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Old ISTAB

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.

Need

There is a need for an official communication path between the student body and IS&T. Several informal paths already exist: Student employees in Customer Support provide ad-hoc feedback to the Service Desk about how services are received in the community and provide methods by which we can informally survey the community and announce changes; SIPB has had a historically close working relationship with Operations & Infrastructure, in particular Network Ops and Server & System Administration. At a higher level, the UA and GSC have had involvement on Institute-level task forces and boards.

Membership

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 following student organizations may, at their discretion, each have a seat on ISTAB: UA, GSC, DormCon, IFC, PanHel, LGC (Living Group Council), SIPB.

There should be a minimum of 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.

Members should ideally commit for the entire academic year, or at a minimum, one semester.

Logistics

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 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 provide guidance on existing policies, identify appropriate channels for requests, etc.