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Board of Control Week 10

“No one ever invites us to stuff,” Associated Students, Inc. Treasurer Kalien Clark said. “Yeah, I wish more people did,” responded ASI Vice President Nayiri Baghdassarian.

Moments earlier, Sinead Campbell, a communications disorders major and travel fund applicant, had invited the ASI Board of Control to attend her thesis defense in the upcoming spring semester. Sinead Campbell extended her invitation in the hope that the BOC could see, “what they had funded,” as she put it.

Campbell attended the 10th weekly BOC meeting on Tuesday in order to ask if the board would be willing to give her financial support to help her attend the upcoming American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) convention in Orlando, Florida, on Nov. 19-22.

During the ASHA convention, Campbell will be presenting a draft of her thesis, which deals with the cultural views held by mothers of children with communication disorders. Campbell will be presenting alongside Communicative Disorders Department Head Carolyn C. Madding. The BOC allotted $400 for Campbell’s travel to the ASHA convention.

The meeting went longer than usual as various students pled their case for travel funds. Besides Campbell, Tanaz Mirchi and Samuel Curtis, from the Human Factors and Ergonomic Society, and Vannyda Thach and Diana Pinedo, from the Public Relations Society of American attended the meeting for the same purpose.

Students may apply for funding from ASI if they are attending academic conferences, but they are capped at $50 in funds for travel, unless they are presenting or have an otherwise ‘active’ role in the conference. Director of the Student Life and Development (SLD) Center Brett Waterfield explained that this cap is to discourage students from simply attending academic conferences without actively participating in them. Waterfield also noted that it has the dual purpose of preserving travel funds.

Mirchi requested travel funds to attend the 2014 International HFES Annual Meeting in Chicago from Oct. 27-31. Mirchi is a co-author of one the papers set to be presented; however, she will not be presenting the paper herself. Vice Baghdassarian noted that the $50 cap should not apply for Mirchi, because she will not be a regular attendee and should not have her work discounted simply because a co-author will be conducting the main presentation. The BOC granted $400 in funding.

Curtis, HFES club Treasurer, came to request additional funding for HFES members attending the 2014 International HFES Annual Meeting. $500 was granted for these additional members who will be regular attendees.

Pinedo and Thach, president and vice president respectively of the Public Relations Student Society of America, did not attend in person. They sent email messages in order to request travel funds in order to attend the Public Relations Student Society of America National Conference in Washington, D.C. Clark read their respective messages on their behalf, and both received only $50 in funding from the Board of Control.

Ryan Ramos, president of the Mock Trial club, a speech and debate club, attended the BOC meeting in order to seek funding for his club’s participation in three mock trials. Mock Trial will attend the Dog Pound Invitational at Fresno State University, the 5th Annual Triton Invitational at the University of California, San Diego and the Southern Californian Classic as the University of La Verne. A total of $692 was allotted by the BOC to the Mock Trial club.

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