INTEGRATIVE BIOLOGY
GRADUATE STUDENT ASSOCIATION
COMMITTEES
Many ways to get involved
IBGSA has a diverse range of committees, each with a mission to help meet the goals of our Association, both internally and in the community at large.
Becoming involved is a great way to pursue your interests, develop new skills, and have exciting experiences. Follow the links or scroll to read more about each committee:
Outreach
The outreach committee strives to promote graduate student participation in community outreach. More specifically, we aim to connect undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, alumni, and the community through both on and off campus events and through the IB twitter account. Committee members have regularly participated in the Office of Pre-college Programs annual Winter Wonderings, and Outside the Box events, where graduate students present relevant and interesting science to elementary students. We have also proudly organized an open house event to display research and teaching in the department to parents and the general public. Committee members also play an important role in informing the public and online audience about departmental research and teaching accomplishments via our twitter account. Although the committee is composed of graduate students, we work regularly with a faculty advisor as well as the undergraduate life sciences club to organize annual events.
Social
The Social Committee’s mission is to promote cohesion in the graduate student community through events geared solely for graduate students. The social committee has two main goals: 1) to welcome the incoming graduate students and help them assimilate into the IB department, OSU, and Corvallis, and 2) to provide opportunities for IB students whose fields might be disparate to meet others in the IB graduate community and potentially promote cross-discipline work. To achieve these goals, members of this committee organize several types of activities during the school year, including picnic BBQs, movie nights, intramural sports, and informal professional development discussions. We are always looking for new ways to connect students in our department and to make sure each student’s experience in IB is enjoyable. If you have new ideas for ways to improve the Social Committee or fun activities for grad students, please let us know. Even better, join the Social Committee!
Seminar
The seminar committee is responsible for representing graduate student interests in the seminar series and generally consists of 3-4 graduate students. The head of the graduate student seminar committee will meet with the faculty seminar committee to represent graduate student interests in the scheduling and managing of the departmental seminar. Other graduate students on this committee are expected to make suggestions of seminar speakers with varying research topics and/or professional careers. They will also have the opportunity to contact and network with seminar speakers during scheduling of his or her seminar, faculty meetings, and visit to OSU. Finally, graduate students on the seminar committee have the all-important task of taking the coffee cart to and from the seminar each week and will manage a spreadsheet to schedule who is responsible for the cart each week. This committee is a fun opportunity for anyone who wants to network with professors, postdocs, and professionals within and outside of OSU, as well as help give direction to the departmental seminar for the upcoming academic year.
Biological Graduate Student Symposium
The Biological Graduate Student Symposium is a conference in Newport that happens in the winter term organized by a group of usually 6-8 IB graduate students for students in life sciences from around OSU. We encourage student presentations from all over campus, and faculty are not invited in an effort to make it low-stakes. There are several positions within the committee including: president, treasurer, t-shirt, donations, food, keynote speaker, website, promoting, and abstract book. A major perk of this committee is that it allows you to interact with other grads that you might not know well. Committee meetings often include food or snacks, the committee is treated to dinner at the end of the term, and we get to have a lot of input in how we would like the conference to go. After all it’s a conference for grad students organized by grad students, and the most memorable BGSS’s are ones that aren’t like typical meetings. Instead it’s a time for students to talk in a relaxed environment to other grads who might have no idea what they study aside from a few buzzwords.
Invited Speaker
The purpose of the Invited Speaker Committee is to organize the keynote lecture of the Spring seminar series. Unlike other lecturers in departmental seminars, this speaker is chosen by the graduate students, and domestic travel and lodging is covered by the department. The seminar is usually scheduled on a Monday or Friday, so social events can be planned on a weekend day to maximize attendance. The goal of this committee is to maximize graduate student outcomes from this two- to three- day visit. To this end, the Invited Speaker committee will organize social and/or workshop events with the speaker. The time commitment for this committee is relatively low, but begins in early October and runs through April/May. The committee meets 1-2 times per quarter, and the rest of the planning is done through e-mail correspondence.
Recording
The primary responsibility of the Recording Committee is video-recording and archiving thesis defenses by graduate students in the department. The goals in doing so are to establish a legacy of graduate research in Integrative Biology at Oregon State University, provide a resource for current students developing their own research ideas and preparing for defenses, and build a library of teaching materials that can be used to help improve scientific communication skills among the students. Over the past year, we have also started offering live-streaming services for defending graduates. Aside from a few initial hiccups, this has been a resounding success, and a great option for family, friends, and fellow colleagues that are unable to attend the defense in person. Other duties performed by the committee may include recording of seminars or conferences, BGSS for example, or putting together videos that highlight specific events or research occurring in the department, or preparing video content for the website. These duties will be largely up to the interests and skills of the committee members and may be taken in a multitude of different directions. Integrative Biology graduate students are involved in an incredible diversity of research and outreach programs, and we encourage committee members to come up with creative new ways to shine a spotlight on all this exciting and important work. Be a part of the Recording Committee and help to share our stories beyond the Integrative Biology department.
Coffee Club
Coffee club committee takes charge of the organization and setup of a weekly social event within the department, IB Coffee Hour. Occurring during the workday, this event brings graduate students, post-docs, faculty, and other IB staff together over coffee and snacks to unwind and discuss life. This event is a great way for labs to informally introduce visiting researchers and prospective/new graduate students to the department. The committee's duties include coordinating with the IB office to provide coffee as well as implementing a lab treat schedule for each term.
Our current initiatives are:
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Engaging with Integrative Biology faculty and staff EJI committee
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Resource development and dissemination for IB graduate students
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Engaging with OSU offices including Diversity and Cultural Engagement, Office of Institutional Diversity, Social Justice Education Initiative, Inclusive Excellence Initiative, and Coalition of Graduate Employees to locate resources and provide guidance
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Conducting and reporting on regular department climate surveys
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Introductory seminar session for new IB students and office visits for new students
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Spring department seminar
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Annual partnership with College of Earth, Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences (CEOAS) Professional Learning Community to host an invited speaker
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Documenting grievances and issues for problem-solving within the department
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Collaboration with undergraduates within our department and college
EJI
Oregon State University and the College of Sciences, at OSU, have made commitments to diversity, inclusion, and equity. As members of both, Integrative Biology has a responsibility to ensure that all students are respected for the diversity they bring, and that inclusion and equity shape the experiences of all students regardless of race, ethnicity, perspective, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, class, ability, and more. IBGSA’s Equity, Justice, and Inclusion (EJI) committee was formed to engage with people in different roles inside and outside of our community to work towards this common goal. The scope of our committee is broad and evolving, and we work on multiple scales to foster inclusion within our communities.
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