The following minutes were unanimously approved as submitted on November 10, 2016.

Opening

The regular meeting of the DTSA was called to order at 3:06 pm on October 4, 2016, in Room 5409 by Jennifer Thompson.

Present

Jennifer Thompson (President), Phoebe Rumsey (1st Vice President), Margit Edwards (Professionalization Representative), Sarah Lucie (Admissions & Awards), Hansol Oh (Secretary-Treasurer), Joseph Paul Hill (Curriculum & Exams Representative), Janet Werther (DSC Program Representative), Jared Pike (Graduate Council and Alumni Engagement Representative)

Absent

Elyse Singer (2nd Vice President), Kalle Westerling (Digital Initiatives Officer)

Approval of Agenda

JPH motions to approve agenda. JP seconds. Agenda was unanimously approved with emendations.

Approval of Minutes

SL motioned to approve the minutes with changes. PR seconds. Minutes unanimously approved with emendations.

Reports

President, Jennifer Thompson

First of all, a few dates for your calendars: On May 11 we will be having a day long student led dance conference and Nov 16 and 17 will be our book sale (the table has been reserved), so do block off some time on those days (we will sign up for shifts closer to the date). We are still working to schedule Booth award date, but that will be in late April or early May.

The beginning of the semester party was a success-thank you to everyone who helped with it.

Dance Conference: The committee includes Phoebey, Eylul, Ryan, Margit, and Janet and we have had several meetings to discuss the logistics of the event, as well as a meeting with Peter. Peter has suggested that we raise $1000 for the event and has offered $300.00 from EO funds. He suggested that we also appeal to the chairs for some of this money and apply for a DSC grant. Now that Booth award has secured funding from chairs, the conference committee will work on that request, and we hope to get a grant application in by the October deadline. We would like to have the Booth Award request in then as well, and I am a bit concerned about submitting potentially competing funding proposals—I would love to hear your thoughts on that.

1st Vice President, Phoebe Rumsey

All things are moving along as planned for the group theater outing. The Cherry Orchard was chosen amongst handful of recommendations and we were able to coincide with the Shanghai theater visit. The outing is scheduled for October 15 at 2 pm at the Roundabout theater—there are 13 Shanghai students and 14 Graduate Center students attending, including new faculty member Erika Lin. Reimbursement has been prompt. Rebecca from the Siegel Center will reimburse the amount for the Shanghai students, once I get all their names from Lotus, the contact for the group.

We had a casual theater outing on September 29 at the Reichenbach Hall. This was a change from karaoke a due to difficulties picking a date/competing with Prelude festival. 10 to 12 people attended the beer hall event, four of which were first your students. They were very enthusiastic and I think it was a great chance to get to know the first year students off-campus.

This event was a last-minute substitute for karaoke. Karaoke has not been shelved, there continues to be interest in karaoke. The ongoing suggestion is we do something closer to Christmas, as a sort of let loose amongst the studying. I have asked those who are very interested to come up with their dates because they were very keen to attend.

2nd Vice President, Elyse Singer

The 2017 Edwin Booth Award will be given to Taylor Mac. Nominations were received from 11 students for nine potential awardees, and the first round of voting resulted in Taylor Mac, Young Jean Lee, and David Henry Hwang receiving the most votes. In the final round of voting, a total of 37 votes were received, which reflects 46% participation of the 83 DTSA members on the list. It was a close race, but Taylor received the most votes in the end. I set up a DTSA SurveyMonkey account for voting, which helped to make it easier to track and for voting to be anonymous. There was an issue with one of the links in my message to the listserv, but I corrected and resent the message and I don’t think that it impacted voting. Taylor verbally accepted the nomination and, in an email later on Friday afternoon, wrote, “Thanks again. What a delight.” We will talk again after the run at St. Ann’s to figure out a date for late April or early May. Once that is set, I will engage volunteers for the planning committee.

Concurrent with the final round of voting, I appealed to Professors Marvin Carlson and David Savran for $500 each in Chair Support. They both responded quickly to say yes (David for $500 and Marvin’s amount was not specified.) This is an increase from last year’s Chair funding for the event.

Secretary-Treasurer, Hansol Oh

Nothing to report.

Admissions and Awards, Sarah Lucie

The Open House for Prospective Students is scheduled for Tuesday, October 25 from 5:30 pm – 7 pm. Speakers will include Peter Eckersall, who will discuss the program, Erika Lin, who will give a short lecture about her work, and a few current students, who are currently TBD. Invitations to the event are being sent out to CUNY programs, as well as a wide range of theatre programs in New York City and the greater New England area. I will be sending out information to the DTSA regarding the event soon with a request to disperse the information to our networks.

Curriculum and Exams, Joseph Paul Hill

We had a Curriculum Committee meeting on September 27 in order to approve the courses for the spring semester. Once course statements have been revised, the listing will be made public. Following the release of the spring semester courses (which were discussed during last semester’s Curriculum meetings), I will revisit our standard Curriculum Survey before asking the DTSA at-large to participate.

The sit-down Language Exam for this semester was scheduled for the Thursday of ASTR. I have asked Peter that the date be changed, and he has agreed.

Professionalization, Margit Edwards

Two professionalization events scheduled for October. One focused on the job market—Preparing your application materials—and the second one I could use your input. It is the “applied pedagogy: reflections from the field session” and I don’t have a specific idea about this session. Any thoughts would be very helpful. It is described as a share out of cutting edge methodologies, which can include technology as well as student centered strategies, hybrid courses, etc.

Professionalization Committee currently scheduling a planning meeting for Spring semester. Perhaps we could discuss as part of new business. IRB suggested event.

Also, fyi, for future events: I just filled up on snacks at the new Trader Joe’s on 33rd and 2nd Ave! More bang for your DTSA buck and it hasn’t been fully discovered yet, so the lines are manageable.

Digital Initiatives Officer, Kalle Westerling

Nothing to report.

DSC Program Representative, Janet Werther

DSC funds:

  • Fall program allocation from DSC: $310.00 (based on enrollment)
  • No DSC $ for booze.
  • Max DSC grants: $650 (down $100 from last year); they’re going fast!!

Only one person replied to my inquiry re: International Students; sourcing thoughts on moving forward.

Lynette (and Peter?) have asked for DSC bulletin board space back from the DSC; before asking DSC leadership, I’d like to solicit DTSA perspectives

#blacklivesmatter Teach-In?

Graduate Council and Alumni Engagement Representative, Jared Pike

Nothing to report.

Old Business

Book sale

November 16 and 17 – sign-up will be at the end of the month

Spring professionalization calendar (ME)

Not to overlap with office of career developing or teaching and learning center programs

Event suggestions:

  • IRB
  • Level I–geared events in Fall
  • Off-campus faculty: a meeting with them like we do with the visiting scholars; students who work with an off-campus faculty can introduce them
  • It would be great if we could talk about how to present as well.
  • Applied pedagogy: How do we incorporate Black Lives Matter in classroom?
DTSA handbook update

Wait until after Janet’s meeting with international students and revise it by the end of this year.

Dance Conference: “Approaching Dance”

Erika as faculty member for the conference at Segal Center

Scheduled on May 11: help will be needed

The conference should not overlap with Booth Award.

Adjournment

JW motioned to adjourn, ME seconded.

JPH adjourned the meeting at 4:40 pm.