Harrelson News–2000
PRAVDA
Beginning in the fall semester of 1999, Todd Coffey, Matt Matthews, and Bob Wieman have organized a series of presentations to inform math graduate students about the wide array of facilities available to them. These presentations have been named PRAVDA, for Presentations of Real And Vital Departmental Affairs. Presentations in the fall included an overview of using the Unix workstations, an introduction to LaTeX, and presentations and Q&A Sessions with speakers from Student Legal Services and Public Safety.
Much of the important information to graduate students is discovered on an ad hoc basis. From details as small as how to send documents to the HA 208 printer, to questions about jobs in industry, typically graduate students find out this information one graduate student at a time. These presentations try to bring this information to all the graduate students in the math department. Some of the most popular presentations were short summaries by professors of their research interests. The organizers hoped that graduate students will be able to find advisors with appealing research topics more easily as a result of these mini-presentations, and so far that has indeed been the case.
In the spring semester 2000, there are plans for another LaTeX talk, more faculty presentations, and presentations from University services such as the Financial Aid Office. Todd, Matt, and Bob hope to eventually feature presentations from every faculty member. In addition, PRAVDA plans to hold weekly bake sales underneath Harrelson, to raise money for a travel fund for graduate students, as well as possibly other graduate student activities.