The GSS Weekly Newsletter

1.  Family Services ‐ Fabulous University Programs for Students with Children!

• Child Care Subsidy 

• Money (not to be paid back) to help with ongoing child care expenses.  http://www.uiowa.edu/hr/famserv/childcare/index.html#finance

• Free Midterms & Finals Center‐based Child Care

• Child care two weekends before midterms and two weekends before finals. 
  http://www.uiowa.edu/hr/famserv/childcare/index.html#exams

• Back‐up Child Care and Babysitters

• When regular child care falls through, when a child's school closes or to hire a UI student to babysit. Interview the babysitters/back‐up care providers September 30 & October 8.  http://www.uiowa.edu/hr/famserv/childcare/index.html#backup

• 13 On & Nearby Child Care Centers and Community Care Providers

• 13 child care centers located on & near campus.  http://www.uiowa.edu/hr/famserv/childcare/index.html#currentprog
• Community child care resources (319)338‐7684. http://www.uiowa.edu/hr/famserv/childcare/index.html#community
• Child care openings on & near campus.
  http://www.uiowa.edu/hr/famserv/childcare/index.html#partners

• Lactation Rooms On‐campus

• http://www.uiowa.edu/hr/famserv/lactation.html

For assistance, email familyservices@uiowa.edu or call Jane Holland at 335‐1371.

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2. Professional Advancement Grants Committee (PAGs)

The PAGs (Professional Advancement Grants) committee of ECGPS (Executive Council of Graduate and Professional Students) seeks about 25 graduate students to serve as members. 

Responsibilities include:

• Attending an orientation meeting to learn how to score grants.
• Scoring grants. Each semester, three separate grants are offered through PAGs: Research, scholarly presentation travel, professional conference travel (i.e. non‐presenting attendance)
• Typically the scoring is accomplished via email. For the research grants, the committee meets to decide funding. Note this committee was formerly the Scholarly Presentation and Research Grants (SPRG) Committee, but was renamed and reformed with the split of the governments; thus, this is an ECGPS committee solely.

Tentative Deadlines:

• Research and professional development ‐ October 19th.
• Travel ‐ September 24, November 19

For more information, please visit http://ecgps.uiowa.edu/grants. If you would like to serve on one of the grant committees, please e‐mail Donna Lancianese (donna‐lancianese@uiowa.edu) with the nominee's name, email address, and department by Tuesday, 9/8 (5:30PM).

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3. Service Learning/Civic Engagement Opportunity
Applications are welcomed from graduate students for the January 2010 Obermann Graduate Institute on Engagement and the Academy, co‐sponsored by the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies and the Graduate College. This week‐long seminar includes a $500 fellowship for the participants. A Graduate Fellow of the Institute will be coming to the October GSS meeting to talk about the program and answer any questions you may have regarding this opportunity. Application information is available at http://www.uiowa.edu/obermann/gradinstitute/index.html.
Applications and a letter of reference are due October 21, 2009.

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4. Reminder: Sign up for GSS Committees
GSS encourages graduate students to become involved in activities outside of the everyday teaching and graduate work while networking with students from various disciplines across campus. The committees that work hard to provide these opportunities are looking for committee members. Committee information can be found at http://gss.grad.uiowa.edu/committees.

If you are a full senator, you are expected to serve on at least 1 GSS committee (per the GSS Constitution - Article IV: A.3.d). If you did not have a chance to come to the meeting and are interested in joining a committee, please email the committee chair(s) your name and email address. Alternate senators are also encouraged to participate on a GSS committee. 

The committee co‐chair contact information is on the GSS Committees web page.

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5. Important Dates
We will be working to update the website over the next few weeks (including the GSS Calendar of Events at http://gss.grad.uiowa.edu/events). In the mean time, here are some important dates you should mark on your calendars.

Upcoming Committee Meetings:

• Social - September 14 (5:30 PM), T‐Spoons (Corner of Market & Linn)
• Travel Funds - September 30 (Time & Location TBA)

Upcoming All‐Graduate Student Events:

• Fall Picnic - Sunday, September 20 (Time & Location TBA)
• Jakobsen Conference - March 26‐27, 2010 (IMU)

Next GSS General Senate Meeting:

• Wednesday, October 7 @ 5:30 PM (W228CB - location subject to change)