SASI

This will likely be my last post as Co-Director, President of SASI, and I wanted to thank all of you for making SASI such a great organization. You’ve accomplished so much this year, and all deserve a round of applause!

As graduation approached this spring, I realized there was a whole new set of information I had to parse… and so I thought I’d do an update to SASI’s FAQ Page to include all the info I’ve learned about the process of graduation. Basically, I’ve asked all the stupid questions so you don’t have to!

iSchool Graduation FAQ (also, check out the iSchool’s checklist…)

• Early in the spring semester, you should fill out the Masters Graduation Application form that indicates your intention to graduate this semester. You can fill it out online before the end of March with just a few clicks…but after the deadline, you’ll have to fill out the paper version.
• At the end of the semester, you’ll need to fill out the Masters Degree Certification form. This form is in a downloadable PDF format that you can type in to fill out the blanks. All you need to fill out on this form is your personal information, and the course numbers & unique ID’s for every class you’re enrolled in this semester. Once those are filled out, drop the form off with Carol Carreon in the iSchool office. She’ll audit the form and then have the Graduate Advisor sign it. Once it’s filled out, she’ll email you to let you know it’s ready to pick up (usually by the end of the day). Then you pick up the form and walk it over to the Main (Tower) building. If you’re entering from the 21st Street Side of the building, walk up the small flight of stairs and enter the doors in the middle of the building. Turn to your right and walk down to the end of the hall, and you’ll be at the Graduate School office. If you’re doing a capstone, all you need to do is drop your form off with the receptionist (you will NOT need to meet with a degree evaluator, because you’re not turning in a thesis or report). Now you’re all done!
• A capstone is *not* the same as a thesis or report. If you choose the capstone option, you will not have to present a formatted document to the Graduate School (as you would with a thesis or report).
• There are three graduation ceremonies at UT which you can attend:
  • The University-wide graduation ceremony (all the graduates from undergraduate and graduate degree programs -VERY large and involves fireworks, formal…everyone will)
  • The Graduate School graduation ceremony (all the graduates from all the graduate programs - medium sized, formal… everyone will be wearing regalia)
  • The iSchool Graduation Ceremony (only the iSchool… likely 30-40 graduates…informal, some will wear regalia, some will not. There will likely be bagpipes, and a reception following… you will need to RSVP to Carol for this ceremony [she will ask in mid-April])
• Poster printing for the Capstone Poster Session can be done at the DIIA Media Lab inside the graduate school of business (across 21st street from PCL). Here’s what you need to know:
  • Create your poster in PowerPoint. Before you add anything to your poster, change the dimensions (page setup) to 20″ x 30″…the size for Capstone posters. Attend a Lab session to learn more about creating your poster.
  • 2-3 weeks before the Poster Session date, call the DIIA lab and make an appointment to print your poster. They’ll block off an hour of time for you to use it. As of this writing, the printing costs are $3 per linear foot for matte paper, and $6 per linear foot for glossy. If glossy paper isn’t already on the printer, they’ll charge you $4 to load it. They also charge you for 22″ of printing to account for cutting. Matte is less durable than glossy (lighter weight paper), but you won’t have to worry about shine. You can pay with EITHER Bevo Bucks OR your UFCU account.
  • On the day of your appointment, put your poster on Webspace, or on a USB drive and walk over to the Graduate School of Business. The Media Lab is on the first floor on the left side of the building (look at the map…it’s a confusing building).
  • When you enter the lab, you’ll need to sign in to the computer at the front desk saying you’ve arrived for your appointment. A lab tech will then set you up at a computer in the lab and have let you open up your poster and make any adjustments. Once you’re ready, they’ll check the dimensions and then print it for you. It takes about 15-20 minutes to print a 20″ poster (the paper is 40″ wide, so that covers your 30″ side)
  • Now, you’ll need to mount your poster on foam-core board. Here are your options:
    • DIY: Buy foam core board ($3) and re-positionable spray adhesive ($18). In a well ventilated area (preferably outside on a non-windy day) spray a THICK layer of adhesive over the foam board and then lay your poster on top, being sure to line up the corners and press out any bubbles. Posters have been known to bubble up after sitting around, so you may want to consider weighting the poster down for 24 hours until it’s completely dry. Be careful not to get the glue on the poster surface as it will not be removable (and could damage the surface).  There are also reportedly peel-and-stick posterboards that you can buy for under $10 at craft stores.
    • Call in the professionals: Take your printed poster to Kinkos and ask them to mount it on a board for you. This takes the risk of error out of the equation, and costs about $27. You drop it off with them and they’ll trim it and mount it for you. At the busiest time of the season (last week of classes) turnaround time is about 6 hours.
• Capstone Evaluation: Don’t forget to have your field supervisor fill out the evaluation form. You’ll also need to fill out a student evaluation form as well (same page)

Did you encounter a hurdle not mentioned here? Let me know in a comment so I can add it to the FAQ!

Last night was the longest senate meeting to date, but fear not! The report is short and sweet (and important).

First: If you’re interested in a pretty unique summer opportunity, check out the Breakthrough Program (http://breakthroughcollaborative.org/). It’s a program for people to work with low income middle school students in order to put them on the path toward college. The program allows people to teach two core courses (Math, Science, English, etc.) and one elective of one’s own design (art, music, crafts). There’s an additional mentorship component. It runs for nine weeks, June 9 - August 8. However, the deadline is March 3 at 6 p.m. So, if you’re interested, hurry. More information can be acquired through Liz Kennedy (elizabeth@breakthroughaustin.org).

Next, Dr. Gracy was recognized as professor of the month. He received a number of nominations from students within the iSchool, and we’re very proud he was honored by the Senate for his work. Congrats again!

Two bills passed last night (Jen and I voted to pass both). These include Resolution 410 that would support maximum transparency regarding plus/minus grading for undergraduates. This would ensure that everyone at the university would receive numerous updates about the progress of plus/minus implementation.

The second Resolution, 405, changes Senate’s positions from Chair and Vice-Chair to President and Vice President. It clears up potential confusion between their roles and the roles of committee chairs.

Finally, Senate elected the new President, Vice President and Financial Director for the next year. The process was long but interesting, and again, we were excited to see just how involved some of these students are in ensuring that Senate continues becoming a valuable presence on campus. All three of the winners of the nominations were our choices.2008-2009 Senate Leadership will be Scott Fulford as President, Lauren Ratliff as Vice-President and Trent Hodgson as financial director. If you are at all interested in their goals, let us know and we can give you the details. These people will be great to have on our side in the next year.

Finally, if YOU are interested in serving on the Senate board or as a chair of a standing committee, let us know. We have applications and information on the positions, which include:

• Policy Director
• Administrative Director
• Communications Director
• Membership Director
• Chair, Faculty Affairs Committee
• Chair, Students for Academic Integrity
• Chair, Recruitment and Retention
• Chair, Curriculum Committee
• Chair, Multimedia and Publicity Committee

Applications are due March 7. We have all the information available, and you do not have to have been a member of Senate this year to be involved.

Tonight’s President’s Council for Senate was short but sweet. We talked briefly about postponing the General Assembly meeting scheduled next week which conflicts with the Obama-Clinton Debates (The GA has been rescheduled for the following week, and Council Meetings scheduled for that night have been cancelled).

Now on to the heart of the meeting: The Obama-Clinton Debate….who gets to go? Here’s what I know as of this moment… I promise to keep you updated:

• The debate will be held at the Rec Sports Center next Thursday. Doors will open at 4 and close at 6. The debate is expected to end around 9 pm
• There are seats for 1500 people. Of those, a block of seats has already been promised to the following:
  • CNN
  • Local media
  • Texas Democrats
  • the LBJ School (who is holding a lottery to select students)
  • UT Administrators
• The rest of the seats will all go to UT Students (50 of whom will be volunteering as ushers)
• The selection process for who will get to go is currently being decided by the Dean of Students Office. We expect to hear early next week how the remaining seats will be distributed amongst the student body.
• A decision must be made before next Tuesday because the Secret Service must have Names/IDs/SSNs from every student who will be attending before Wednesday.
• For all the students who are unable to attend the live debate, Senate will be holding a live debate-watching party somewhere on Campus (yet to be decided). There will be FREE FOOD AND DRINKS and they are currently negotiating with the candidates to get them to stop by the party after the debates are over (around 9-9:30 pm).

Stay tuned… I’ll keep you all updated as soon as I hear anything. And I should have the email shortly where you can send your proposed questions for the debate.

I enjoyed writing the minute-by-minute post for the last meeting so much, I repeated it. However, for brevity’s sake, I’ll summarize the meeting before the cut.

1. SR 409, a bill promoting student involvement in faculty hiring, passes.
2. I handed in our faculty of the month nomination. We had a lot of great nominations, but in the end, multiple people recommended Dr. Gracy.
3. Integrity Week UT is coming up on February 19th through the 22nd. There will be a lot of great programs associated with this third annual event.

I added hyperlinks to anything that had an applicable website, so be sure to explore the different events mentioned below.

Read the rest of this entry »

Want to see the progress of the tag cloud? Here’s the latest version…

academic libraries access access to information acquisitions adult services algorithm amazing analog analysis antelope anti-patriot act application archives archivist artificial intelligence asset assistance audio awesome beer bibliography bibliophile binding bioinformatics bits blogging book arts bookish book lover books bookworm born digital broad broadening your horizons browsing call number cataloging categorical change chat reference children circulation classification classifying code cognitive science collaboration collecting collection development collective knowledge common good communication computer congress conservation constant learning controlled vocabulary cool copyleft copyright corporate libraries creation creativity cultural heritage cultural records customer satisfaction customer service cybrarian data databases data mining democracy design detailed dewey decimal digital digital assets digitalcollections digital divide digital libraries digital preservation digital record disadvantaged populations disc discovery dissemination distance education documents dublin core ead education electronic electronic media emerging ephemera epistemology erudite ether evaluation evidence-based exciting file format film finding stuff format obsolescence for the public good freedom fun future gantt chart geek google guide hci helpful hierarchical hierarchy historical record history history of the book home shooled human centered computing human computer interaction human computer interface human encyclopedia humanistic human search engine hyperlink ia ideas ifo images important indexing informatics information information architect information architecture information gathering information literacy information management information object information policy information professional information retrieval information science information seeking information services information sharing information specialist information specialization information studies information systems information technology information transmission infosci infostud innovation inquisitive instructional technology instructors intellectual intelligent interaction interdisciplinary internet interoperability jobs journals keeper of the book keyword kids know-it-all knowledge knowledge management language laws of library science leadership learning learning2 learning how to find stuff librarian librarianship library library 2.0 library and information science library school library science library studies libratorr libsci life-long learner life-long learning likert scale linguistic literacy logical management manuscript meaning mechanism media media consultant meta-science metadata metadata harvesting microfilm minutiae mls movies msis multimedia museum museum curator music necessary nerd networked society networks new media oclc ontology opac opportunity ordered order v. chaos  organization organization of information pamphlets partnership past patrons people periodical policy posters practice present preservation preservation administrator preserving the cultural record print professional professors program project management publication public good public libraries public service questionnaire ranganathan reader’s advisory reading reading education record record center records management reference reference services repository research resources retrieval rights management scholarship school school libraries school media specialist science searching semantic web serials serious server service  sharing smarter than google social computing social informatics special libraries storage structure student subject survey tagging taxonomy technical technical services technology tested theory totally kick ass people transformative university usability useful user-friendly user centered design user experience users using technology to help someone ux vast video virtual worlds volume web2.0 web design wisdom workflow www xml youth services

created at TagCrowd.com