The session included individual, small group and full council discussions of COGS goals and interests for the future. This included writing the resulting answers on large pieces of paper on the walls.

“We really do care what our constituencies want for the future, and we genuinely what to know what the most import things are for the graduate students,” COGS Parliamentarian Shannon Demlow said. “If we have session like this, it gives us specific key points that we can work on.”
In a previous interview, the session’s coordinator John Beck, an associate professor in human resources and labor relations, said a strategy visioning session is a forum where questions, interests and ideas can be brought up.

Many questions and interests brought up in the session concerned research grants, graduate professional student transportation, insurance, visibility, networking, workshops and support for graduate students’ family.

Issues of graduate students having a place to utilize on campus and separation from undergraduates also came up in the meeting. Graduate professional students’ interest in obtaining Chittenden Hall as a graduate and professional student resource center also was mentioned.

“They really care about the future of graduate student life … and the university in general,” Beck said following the session. “(They’ve laid out a strong agenda for the future in terms of things … they can affect.”

Individuals at the meeting will receive a typed-up version of the discussions and ideas to further analyze their interests and goals, Beck told the group. He said once that is done they can really prioritize the group’s interests and lay out when issues will be addressed over a calendar.

“Everything can’t be first,” Beck said. “These are important issues.”

Beck said the list of ideas and interests also will be given to Simon so they can be incorporated in the university’s prioritizing process.

Doctoral student Adam Lovgren said he can’t be sure how much the administration will look at COGS list of priorities but he hopes Simon will listen to some of the ideas discussed at the meeting.

“A lot of these things are things COGS has been working on for a while,” Lovgren said. “This just reinforces what needs to be done.”

Lovgren added the session was especially good for new COGS representatives and he hopes this will incite members of the group to really step up and take the initiative on some of these issues.

He said it is too early to tell whether the exercise will have a positive impact of the future of COGS, but he hopes it will.