Users Executive Committee Quality of Life Subcommittee Meeting October 3, 2005 8:30 AM Snake Pit Alton, Finley, Merritt, Diehl (Chair), Kopp (ex-officio member as UEC Cheir) The purpose of the meeting is to develop a plan for the activities of the Quality of Life subcommittee of the UEC for the next year (September, 2005 to September, 2006). Agenda ------ * What the QoL subcommittee did last year (Alton) * QoL for women in physics (at FNAL) (Finley) * Discussion of other items we might be able to help with (All) * AOB (Any) What the QoL subcommittee did last year (Alton) ----------------------------------------------- Drew described what was done last year. Roughly speaking, there are three general areas of work. The first was to take a survey of users on quality of lab life and act on the gathered opinions. The second is "Career Night" in conjunction with the Graduate Student Association (GSA). The third is responding to user initiatives or questions or pleas for help. There was more focus on the first two items, as there weren't very many user requests. The 2004 survey and results are available from the Quality of Life web page linkable at http://www.fnal.gov/orgs/fermilab_users_org/QualityOfLife.html. There were 30 questions on topics ranging from educational and career programs to dormatory/living/food accomodations to transportation within and outside the laboratory. Drew suggests we especially consider two of the issues. The first of those is related to onsite and offsite transportation. The 2nd is that the poll found suprising support for a "Job Fair" that might link graduate students seeking their next level of employment to professors or universities which might hire them. Suprising, Drew said, is that there was approximately equal support from both sides of this process. Career night was an important and popular event carried out last year. Three speakers delivered talks titled "A physicist of Wall Street", "Where government and science intersect", and "Climbing the HEP ladder" on one night last September. The year before there were three other talks on careers in industry, government and public service, and staying in HEP. There was considerable discussion about these topics with the aim of understanding what they were, whether they were helpful, and what we wanted to emphasize as a subcommittee. We are interested (it is necessary for our main job) in what users have to say about QoL and will listen and try to help. We think Career Night sounds like an important event to continue, with the help of the GSA. We aren't sure quite how we would carry out a "Job Fair" as described; we need to look into possibilities. Quality of Life for Women in Physics [at FNAL] (Finley) ------------------------------------------------------- Dave introduced this topic as a possible "main initiative" for the QoL subcommittee for this year. We felt our way around the issue, discussing the some of the recent experiences with it both at Fermilab and away. The APS Committee on the Status of Women in Physics has a webpage (http://www.aps.org/educ/cswp/) which is helpful. There is, for instance, a sublink to site visits "site visits", where you can choose from several pages that describe the program. It was pointed out that the UEC cannot ask for something like a site visit; that must come from the Lab Director. There was wide agreement that this topic is important and worthwhile of a part of our focus as a "main initiative" for this committee. Discussion of other items we might be able to help with (All) ------------------------------------------------------------- It was noted that 3 of 4 regular members of this committee are FNAL employees and that may present certain advantages and/or disadvantages when it comes to perceptions and to our doing our committee work. We note that our meetings are open, if not widely announced, and we will invite the GSA to send a member to the subcommittee meetings. Two QoL issues are scheduled for the next UEC Meeting (October 8th). The first is Irwin Gaines, CD, "Recent computer security measures". We hope to be informed what changes we can soon expect in computer security and how those will effect us. The second is in relation to the new plans for new Fermilab ID regulations and what impact can be expected for Users. Bruce Chrisman. It was asked of our committee why the "EMail Center" in the Wilson Hall basement is closed. We are happy to report that the closure is temporary and is so that the "Help Desk" can be expeditiously moved into some of the space. The "Guide to Life at Fermilab" is a very helpful part of the QoL here. We will ask the GSA, who originally published it, to provide an update and some additional information. A.O.B. ------ The QoL Webpage will be updated and periodically reupdated. These notes will be part of a report on the doings of our subcommitee at the UEC meeting to be help Saturday, October 8th.