STUDENT ASSOCIATION MINUTES - JANUARY 2005

Pratt School of Information and Library Science Student Association "SILSSA"

Meeting Minutes

January 20, 2005

Submitted by Kaura Gale, Secretary

SILSSA Officers in Attendance:

President, Aimee MacLagger

Vice President, Terra McLeod

Secretary, Kaura Gale

Treasurer, Michelle Dollinger

Aimee began the meeting at 5:30 p.m. and welcomed the students and introduced Dr. Ayres, VP Students Affairs, special speaker for this meeting who attended to address SILS students’ issues with Pratt.

Dr. Ayres informed the group that there had been a focus group on the Brooklyn campus that some Manhattan students had attended. One outcome of this focus group had been to establish the goal of having a Manhattan campus ‘out post’ for the office of Student Affairs. This will be located on the 2nd floor of the Pratt Manhattan Campus (PMC) and will be staffed  on a scheduled basis. Services will include health and counseling, international students advisement, student activities, athletics, among others. The office will comprise both the information desk, and room 212 for any confidential or extended services. Dr. Ayres also announced that she intends to speak with the Registrar and Bursar (as they are not under her jurisdiction) to see if they will also be able to provide a presence at PMC. She then requested student feedback regarding scheduling times.

President MacLagger expressed gratitude for these upcoming services, including the fact that they will hopefully allow PMC students to no longer need to go to Brooklyn to pay library fines.

One student expressed concerns regarding the long time it takes for students to receive grades; some students require these grades in order to be reimbursed at work for classes. Dr. Ayres noted that webadvisor is not ‘what it should be’ and that there is indeed a consultant being brought in to work on this issue.

Sharon Linder suggested that she will devise a form for students to fill out for reimbursement, thereby flagging the students that need it, and making the process easier and quicker for them.

Karyn Hinkle inquired about Pratt finances, to which Dr. Ayres replied that they are improving including: A balanced budget, an endowment, a strategic plan and low interest bonds.

President MacLagger suggested that there should also be an improvement in Pratt’s customer service, particularly with regard to the PMC financial aid department. Dr. Ayres suggested that the financial aid department should be available at orientation. Dr. Ayers also acknowledged that there is a general problem at Pratt with regard to technology and people, specifically that there are no evaluations and no customer service seminars. Although none of these areas report to her, she did state that she would like to get to the bottom of why this is, and that it is a top priority for her to try to fix it. She stated that she has already seen improvements on the Brooklyn campus, but that such improvements have not yet been felt at PMC. Dr. Ayres promised to come back to a future SILSSA meeting and check in with students at such time.

Dean Giannini suggested that updated technology will help improve the situation in that it will enable people to perform their jobs more efficiently. Dr. Ayres agreed and added that having Student Affairs at PMC will also help in that students won’t need to go to Brooklyn. She added that when students encounter difficulties, they are welcome to contact her office for assistance.

Vinette Thomas noted that students are not given enough information about health insurance, particularly with regard to billing. This lead to a discussion that the insurance is dropped from the student’s bill after add/drop, and that there is an insurance pamphlet that should be sent out to students that explains everything that SILS had not been given. Mai McDonald will work with SILS to get them the information that they need to send to students.

The discussion then turned to the PMC library, which students noted needs more hours, and should include printing capabilities. Dean Gianinni requested that students send her comments about the library via email, as she has a meeting about it next week and will be able to share comments then.

Dr. Ayres closed the meeting by noting that she will publicize the PMC hours for Student Affairs as soon as they are finalized, and that the phone number for Student Affairs is on the back of our ID cards. She thanked everyone for coming and for their input.

Members in Attendance:

1.         Stephanie Rasmussen

2.         Kaura Gale

3.         Kira Appel

4.         Jennifer Poggiali

5.         Jill Luedke

6.         Corrina Moss

7.         Terra McLeod

8.         Aimee C. MacLagger

9.         Helen Matusow-Ayres

10.         Mai McDonald

11.         Tula Giannini

12.         Sharon Linder

13.         Karyn Hinkle

14.         Alexandra Nader

15.         Craig Andersen

16.         Liorah Golomb

17.         Vinette Thomas

18.         Andrea Young

19.         Arlene Rapchik

20.         Alexendra Crosier

21.         Victoria Murphy

22.         Justin James Van PoelVoorde

23.         Chole Abercrombie

24.         Corrinne Collett

25.         Cary Shaffer

26.         Michelle Dollinger