community Clothing Closet but the need surpassed the supply of coats last year
  • Ana asked for a flyer/an email to forward to our respective schools and departments
• Bi-weekly GSAB Internal meetings
  • Have not been happening this semester
  • Shorter and very focused
• Physical once-a-semester meetup
  • Happy hour or a meal together once a semester
    
     

5. AOB (5 minutes)

Meeting closed at 5:03pm

Meeting Agenda 

Updates on events (25 mins) 

• Consensus App training

1. Fedrick and Grahmm attended the Consensus AI app training in the library
2. It is found helpful to graduate students (e.g., data collection and training other tools)
3. Another AI workshop will take place in February
4. GSAB Reach out to Applied Behavioral Science GSO

• Winter Coat Drive

1. Finished out successfully, the school of architecture has the most donations
2. Also received donations from Kansas unions and the office of graduate studies 

• Sponsorship

1. Consensus offered to fund $150 for the GSAB meet-up event
2. We need to be very careful about how to handle sponsorship and look for funding opportunities from KU
3. Check in with the KU Senate about the mutual account and how funds should be used

• Fee Review Training session

1. Introduction to fee review
2. KU has a student-led committee on fee review
3. $532.50 fee is divided among different departments
4. 12 voting members, with 3 of them from graduate students 
5. Next fee training: Between Jan 20th and Jan 28th 
6. There might be an increase in the student fees

• Updates from Dr. Steele – Matters Policy and University Events

1. Name change of office: Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs (website and social media)
2. Policy change: fewer requirements on conflicts of interest for GTAs
3. Approved policy: graduate students who left KU and come back for another program, their previous academic record (e.g., GPA) will be wiped clean (clean slate policy)
4. AI-related issues: updated AI guidance policy for theses and dissertations 
5. The committee, mentor, and chair should have a meeting on AI
6. Graduate students and their mentors should initiate the conversations
7. University AI Guidelines | Generative Artificial Intelligence 
8. Fellowship: make sure departments receive awards for graduate students who are using the best mentorship practices, using student-centered data
9. The GTA teaching award is under review
10. Will be posted Jan/Feb
11. Self-graduate program
12. Workshop on Jan 13th morning for any graduate students
13. Provost search in progress -There might be a campus presentation from candidates

• Elections/Nominations (5 mins)

1. Step down and new nomination of the School of Journalism representative
2. Working with the Dean about the new nomination right now 

B) Brainstorming session (10 mins) 

• Next year's plans 
• One Day, One KU event
• There will be more communications on this next year
• Videos, testimonials are needed from GSAB to tell people why we need donations
• Please repost the social media and email advertising
• Ideation of an annual interdisciplinary expo in Lawrence
• Looking for small business companies
• Questions on whether GSAB should get involved in this 

C) AOB (5 mins) 

• Meet-up at Merchants Pub & Plate  

In Attendance:   
Fredrick Karanja, Anne Cao, Megan Carlson, Grahmm Funk, Rachel Cisneros, Shawn Khokher, Dr. Ric Steele, Elle Bartlett, Julie Myer, Jin Wang, Abby Scheideman, Omowunmi Olaylaye, Trenton Bilhimer, Yolanda Huggins, Alyssa Crawford 

Meeting Information: 
Date: Wednesday, January 21st    
Time: 4 – 5:00 pm  
Zoom Link: https://kansas.zoom.us/j/87267936115   
Passcode: 2025 

Meeting Agenda: 

1. Introductions & Welcoming new representatives (5-10 mins): 
2. Rachel Cisneros: KU Senate Representative for Domestic Graduate Students 

2. Updates on Committee meetings (5 minutes): 
3. Insurance Advisory Committee (Fredrick in attendance) 
4. Increment of 3% on the premium added in the upcoming fiscal year. 
5. KU administration met today, advocating for an increase in services (e.g. optical and dental) offered in the basic package that most students select. 
6. Dr. Steele added that Morgan from KU admin got the premiums reduced by 6% last year (without an increase in services). Recommendations need to be approved by the Kansas Board of Regents. 
7. KU also has insurance coverage for travel 

3. Events Lined up for Spring 2026 (30 minutes): 
4. Interview of Provost Finalists 
5. Interviews start tomorrow (Thursday, 1/22) 
6. No questions or discussions were brought up from the board 
7. Higher-Ed day 
8. Need-based funding and student access fund are issues being raised by Fredrick (Kansas ranks 38th in need-based funding for higher education) 
9. Fee-Review meetings 
10. Occurs mid-February (https://studentsenate.ku.edu/) 
11. Representatives are Angel, Omowunmi, and Fredrick 
12. Simulation training is on Monday, 1/26, for those individuals 
13. Contentious issues this year will be the re-introduction of SafeRide 
14. Money from SafeRide was partly re-allocated to a new office within LSS 
15. Big XII OTH Conference 
16. Big 12 On the Hill conference is for student leaders across campuses in the Big 12 academic conference to discuss issues on their campuses 
17. Scheduled for February 2026 
18. https://www.stugov.iastate.edu/big-12-hill-conference  
19. Dr. Steele: This conference is not pertaining to sports, but instead we are involved with Big 12 conference schools at every level of the organization 
20. Travel Fund 
21. Graduate Student Travel Fund is another major point for the fee-review meeting and in fundraising efforts  
22. Vice Provost Updates 
23. Application for block grant funding for the Graduate Student Travel Fund is due February 15th  
24. If you have ever received travel funding from the Office of Graduate Studies, write 3-4 sentences on how impactful it was for you and your professional development  
25. 90% of the people who are listening to this are undergraduate students, so make sure that the content is relatable to the undergraduate student experience if possible  
26. Last year, a video was provided with our application (3 minutes or less) talking about the impact of graduate student travel funds on professional development 
27. Hard deadline of 2/20 
28. Office of Graduate Studies can help with this 
29. Office of Graduate Studies hosts Graduate Mentorship Workshops for faculty who mentor graduate students  
30. It has been well received so far 
31. Pushing individual development plans (IDPs)  for all graduate students 
32. Graduate Student Success week is the week of February 9th 
33. Announcement was in GradPaths email this week 
34. Email from the Dean of Journalism and Mass Communication 
35. The University Daily Kansan has an executive board that requires a graduate student selected by Dr. Steele serves on this board 
36. “Reasonable people would ask about the commitment required for this role,” but Dr. Steele can inquire on your behalf 
37. Graduate Student Body President 
38. Fredrick is planning to graduate in May 2026, so we will need to select a new president  
39. Ad Copy is being started right away to ensure a broad search starting mid-February 
40. We want to put the announcement out before people start getting GTA offers 
41. You can apply to be president! 0.5 GA appointment that includes tuition, salary, and benefits 
42. We need to reassemble a search committee -> Email Dr. Steele within the next 48 hours if interested  
43. Professional Development 
44. OGS offers professional development workshops. They typically have high sign-up rates, but a high melt rate of no-shows 
45. E.g. last week there was an AI speaker that garnered 60+ sign ups but only 20 people attended 
46. Qualtrics survey is being sent out for us to fill out and distribute to other graduate students 
47. Internal Matters (5 minutes): 
48. Office succession plans 
49. See above from Dr. Steele on GSBP hiring plan 
50. How to evaluate/garner interest in the vacant GSAB seats from each school? 
51. If you can’t attend a meeting, you are allowed to send a proxy in your place per the GSAB constitution 
52. Fredrick wants to amend the constitution (no specifics yet) 
53. GSAB representative charge document is also not well utilized 
54. Provide at least one agenda item per semester per school  
55. e.g. the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences members must collectively raise one concern per semester  
56. Provide a proxy for each meeting they are unable to attend  
57. It may be a good idea to set up a designated proxy at the time of appointment to the board  
58. Reach out to graduate student organizations within their school (if applicable) at least once per semester per school about concerns  
59. e.g. the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences members must collectively contact the graduate student organizations in their school once per semester  
60. Be actively engaged in GSAB meetings  
61. In-person GSAB meet-up 
62. End of the semester? March? April? May? 
63. Request for a preemptive When2Meet scheduling calendar 
64. GSAB social media accounts 
65. Social media account to reach out to graduate students who are at KU or interested in joining KU 
66. People’s schedules for the bi-weekly meetings? 
67. Messages in the Microsoft Teams to follow up on this issue 
68. AOB (5 minutes): 
69. Closing