History

A student advisory board was formed in 2004 to provide a student voice in the then-new IS&T organization. The organization met sporadically through late 2008. A number of logistical and organization problems impeded the organization, not the least of which was multiple management changes during that time, and unclear leadership and direction.

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One of the primary concerns with the old ISTAB was that IS&T staff often outnumbered student attendees at many meetings. This was caused by a number of factors, including meeting time and location, meeting frequency, and failure to obtain a critical mass of attendees.

The new ISTAB should have more of a "for students, by students" approach. It must ensure a balance between student government (UA, GSC, DormCon, IFC, PanHel, LGC), SIPB, and the general student body. As such, there should be 4 "at-large" members (2 each of undergrad and grad), who don't represent any specific constituency, yet have an interest in the state of computing at the Institute.

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Meetings should be held at student-friendly times. At a minimum, this should be after 5:00, and may end up being 7:00 (5-7 is historically reserved for athletics, but a small number of evening classes begin at 7), or possibly a weekend time.

Meetings should occur on a monthly basis, Sept-May, keeping in mind that December and January are difficult months for scheduling due to finals and IAPmore frequently than monthly. Monthly meetings would essentially mean 3-4 per semester, which doesn't really allow time for anything useful. A 3-week schedule would be idealBi-weekly is likely the best choice, keeping in mind the difficulty of scheduling meetings in December, January, and Maythat December and January are difficult months for scheduling due to finals and IAP.

Staff Roles

One IS&T staff member should act as a facilitator, ensuring the discussion stays on topic. Additional IS&T staff members can may be invited to specific meetings to provide guidance on existing policies, identify appropriate channels for requests, etc. There To ensure the Board remains student-centric, there should never be more than 2 regular staff attendees.

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• Oct 2010: Draw up Charter.
• Oct 2010: Receive approval from Head of IS&T.
• Oct-Nov 2010: Re-claim istab wiki space and locker and put up landing pages
• Oct-Nov 2010: Solicit feedback from associate directors as to what they perceive IS&TISTAB's role to be.
• Nov 2010: Come up with plan to recruit "at-large" members.
• IAP 2011: Develop meeting schedule and several potential topics as "activation energy"
• February 2011: First meeting