(as of June 2022)

Table of Contents:

1. President
2. Vice President
3. Faculty Committees
   • Curriculum Committee
   • Graduate Studies Committee
   • Faculty Committee
   • Admissions Committee
4. Binney Computer Controller
5. Invited Speaker Coordinator
6. Lounge Lizards
7. List/Web Master
8. Graduate Student-Run Committees
   • Colloquium Lunch Committee
   • Graduate Student Seminar (GSS) Committee
   • Professional Development Committee
9. Social Event Committees
   • Recruitment Committee
   • Orientation Committee
   • Fall Picnic Planning Committee
   • Holiday Party Planning Committee
   • Wanton Mechanics Planning Committee
   • Summer Outings Committee
10. GTFF Stewards

Positions with an asterisk (*) require the occupant (or chair member, for social committees) to have passed the Qualifying Exam (in its entirety).

*President: One (1) member

The president basically makes their own job. For example, they can be a liaison between the physics graduate students and the physics department head, helping communicate and resolve issues for the graduate students.

Official duties include:

1. Helping to run the elections.
2. Giving one GSS talk at the end of their tenure (the first GSS of a new year before elections, if appropriate) containing a presentation a-la “State of the Department” to highlight graduate student achievements over the past year. (This could include: graduates, award winners, published papers, etc)
3. Maintaining Society of Physics Graduate Students on Orgsync. Before leaving office, they must replace themselves and former committee heads with newly elected counterparts.
4. Maintaining physgradleaders gmail. Before leaving office, they must replace account backup email with that of newly elected counterpart and pass on the account password.
5. Organizing meetings between grads and department head.

*Vice President: One (1) member

The only official duties are:

1. Running the elections and recording who gets elected to what office. Sending elections summary to graduate student body, Department Head, the Director of Graduate Studies, the Department Programs Assistant and Educations Program Manager.
2. Gathering distribute information/codes relating to ETL from department administrators.
3. Organizing a peer mentoring program for first year graduate students and senior graduate students in a research area of interest to the first year (if possible). The pairs should meet once each term so the first years can gather advice on classes, joining a research group, etc. The Vice President is responsible for matching these pairs.
4. Organizing meetings between grads and department head.

This person is also a second-in-command for the president, and should keep up to date on what’s going on in the department (especially what the president is doing in fulfillment of their office).

Faculty Committees

*Curriculum Committee: Two (2) members (with a possible extra)

Works with the faculty on the curriculum committee, which decides on the undergraduate curriculum. Effectively take, maintain, and use data from Drop-In center and present to Curriculum Committee once a year. Fantastic platform to voice TA problems and sentiments.

*Graduate Studies Committee: Three (3) members

Works with the faculty on the graduate education committee, deciding what classes should be offered/required. May also involve discussions regarding the qualifying exam.

*Faculty Committee: Two (2) members

Sits in on faculty meetings, offering input when requested. Records what happens in the meetings (especially any entertaining faculty outbursts) and reports back to the graduate students. Must inform faculty of their appointment so that the faculty knows who to invite.

*Admissions Committee: Three (3) members

Only works during the few weeks that new graduate student applications are being reviewed (winter term). Members spend several hours per week reviewing applications, and have some input over who gets admitted during weekly meetings. These meetings typically last a few hours. This is a time-intensive position.

The Graduate Student Body suggests that at least one of the member-representatives be of an underrepresented minority.

Binney Computer Controller: One (1) member

Deals with all things pertaining to the computers in the Binney Lounge. Includes maintenance, replacement, and removal.

Invited Speaker Coordinator: One (1) member

Also known as the Minister of Propaganda.

The graduate students get to invite a few speakers for the colloquia. This person is in charge of soliciting input on who to invite from the graduate students, making the selection, and notifying the department of that selection.

Lounge Lizards: Two (2) members

This office was formerly known as Lounge Lord, but the name changed when the duties changed.

Arranges to have the lounge and refrigerator cleaned up when needed, and talks with the office staff about procuring new swag for the lounge. Takes cardboard to the bins behind Willamette when it starts to pile up by the door.

List/Web Master: One (1) member

Maintains physgradlist, the email list for the physics graduate students. This involves list configuration and maintenance, adding/removing new members, moderating (if desired), and handling bounced messages. Responsible for seeking out new member addresses for adding to the list. Also responsible for managing the graduate student webpage (blogs.uoregon.edu/physgrad), including updating officer/committee lists after elections and allowing other physics graduate students access to edit/post pages.

Graduate Student-Run Committees

Colloquium Lunch Committee: One (1) chair, three (3) total members

Arranges the lunches with colloquium speakers. The faculty usually arrange for the speaker to have lunch with graduate students, but it doesn’t hurt to check. This committee makes sure a room is reserved for the event, sets the room up beforehand if necessary, cleans up afterwards, makes sure the speaker gets on to the next meeting in a timely fashion, advertises the lunch (sends out an email beforehand), and is responsible for food (typically ordering pizza and buying drinks beforehand), cups, plates, etc. Food may be billed to a personal credit card, and the department will reimburse afterwards.

Finally, during the lunch, the committee members are expected to greet the speaker, show them their seat, and make sure they get pizza, drinks, and in general know the flow of things. The committee members should also have a few questions prepared in case the conversation lags. These do not need to be directed at the speaker, but may be directed at the graduate students as well.

Graduate Student Seminar (GSS) Committee: One (1) chair, three (3) total members

Schedules and runs the GSS. Responsible for getting speakers, reserving a room and time, advertising (email, posters, and running the webpage), and room setup/cleanup. This includes getting snacks, for which the department will reimburse you.

The committee is recommended to reserve the room for an hour and a half, as sometimes the GSS runs overtime.

Professional Development Committee: Two (2) to four (4) members

Works with Bryan Boggs and the Graduate Internship Program to coordinate professional development activities for physics graduate students. Gathers and maintains data of graduates recording graduation date, intended career, etc.

Social Event Committees

*Recruitment Committee: One (1) chair, many members

Works with the faculty recruiting committee to plan and run the recruiting weekend in the spring. Involves a few planning meetings before the event, and typically takes a lot of work during the actual weekend, ferrying prospective students around, talking to them, and making sure things run smoothly and that they have fun. Members get a lot of free food and drinks. All members will be expected to get certified to drive a van, with rare exceptions. Chair must have passed the qualifying and have been on this committee for at least one other time.

*Orientation Committee: One (1) chair, four (4) to six (6) total members

Works with the faculty orientation coordinator, grad programs coordinator and graduate advisor beginning Spring term. Plans and administers the training activities for summer undergraduate TAs. Plans and administers the teaching-related and grad-life related portions of the first year orientation. Gauges the effectiveness of the training via surveys and feedback sessions. After orientation, members of this committee act as a resource for incoming physics GTFs. May recruit additional volunteers for orientation training sessions as necessary.

*Fall Picnic Planning Committee: One (1) chair, many members

Plans the annual Fall Picnic held at the beginning of the next fall term (ex: The committee established in Fall 2017 will plan the 2018 Fall Picnic).

*Holiday Party Planning Committee: One (1) chair, many members

Plans the annual Holiday Party held at the end of fall term. Must obtain Space Invaders wristbands.

*Wanton Mechanics Planning Committee: One (1) chair, many members

Plan the annual physics department anti-talent show held near the beginning of spring term, usually after the qualifiers are taken but before the results are in. Need to reserve the space (usually Gehrlinger Hall) early.

The committee usually puts on at least one of the acts.

Summer Outings Committee: One (1) chair, many members

Plans at least one social outing for graduate students, faculty, and others involved with the physics department during the summer.

 

 

GTFF Stewards: Up to 10% of physics graduate student population

These are physics graduate students selected to represent the physics department in the graduate students’ union.