In the fifth round of Graduate Student Life Grants, Dean Ike Colbert funded 18 proposals out of the total 28 submitted to the Graduate Students Office. To date, since this program was introduced in 2002, the Dean’s selection panel has reviewed 150 proposals and funded 82 of those.
The Dean continues to view this process as an effective mechanism for gathering fresh, creative ideas and as instrumental in shaping the graduate community of the future. These grants for enhancing graduate community continue to reflect consistent, broad themes; they are:
- Introduce new departmental efforts
- Focus on bringing people together in a social context
- Integrate academic and social aspects of graduate life
- Improve communications and outreach
- Acknowledge creative expression through the arts
- Serves as models for community building
- Focus on specific constituencies
RFP5-3 CMS MEDIA MIXERS
Submitted by a team of graduate students
Organize a series of lectures and informal talks, social video game competitions, and screenings of student work to generate formal and informal opportunities for collaboration and discussion among Comparative Media Studies and other graduate departments.
Why?
Promote awareness and understanding of student work in comparative media studies.
RFP5-5 COMMUNITY COOKING
Submitted by a graduate student
Provide a social medium for interaction within the MIT community; promote healthy eating and cooking habits; and increase cultural awareness through preparing dishes traditional to a unique culture.
Why?
Bring students together by cooking, teaching and learning in “culinary encounters.”
RFP5-7 COOKING BAKLAVA AND TASTE OF MEDITERRANEAN FOODS
Submitted by a graduate student
Prepare and share a traditional Mediterranean dish as a springboard for socializing and informing a group of students about an ages old dessert common to countries of the Fertile Crescent.
Why?
Bring students together to learn, eat, and enjoy.
RFP5-8 DAY SKI TRIPS
Submitted by MIT Snowriders
Subsidize ski trips for departmental student groups during the 2005-06 ski season. This is an outgrowth of the Community Bus Trip Program, which was recognized as the “Graduate Program of the Year” from the Student Activities Office
Why?
Build community for departmental graduate student groups.
RFP5-9 HST OLYMPICS
Submitted by a graduate administrator
Offer students and faculty the chance to get together for nothing but fun, teaming up and vying against one another in competitions including sports, brainier games such as quizzes and chess, and other “silly” games.
Why?
Forge relationships and foster community among HST students and faculty.
RFP5-10 DIVERSITY: PEER2PEER
Submitted by the LBGT Coordinator, Student Life Programs
Address gender, race, and sexuality issues, and the need to learn, through peer-to-peer education including training of community educators and community discussion forums.
Why?
Reinforce a message of tolerance in the mindset of the MIT community.
RFP5-11 DUSP ALUMNI OF COLOR DINNER SERIES
Submitted by a graduate student representing the DUSP Student Council and Student of Color Committee
Bring together alumni and current students in recognition of MIT’s contribution to the fields of urban design, housing development, and environmental justice through a speaker series and increased visibility for DUSP’s academic and social activities.
Why?
Build on existing programs for strengthening dialogue within the department through outreach to alumni.
RFP5-12 FENWAY HOUSE CREATIVE ARTS SOCIETY
Submitted by a team of graduate students
Promote identity of a graduate residential community of the arts by building stronger community within the house and developing the concept of a creative arts house.
Why?
Support a pilot program for developing the identity of this unique graduate residence.
RFP5-14 HST/BEP STUDENT COHORT DEVELOPMENT
Submitted by a team of graduate students
Address the problem of program fragmentation (students rarely see one another) and build an on campus and lifelong cohort for students in, and ultimately alumni of, the Biomedical Enterprise Program.
Why?
Support one of several initiatives proposed by this team for student cohort development.
RFP5-15 HST KNITTING CIRCLE (WITH A PUBLIC SERVICE TWIST)
Submitted by a graduate administrator
Begin and sustain a social activity for HST students around learning to knit, knitting together, and creating items for distribution to social service agencies.
Why?
Create community by coming together around a public service undertaking.
RFP5-16 HST WOMEN’S GROUP
Submitted by a graduate administrator
Support the activities of a fledgling support and social group for HST’s women students.
Why?
Provide more structure for evolving program to support women graduate students.
RFP5-17 MANHATTAN GROUP: DISTRIBUTING MARTIN
Submitted by the graduate student activities group, “The Manhattan Group”
Support first guest artist of The Manhattan Group, which invites individuals to MIT who use artistic practice as a tool for teaching, learning, and distribution of critical information.
Why?
Provide opportunity for students to work with one another and the artist while engaging issues of race relations, bio-ethics, and performance art.
RFP5-18 MIT DANCE-OFF
Submitted by graduate students on behalf of the Sidney-Pacific Graduate Community
Organize event open to all graduate students at the beginning of the winter season, a dance-off that will allow people to learn how to dance, meet new people in a dynamic social environment, showcase their new talent to others, and have fun.
Why?
Bring together members of the MIT community including dormitory residents and off campus students.
RFP5-19 MIT INTERNATIONAL REVIEW
Submitted by a graduate student for MIT International Review Editorial Board
Encourage campus discourse on international affairs by producing a journal called the MIT International Review .
Why?
Provide a medium through which members of the MIT community can exchange their views on world events and learn about new research, ideas, and developments in this field.
RFP5-22 PILOTING THE “NEW” MIT MUSEUM AND PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT WITH SCIENCE
Submitted by a staff member on behalf of the MIT Museum
Support events planned to re-conceive the Museum as a physical and virtual gateway to MIT’s research and innovation for the wider community.
Why?
Continue to encourage graduate students to become active participants in the Museum’s planning and programs.
RFP5-23 PLACE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SPACE II: CONNECTING THE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AND PLANNING AND BEYOND
Submitted by a team of graduate students
Sponsor events in and among departments in the School of Architecture and Planning with the goal of enhancing community, for example, interdepartmental research/social events, the MITunuseless competition, the creativity cauldron, and “green” trips to Boston.
Why?
Continue support for the integration of community building activities within the School of Architecture and Planning and effective planning for the future.
RFP5-25 THE ROBOTICS INITIATIVE
Submitted by a graduate student representing the Robotics Initiative
Bring together graduate students with shared interest in forming a more cohesive community of robotic scientists through events such as RoboNight@TheMIT Museum, the Robotics Tour, and the Robotic Science Funding Seminar.
Why?
Foster interdisciplinary collaboration among members of the MIT robotics community.
RFP5-28 ZERO-WASTE EVENTS
Submitted by student teams representing the Technology and Policy Student Society and Students for Global Sustainability
Design a social event that will encourage students to think about sustainability, making use of “waste free” or reusable products and offering door prizes of recyclable materials.
Why?
Build community of students interested in sustainability issues.
