Plant Biology Association of Graduate Students (PBAGS)

∧ top Our Mission

The Plant Biology Association of Graduate Students (PBAGS) exists to bring together students who are affiliated with the Department of Plant Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. All graduate students with advisers who have an affiliation with the Plant Biology Department are members. This organization exists in order to:

• Foster a sense of community within the graduate student body through annual social engagements and a bi-weekly departmental colloquium.
• Provide a voice for its members through direct interaction with faculty and in various departmental committees.
• Assist the department in recruiting prospective graduate students.
• Welcome new graduate students into the department.

∧ topRoles of PBAGS Officers

Main responsibilities include organizing (three) social events and next year's election, facilitating fundraising, outreach and other PBAGS events. This position requires good organization, enthusiasm and commitment to maintain PBAGS's impact. The person elected should not be in final year as a graduate student to be sure they are available to arrange the elections for the next year. It's the chair's job to be sure all other PBAGS officers know what their roles are.

The treasurer is responsible for all PBAGS activities and transactions that involve money. This position should not be filled by a student in their final year, as the duties are not complete until the beginning of the next academic year. Funds are replenished by the Department Head in order to pay for the Fall Welcome. Other funds can be raised or provided for by the Department. Details of the treasurer's duties are as follows:

• Managing the PBAGS U of I Credit Union Account

  The newly elected treasurer must accompany the former treasurer to the U of I Credit Union to have the PBAGS account put in their name. Both signatures are required to activate the PBAGS account in new treasurer's name. FYI-there is a Credit Union located in the Union Building on the Quad. The new treasurer will create a folder for the year with official copies that provide authorization for access to the account for writing checks and making deposits. The treasurer must be sure the account is balanced and if not, inform PBAGS to organize an event to replenish the PBAGS account.

• Writing Checks to Cover PBAGS Sponsored Events

  At a PBAGS sponsored event the treasurer will write a check to pay for services. In other words, don't forget the PBAGS checkbook when you attend a PBAGS sponsored event! Completed t-shirt orders will be pre-paid. The treasurer will collect the payments. Once all payments have been collected, they are deposited into the PBAGS account. A check with one lump sum can then be written to pay for the t-shirt order.

• Keeping Track of the SIB Copier 288 Account Balances.

  This copier is located in Morrill Hall and is available to Plant Biology graduate students to make copies at the discounted rate of 0.03 cents a copy. This is to help out our grad students when making bulk copies i.e. for their thesis. There is a code for the copier that can be obtained from the Plant Biology Department Office (265 Morrill Hall). If a Plant Biology grad student has recently made copies, the treasurer will receive a transaction copy detailing the number of copies made and the amount of money owed. It is a good idea to clear these accounts before the end of the Spring semester just in case someone with a balance graduates! You probably won't have to do this more than once, but when you do, tell the students to make the check payable to PBAGS. You can then deposit the checks into the Credit Union account and write one check with the total amount you collected. This check is also made out to PBAGS but is for a separate account that copy charges are automatically deducted from and cannot be directly accessed by you. Once you have the check with all of the money owed, send it to: Cecil King, 506 Morrill Hall, MC-120 and he will make sure it goes into the right account. His phone number is 3-6333. As treasurer, please keep this updated for your replacement so they can make sure our accounts can be paid up!

Traditionally, this is the main fundraising event for PBAGS. The T-shirt organizer will be responsible for collecting designs for T-shirts, mugs, bags, etc. prior to the Fall Welcome from people in the department. A request can be sent out by the organizer via email and/or by posting signs around departmental hallways! The designs will be posted in Morrill Hall and ERML Plant Biology offices for voting prior to the Fall Welcome. Final votes for the favorite design will be taken at the Fall Welcome. The person who wins the contest will receive a free T-shirt. The T-shirt organizer will take the winning design and make a price comparison around town, Weiskamp has been used in the past. Together with the remaining officers of PBAGS, a price will be decided on to sell T-shirts in order to raise money for PBAGS sponsored events. The T-shirt organizer collects orders and payments at the same time. Once all payments are collected, they are handed over to the treasurer who deposits them in the PBAGS account and writes one check for the lump sum of the order. T-shirts will be distributed by the T-shirt organizer, preferably before Winter break so they can be given out as holiday gifts if people wish! The more colors the design, the more expensive the T-shirt. Solicit two color designs to avoid problems with this! The more T-shirts ordered, the lower the price, so make an effort to get a lot of orders. People often forget to bring money to pay for the shirts when they place their order. Reminders may help avoid this problem and get more orders.

The advisory committee is made up of faculty members and a graduate student. The Department Head is the chair of this committee. The role of the graduate student on this committee is to assist the head with various departmental matters such as new faculty hires as they relate to the graduate students. This representative is charged with organizing graduate student pizza lunches and assessments of faculty candidates. This is a great way to learn what it takes to interview and successfully obtain a tenure track position in academia.

The graduate student representative for the graduate affairs committee participates in selecting and recruiting new students for the department. The Associate Head of the Department is the chair of this committee and should be contacted to determine how to begin participation. This position mainly involves attending weekly committee meetings, reading applications, and meeting prospective students. Graduate representation is an important component to the committee and is taken seriously. The position provides the representative the opportunity to interact with faculty members outside of your field of concentration, learn about the graduate selection process and meet prospective students. Plus, you may happen upon free coffee or lunch. Once elected, Lisa Boise can help you make contact with the standing committee.

The instructional committee is made up of four to five faculty members and one graduate student. The chair of this committee should be contacted to learn more about participation. The committee meets a few times a semester to discuss instructional resource improvements, new courses, TA facilities and related information. The graduate student representative is required to attend meetings to participate in discussions concerning instructional issues. An experienced TA who enjoys teaching and would like to represent other departmental TAs is especially suited for this position. This role provides a great opportunity to learn about the processes for curriculum development.

The bi-weekly Plant Biology Colloquium was initiated by PBAGS and serves to highlighting ongoing, polished and/or proposed research to create cohesiveness, increase visibility and provide a platform for potential collaboration within the Department of Plant Biology. Committee chair helps organize the speaker schedule, refreshments and other logistics of this important departmental function.

∧ topPBAGS Functions

• Elections

  Elections for new PBAGS officers should be held in the first two weeks of September and is the last duty of an acting chair. An alternative is to hold elections before the end of Spring semester so that PBAGS is ready to run in the Fall. The election process goes something like this: For one week, a nomination form and position descriptions are placed in the Department Office in Morrill Hall for people to fill out. Lisa Boise has the position description on file if needed. Once nominations are finished, a one-week voting period can begin via email, ballots in the Department Office or a combination of the two. Once all officers are elected, the newly elected chair organizes the first meeting to choose a date for the Fall Welcome and begin organizing the T-shirt design contest.

  Once election results are in, contact the department head with the results so that he/she may forward the information to the appropriate committees so they are aware of who will be working with them for the next year.

• Fall Welcome

  Organized by the chair, the Fall Welcome is to be held by mid-October to introduce new students, post docs and faculty to current members of the Department and to take final votes for the year's T-shirt designs. This is a great time to interact with the new and old members in the department whilst enjoying good free food and drink. It is traditionally held at the Bread Company on Goodwin Avenue, but with a little more leg work for planning and preparation can be catered by PBAGS and held at the Illini Grove, The Conservatory, or ?. The usual cost of alcohol for the event is approximately $400.00 to be paid for by the PBAGS Treasurer. Note: PBAGS only pays for the alcohol, Plant Biology covers the food.

• Holiday Party

  To be held early December at the home of one of the department faculty or for free at the Illini Union if reservations are made far enough in advance. The chair must find a faculty member willing commit to hosting the party by mid-semester. The Holiday Party is a potluck for side dishes, main courses with drinks and main courses provided through donations. Suggested donations are between $2-5 per person. People interested in attending must RSVP to be sure enough food and drink are available. Members of PBAGS will help the host with set-up and clean-up.

• Spring Potluck Picnic

  This event is to be held in outdoors in April to provide one last social activity before summer season starts. A possible location is the Illini Grove. This is organized as a Potluck event with drinks provided for by PBAGS who is also responsible for setting up and tearing down. Activities for the picnic are also organized by PBAGS, such as relay races and/or other contests. In 2007 PBAGS co-organized the picnic with the graduate organization chairs in Crop Science, PMPB and GEEB. In this way, we all kicked in money and went on a shopping trip at Sam's Club to buy boat loads of food for the grill and to serve cold. We provided soft-drinks too, but were unable to get an alcohol permit. We also used donated prizes to have a raffle for Plant Biology T-shirts, tomato plants, coffee gift cards, etc. This was a huge draw. We had balloons, water guns for the kids, tug-o-war, sac-races, horseshoes, etc. It was tons of fun and not too much trouble with the help from the other graduate organizations.

• Other Events

  The chair will organize ideas generated by officers of PBAGS for fundraising, outreach and social events. Past ideas have involved setting up a webpage, the bi-weekly seminar series, coffee hours, etc.

• Annual Plant Biology T-Shirt Project

  Each year, Plant Biology demonstrates its creative side with a T-shirt design contest (recent designs adorn this website). The winning T-shirts are sold as the principal fundraiser for the Fall Welcome at Bread Company. The 2007 Plant Biology T-Shirt design will be posted in late October and purchased T-shirts will be available before the holiday break (They make great gifts!).

  Please order a T-shirt and help support your Plant Biology Fall Welcome! See below for T-shirts from 2006 and other years. Some of these vintage tees may still be available - be sure to ask!

∧ topGallery of Recent T-Shirt Designs

∧ topPBAGS Photo Album (more to come!)

Christmas Party 2006