Friday, October 19, 2007

PDF library in action

With thanks to Associate Member (and Staff Advisor) Darin Buri, we now have a computer in the Sigma Gamma Epsilon office on which we can store the PDF library! It's much faster than the old machine.

Dump your PDFs in the folder on the desktop (preferably renamed and organized according to the style in the Readme file), and scoop up some references that you didn't have before. This is a long-term project that we hope people will use, both by contributing PDFs they have scanned, and by using the references we already have.

UPDATE 28 November: We now have 596 files in the PDF library!

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

North Dakota Academy of Science

2008 North Dakota Academy of Science Annual Meeting (#100!)
Thursday, April 24th at UND - Present your senior project or research, and you don't have to travel!

If you are interested in presenting but aren't sure, talk to any of the current SGE members--we can help. This is an excellent way to get your foot in the door at a professional society, meet some people, and show off your hard work.


Becoming a member is $10 for students and required to present.

More details can be found at http://www.ndacadsci.org/

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Minutes 10 October 2007

Important: Next meeting is tomorrow, October 17th at noon.

These aren't a full set of minutes, but here are the things that were discussed at the last meeting:

In attendance: Matt Belobraydic (P), Lucas Buckingham (VP), Tanya Justham (T), Matt Burton-Kelly (S), Marron Bingle (student member), Ryan Whittaker (student member) and Joseph Hartman (faculty advisor).

Matt Belobraydic presented the idea of a geoscience-oriented job workshop to the group. This has already been presented and approved with recommendations from the Geology and Geological Engineering faculty. We need to give them an outline of what we are planning. This workshop would be put on before the next career fair on a weekend or evening, depending on what works for students and alumni/UND staff presenters.
  • Feedback: What area of the geosciences would you like this workshop to focus on?
  • Committee to contact: Job Workshop committee, headed by Matt Belobraydic.

"The Beta Zeta" newsletter. Submissions need to be in so we have enough time to be able to distribute on November 1st and December 1st. The latter should be funded by BOSP, so we can have four full pages of text and color photographs and artwork. Submit writing and photos to Matt Belobraydic.
  • Feedback: Who is are target audience for this newsletter? Is it just for us, is it for recruiting outside the department, inside the department?
  • Committee: Newsletter committee, headed by Matt Belobraydic.

Initiation. We now have two years worth of members that need to be initiated. This should be an excuse for a party or other get-together with appropriate initiation rites. Nothing has yet been done on this.
  • Feedback: What should we do for initiation? Should we do it traditionally, or make up our own rites of passage into SGE? Where will this happen?
  • Committee: Initiation committee, headed by Lucas Buckingham.


Treasurer's Report:
  • BOSP should go through, giving us the ability to print 300 copies of a 4-page full-color newsletter once a month for the rest of the year.
  • SAC funding for travel of some members to GSA in Denver was less than anticipated.
  • The scholarship fund has been rolled into a CD, which will make the organization more money per year than before.
  • Feedback: What other fundraising ideas do we have? More importantly, what do we want to spend the money on that we already have?
  • Contact: Tanya Justham.

Winter Banquet. Need a venue, need something fun to do. Various ideas have been tossed around, some of them super-secret.
  • Feedback: What should we do for a winter banquet? How can we make it fun?
  • Committee: Winter Banquet committee, headed by Marron Bingle.

Undergraduate recruitment. We are sorely lacking in undergraduate members at the moment, which means that elections in December are likely to be problematic. Therefore, we need to start hassling more people inside and outside the department to join up with Beta Zeta chapter. To be elected officer, you need to be a member and intend to be around for at least a year after you are elected. Some members volunteered to focus on certain areas of recruitment.
  • Feedback: How do we recruit more members?
  • Committee: Headed by the execs right now, but could be organized by a member as well.





Questions and comments can be asked anytime of the executive committee by emailing betazetasge@gmail.com.


[posted by MBK]