2008-2009 GSA Public Relations Officer

Who plans a social event without playing along? An exciting game of 'Jenga' at the GSA's Game Night, November 2008

The GSA's 2008-2009 Public Relations Officer is Stacey Ellis. A wiki enthusiast with a hand in several different community wikis, I am quite enthusiastic that the GSA has chosen to use this format for our own website. In addition to my duties as the PRO, I am the self-appointed wiki-expert on the Executive Council and would be more than happy to help anyone interested in editing this wiki learn more about it and how it all works. If you're new to wiki editing and need any help, just ask!

I am passionate about grad students having chances to get out from the lab or behind the computer and meet other people. I spent my first two years at UCD organizing social events within the Geography Graduate Group, and the next step seemed to start organizing larger events for the larger grad student population (such as the GSA Barbecue back in September). Check out our weekly Coffee-Bagel-Donut Day for some free food every Friday morning. And our monthly Third Thursday Pizza Night at Woodstock's. There are always social events in the works, so keep an eye on the events board for upcoming opportunities to get out.

None of this would be possible without the help of my assistant Liam. He keeps things going smoothly at CBDD and Pizza Night, allowing me time for the more fun jobs of giving out promotional items like tote bags and coffee mugs, as well as chatting with grad students at the events who may not be aware of what all the GSA is about.

Have a great idea for a future GSA social event? I'd love to hear more about it! I also welcome any suggestions or feedback on any of the other social events that you've attended, since there is always room for improvement. I can be contacted at <gsapro AT ucdavis DOT edu> or via a comment below...

• Coffee-Bagel-Donut Day: Once school started in late September, I began taking care of the CBDD events. With the help of the GSA Assistant PRO, most events have been incredibly popular and have run smoothly. The number of grad students in attendance has varied widely, as has the amount of food consumed. We average about 15 dozen bagels, 15 dozen donuts and hundreds of cups of coffee. Some weeks this is more than enough, other weeks we run out of food by 10:20, seemingly without logic. We have gotten much better about the timing of how much food goes out at which times to try to ensure that it lasts as close to the 11:00 ending time as possible.

  On May 1, 2009, I had someone at the door with a click-counter so I could get a sense of exactly how many grad students were attending. The previous two weeks had been a madhouse, with us running out of food early both weeks, so I was really curious. He logged 282 individuals who came in to CBDD that day. That particular week the flow of people seemed slightly slower than the previous two weeks, so I can estimate that we were easily exceeding 300 people for a few weeks! On average, we probably see between 200-300 people each week, although I do not always have someone able to count for me. Bored on a Friday morning? I'd love to have you help me out and keep track for those two hours. I can't pay you, but I can promise you a free cup of coffee and a bagel or donut of your choice!

  In an effort to cut back on the number of paper cups that wind up in the landfill, I looked into using the GSA's promotional line-item in the budget to purchase a new round of plastic reusable travel mugs to give away at CBDD. We were able to purchase 300 mugs, and they have been very popular. We are currently having a promotion in which anyone who brings in a reusable mug gets a ticket to enter in a weekly drawing. One person each week wins a $5 gift certificate to the UCD Bookstore. This has been a fun way to encourage reusables and cut back on waste. In addition to mugs, we also had a run of canvas tote bags with the GSA logo printed on them. They are also available at the GSA office, and are most often given away at CBDD, but can also be found at some other GSA events.
  

• Third Thursday Pizza Night: These have been consistently popular, although the number of participants has varied quite a lot month to month. I would estimate the best attended event drew somewhere close to 200 people, whereas the least attended probably had only 75. It is an event that happens at a consistent time, which does seem to lend itself to having many regulars who show up every month. I have adjusted the pizza order from last year a few times, trying to find a balance between meat and vegetarian options, as well as trying to get as many pizzas within the budget. Currently, the average order is 25 extra-large pizzas, with a variety including six different types of pizza.

  The "free for all" that many people once associated with pizza night has been turned into a more orderly event. Many people early on in my job as PRO told me they didn't like going to pizza night because you wait forever and often wouldn't get any pizza because the people standing closest to the food would take a large portion and not leave any for others. As soon as another pizza came out, the crowd would rush toward the food, and the chaos would start again. These days, people are asked to line up in an orderly fashion, to ensure that those who arrived on time will be the first to receive food. There is a two-slice limit per trip through the line to ensure that no one takes an unfair share of the food, and everyone who wants food is asked to stand in line. Although not a perfect scheme, it has helped keep things from turning into utter chaos.

• GSA Barbecue: The BBQ was held September 16, 2008 at the Rec Pool Lodge. Hundreds of new and continuing grad students showed up. We served burgers and bratwursts from the campus meat lab as well as veggie burgers, sides and drinks. We had music playing over a PA system. The line for food was long, but most people didn't seem to mind, as it was a chance to chat with those around them and meet new people. I certainly learned many lessons about organizing such a large event that I plan to take forward with me next year if I get reelected, or to pass on to next year's PRO if someone else is elected.

• Game Night: I hosted an evening of board games and desserts on November 12, 2008. About 20 people showed up and played a variety of games including "Life" and "Cranium." I bought pies, cookies and other snacks for the event, and brewed a pot of coffee since the weather was awfully cold that day. The GSA's foosball table also saw a few games that evening. In general, everyone who attended seemed to really enjoy it and it is an event that I would consider holding next year or recommend to the next PRO.

• Wiki Party: On January 21, 2009, I hosted a Wiki Party. When planning for the event, responses were positive, as many people were unsure about the new website and how to use it. I wrote up a document to help those new to editing the wiki find their way through it and brought them along. Unfortunately, it appears the timing for the event was less than ideal, and attendance was very low. A great idea, poorly timed.
  

• Bowling: The recommendation of a bowling event was something that had always received positive feedback, so I decided to give it a try. It was hard to plan for, since I never know how many people will show up at an event, but I booked four lanes at the MU Games Area on April 23, 2009. I made the reservation for two hours, and tried to estimate the amount of snacks that would be necessary for an undetermined group. The turnout was ideal! In all, 32 people showed up throughout the two hours. For the second hour I rented a fifth lane to help make room for everyone who had shown up. Everyone seemed to be having a lot of fun and due to the fact that we only had a few lanes, many people who had come in a group were separated and had to bowl with new people and socialize with them. Any time I can get grad students out and meeting new people, I consider it a success!

• Ice Cream Social: With the arrival of hot weather, I planned an ice cream social for May 26. This will be the final special social event of the year (don't worry, we will still have CBDD and Pizza Night!), and it went really well. We had a table set up in the courtyard out in front of the GSA Office (between the Silo and the South Silo) with ice cream and all the fixings to build your own sundae or rootbeer float. We had much better attendance that I would have expected: 75 people showed up. In fact, more showed up, but we were able to serve 75 of them before the ice cream ran out. Just as I hoped, people decided to hang out and chat with one another, so not only was it free food, but it lived up to its name as a social event. This is definitely something to consider doing in the future, as everyone really enjoyed it.

Lest you think all I do is hang out at social events (ah, how nice that would be!), here are some of the other, non-social things I have been involved with this year...

• SSFAAC: I served as Erica's substitute on the Student Services and Fees Administrative Advisory Committee during fall quarter. Mostly I just attended the meetings and collected the handouts and information for Erica so that she would be prepared when she returned to the committee in winter. The more interesting discussions started after I had finished serving.

• Graduate Coordinators Meeting: I attended and helped out at the fall graduate coordinators meeting in November. We held a discussion with several grad coordinators, trying to connect them with the GSA and what we do.

• Travel Award Judging: I volunteered to help judge the travel award applications in January. This is a great opportunity for anyone to read through other travel award applications and see what a good (and not so good) application looks like, which can help you think about what to write next time you want to apply. I highly recommend it to everyone!

• "Plan Green" Event: Marrah and I attended a "Plan Green" conference on campus in February. It was all about planning events in more environmentally friendly ways. The first half of the day had several large sessions, and the second half had smaller workshops. Marrah and I split up for the second half of the day in order to get twice the information. This should help us with keeping future GSA events "greener."

• National Association of Graduate-Professional Students Western Regional Conference: The NAGPS WRC was held on the UCD campus in early April, and I attended most of the conference. I was on hand to help out where necessary (such as checking in conference registrants) and was able to sit in on the sessions and take part in discussions with students from the other universities. This was a great experience for me, as it gave me perspective on what other GSAs are doing and what other grad students are dealing with.

• Picnic Day 2009: The GSA tabled at Picnic Day in April. Marrah and Malaika braved the sun and heat during the day, but Karinna and I got up bright and early to set up the table. I sat at the table for the first hour or so, and was able to talk to several students who will be starting in the fall and tell them about the GSA and what we do.

• General Wiki Stuff: As mentioned previously, I am the unofficial wiki expert on the EC. I have held several EC "wiki lessons" to help everyone who was not familiar with wiki-editing get comfortable with the process. In addition, I helped get the layout and formatting for Grad Women Thrive in Academia up and going. Admittedly, I did not contribute content to the 'zine, but did offer tech support.
  

StaceyEllis's Statistics

Comments:

Note: You must be logged in to add comments

2009-01-17 13:40:52   From Help with Images: You can embed images from other websites without uploading them to the wiki. Just paste the URL of the image into the page and the image will appear. In general, it's a good idea to upload images directly to the wiki if you want to use them for a long period of time.

Might help you with the google calendar thing. —BrentLaabs