About Us

HGSA is a graduate student-run organization whose purpose is to be the voice of history graduate students in departmental and university-wide affairs, and to promote social interaction among graduate students.

Please click here to learn more about our officers.

 

     

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I. Agenda approved.

II. Minutes from the last meeting will be approved later, as no copy is available now.

III. Announcements
There will be a Highway 217 meeting on Thursday, January 16, 2003. 12 - 2 p.m. in UCEN State Street Room.

IV. Information Items
• The University Librarian will visit the February GSA meeting. Send questions to president@gsa.ucsb.edu
• Fee Increase - $150 per quarter effective in Spring 2003
• GSA needs committee representatives - you get paid - see their web site for info. IV-PAC in particular.
• GSHIP: Possible benefit increases and proposed reductions: see Appendix I. • Key Point: Costs going up, so for same cost must cut service.

V. Discussion and Action Items
A. Proposed Resolution for Network (Ethernet) Connections in TA Offices: J. Kelly
LSIT charges $11 per machine per year.
The Department may not have a router that will support all of the machines.
Once this obstacle is resolved, the question of who will pay LSIT the fee remains.
Prof. Lindeman, the Computer Committee Chair, asked Jason to prepare a proposal to pass on to the faculty and administration.
Black Market IP addresses will be a back-up option ;o)
*** Subsequent to this meeting, the department did grant graduate students this opportunity. Good job Jason.
B. Highway 217 Issue: Should HGSA take a position? (See Appendix II for details).
This is a critical issue for campus commuters. Please plan to attend the next meeting and help us determine if HGSA should take a specific position.
** This point was tabled until the next meeting because we lack a quorum. Please attend next time to help HGSA decide if we should take a position, and if so what that position should be.

C. Proposed Arts & Lectures Fee Initiative:
Would be $2 per graduate student per quarter for four years, if GSA agrees to put it on the Spring ballot. What would you all feel about this fee? GSA has asked our representatives to report at the next meeting. Those present at the meeting expressed favor for this idea. We will need to discuss this further.
D. HGSA/History Department T-shirts: D. Torres-Rouff
After a thorough investigation, T-shirts will be economically viable. See separate email announce procedures to initiate first T-shirt contest. The hope is to sell enough shirts on pre-sale to run the order, if not the money will be fronted (probably by D. Torres-Rouff with assistance from any HGSA funds duly directed to the project).

VI. Committee Officer Reports:
A. Graduate Studies Committee (David Torres-Rouff)
The fall meeting covered an array of critical issues, most of which related to broad changes in the graduate program instituted by the faculty at the Spring, 2002 retreat.
• The abolition of the MA Exam
• Restructuring of 202 and possibly 292
• The institution of a Ph.D. Defense
• Changes in the research seminar requirement

None of this was very straightforward, and most of these issues are still on the table. The committee has asked me to be a channel for broad graduate student input. Here is your chance to shape your own program, and influence it to your considered preference. See Appendix III for details, and please email me with any input at dsr1@umail.ucsb.edu

B. Academic Planning Committee Report (Peter Quimby)
I'm the grad rep on the Academic Planning committee. I have a progress report on that. The committee has received proposals from department members for future hires in the department. It has drafted a proposed 3-year plan for hiring which it will present to the faculty this week (I think, I will check) for possible revision and approval. It will then be forwarded to the department chair, who will present it to the dean for approval. In the committee's deliberations I presented a tally of the responses I got from grads by email for their desired hires, which I think were in general in line with the committee's perspective. I can relay the final form of the proposed list of hires to the grads after it is approved by the faculty.

The tally of suggested positions in the grad responses included 6 supporting a South Asia position, 5 for a U.S. West/Borderlands position, and 18 other proposed positions with one supporter each, mainly in European and Asian history.

VII. Meeting Adjourned

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Appendix I: Proposed GSHIP changes for 2003-2004 plan; history of plan changes

(The GSHIP Committee plans to get prices for these proposed plan changes from bidding insurance companies. The Committee will then present some of these changes to the GSA Assembly).

NOTE: The GSHIP Committee would like to increase premiums no more than 10% this year.

Proposed Benefit Increases:

• Increase limit for accidental injury to sound natural teeth ($500 increments up to $3,000)
• Increase limit for Physical Therapy ($500 increments up to $2,500)
• Increase payment percentage for “non-serious” Nervous and Mental Conditions
• Waive deductible, pre-existing for all prescriptions paid at top tier
• Waive deductible for cancer screenings covered by state mandate
• Increase percentage paid when more than 50 miles from UCSB
• Dental insurance for procedures SHS Dental Clinic does not do
• Develop plan with reasonable cost for non-student spouses/partners and children
• Change nothing
• Dental: deeper discount for non-routine procedures
• Vision Plan
• Physical Therapy Plan

Proposed Benefit Reductions:

• Decrease in-network/out-of-network payments (currently 90%/70%).
• Change lifetime benefit maximum
• Increase the prescription co-pay (currently $10).
• Decrease highest tier prescription drug payment after co-pay (currently 100%).
• Increase deductible (currently $150).
• Change nothing.

Past GSHIP Changes: 1999 to Present

1999-2000
• Increase lifetime benefit maximum from $250,000 to $1,000,000.
• Increased outpatient and nervous and mental visits from 40-52 per year (required to match mental and physical benefits)
• Augment UCR levels of payment to include after-hour physician component charges
• Increased emergent care coverage to 100% while SHS closed.
• SHS-administered inoculation benefit $200 maximum.
• SHS dental clinic benefit added.

2000-2001
• Deductible increased from $100 to $150
• $10 co-pay added to prescription benefit
• Incorporated prescription contraceptive benefit
• Compliance with California mandate for phenylketonuria (PKU) and Nervous and Mental conditions
• Eligible expenses for treatment of Diabetes expanded

2001-2002
• Increased chiropractic benefit max from $300 to $500 per year
• Increased annual routine prophylaxis from one to two cleanings in SHS dental plan

2002-2003
• Include deductibles and pharmacy co-pays in $3,000 stop-loss maximum\
• Physiotheraphy benefit increased to 70% UCR non-PPO, 90% iPPO, and $500 maximum per sickness or injury for post-surgical treatment, or 100% at SHS for either post or n on-post surgical treatment. Changed from $500 per plan year.
• Notification to SHS for medically-necessary expenses outside a 50-mile radius modified from 72 hours to one business day from time of treatment.

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Appendix II: Highway 217 Issue

Background: The City of Goleta is proposing adding stoplights on Highway 217 at Hollister Avenue and several proposed new intersections. The 217 EIR Scoping Meetings (times mentioned above in the Announcements section) are an appropriate venue for UCSB users of the 217 to raise issues for the City of Goleta to consider. Written comments can be sent (by 31 January 2003) to: Mr. Ken Curtis, Director of Planning and Environmental Services, City of Goleta Redevelopment Agency, 6500 Hollister Avenue, Suite 120, Goleta, CA 93117, .

Issue: Should HGSA write a letter expressing concerns about this project?

Potential problems for the history graduate student community (a.k.a issues the EIR should analyze include):

(1) Traffic related injuries and deaths. Existing analyses indicate that any solution involving roundabouts or stoplights on a high speed (>25 mph) 217 will produce 10 new injury accidents per year in the Old Town region.
(2) Safety of the UCSB and surrounding communities, including the ingress/egress of vehicles to/from the UCSB/IV Mesa in the event of natural disaster including flood, fire, and earthquake.
(3) Integration of the UCSB with the South Coast region, including public participation in UCSB activities including intellectual, cultural, entertainment, athletic, and sporting events and ongoing programs.
(4) Traffic congestion on Highway 101. The new traffic from new development in Old Town will eventually get on the 101.
(5) Economic issues on the UCSB campus and in IV, including the consequences of reduced attendance at Arts and Lectures, athletic events, and reduced patronage of IV businesses.
(6) Economic consequences on UCSB due to lost time of employees waiting in congested traffic on the 217.
(7) Economic consequences on Old Town because of delays introduced for travelers between UCSB and Old Town. For example, loss of lunch business by Old Town restaurants.
(8) Air pollution due to the stopping and/or slowing of traffic on the 217.
(9) Water pollution due to increased runoff of vehicle related compounds.

Visit for a more detailed report by UCSB Highway 217 Review Committee co-chair Harry Nelson.

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Appendix III: Full Graduate Studies Committee Report

Grad Studies Committee Meeting, 11/26/02

Fred Logevall, Laura Kalman, John Majewski, David Torres-Rouff; absent: David Rock

Item 1: The M.A. Exam

During the Spring faculty retreat, the M.A. exam was eliminated by vote. However, UCSB Graduate Division and the UCOP vetoed this decision. Consequently, the M.A. has been retained for the time being. Yet, the Committee seems open to ideas on how to rework the exam. I have some specific ideas, but I would prefer to open up a community-wide dialogue about the MA exam. Please email me at dsr1@umai.ucsb.edu with any specific ideas, or if you think we should have a meeting.

Item 2: Research Seminar Requirements

During the Spring faculty retreat, the faculty voted to reduce the number of research seminars required before taking the M.A. from 2 to 1. 2 research seminars are still required of Ph.D. students. Upon questioning, the Committee assured me that the total requirement for all incoming students without an existing M.A. was 3. They also indicated that students who took 2 research seminars prior to completing the M.A. would only be required to do one more.

Item 3: Intitution of a Restructured 202 Seminar

During the Spring faculty retreat, the faculty voted to significantly restructure the 202 course and requirements. The decision was as follows:

• All new students will take 202 together, during the fall quarter of their first year

• The Course would be departmentally determined, and team taught by 2 faculty members representing different fields

• It would combine the teaching of methods with the teaching of historiography

• In conjunction, there has been discussion of reducing 292 to a two-quarter long series, to follow the 202. A similar, two-quarter long immersion series is also on the table for the various, non-Americanist, primary fields of study.

It was also hoped that a communal 202 would increase sociability among new students and the department more generally.

Under discussion, the committee pointed out several practical obstacles in implementing this directive

Item 4: Institution of an Oral Ph.D. Defense

Also decided at the Spring faculty retreat. The faculty has chosen this as a method by which to guarantee that your committee members read your complete dissertation and give you constructive comments. The intent is for the session to make suggestions about how best to convert from dissertation to publishable manuscript. Further the committee recognizes that in some cases completing this may be difficult for those who must travel. Consequently, it was decided by consensus that with the joint approval of the Director of Graduate Studies and the candidate’s advisor this requirement can be waived. Timetable for implementation remains to be determined.

Other Business:

David Torres-Rouff (me) suggested opening up two additional items for discussion during the year: 1. A re-evaluation of the Ph.D. qualifying exams. 2. The advent of a methods course for graduate students. The other committee members received these ideas warmly.

I encourage input on these, or any items. I will admit up front that I have some very strong ideas about the graduate program. I am also aware that my first responsibility is to represent the graduate students as a whole, and I will need your help to do this.

Submitted by David Torres-Rouff

   

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