Projects

Each major project will be described and tracked here for easy reference and accountability. It will be revisited at each CSGSA meeting and regularly updated.

Open Projects

Project Accountability

Purpose: We need to track major initiatives to maintain momentum, stay organized, and keep accountability with ourselves and department administration.

Current Solution: Ideas are tracked in CSGSA minutes but are easily lost in other announcements and smaller projects. There is no current method of major topics brought up during Town Hall, for example.

Proposed Solution: Create a central site where projects are described and tracked. It will be regularly visited and updated with next steps.

Next Action Item: Present this page to the CSGSA for feedback. If viewed favorably, update transition and agenda documents to discuss new workflows.

Main Contact: CSGSA Chair

History:

  • 01 November 2021: Discussed how to improve accountability for issues brought up during Town Hall. Proposed setting a follow-up agenda for the next meeting during the current meeting. This is a broader discussion on how to most effectively solicit student feedback, which depends on awareness. Possibly improve visibility during orientation.
  • 25 October 2021: Page is now publicly posted on this website menu. Will continue to update projects on a weekly basis and incorporate into workflows.
  • 18 October 2021: Presented this page to CSGSA meeting, met with positive feedback. Discussed setting up an archive page to hold previous projects.
  • 04 October 2021: Lack of documentation following Town Halls was discussed in today’s meeting. Emily created initial draft of this tracking page.

TAs with Difficult Students

Purpose: TAs may face difficult students who become hostile and may submit excessively negative reviews during FCQs. There needs to be a documented pipeline for working with difficult students and supporting TAs.

Current Solution: These situations are not handled in a systematic way, often depending on instructional faculty’s preferences in intervention.

Proposed Solution: Create a short, concrete description of steps to take and who to contact. We suggest a progression from individual discussions with student, instructor intervention, and escalation to the department chair and associate chairs of (under)graduate education.

Next Action Item: Revisit at end of the semester to see what progress Lead TAs have made.

Main Contact: CS Lead TAs

History:

  • 18 October 2021: Lead TAs started discussion at montly TA meeting. CSGSA will check in periodically but is no longer leading the project.
  • 04 October 2021: Decided to delegate to Lead TAs.
  • Early Fall 2021: Problem presented to Graduate Committee, working out best group to take responsibility.
  • Spring 2021 Town Hall: Problem initially presented to department administration.

CPT Internships

Purpose: New federal rules imposed restrictions on international student internships. We now need a course students can enroll in to correspond to an internship.

Current Solution: No course existed at the outset. There is now a 3-credit course available.

Proposed Solution: Adjust the current course so it can be taken for a variable number of credits so students can control their tuition and fees for the summer.

Next Action Item: Follow up with Graduate Committee on course updates.

Main Contact: Graduate Committee representatives

History:

  • 08 November 2021: Graduate Committee sent a survey getting feedback from students about possible PMP waiver. Clarification that all MS tracks can take the internship class, we are debating whether it can be used to substitute a different class.
  • 01 November 2021: Graduate Committee is considering waiving PMP requirement for students with work experience who have taken the internship class. Committee representatives have sent out a survey to students to get their feedback on the proposal.
  • Spring 2021: Majority of work on this project completed before tracking began.

Completed Projects