Below is a list of suggestions the GSA sent to the Economics Department.  If you'd like to add to our suggestions, e-mail egsa@econmail.tamu.edu.

For Incoming Students
Notes: these have all been discussed with the GIC who indicated they will address these issues.

• Orientation material-Incoming students should receive orientation material as soon as possible so that they can begin to prepare for the semester. Some of this can be sent to them in the summer before their arrival (tips for success in the program, a list of books for their first classes, etc.).
• Mentors-Faculty and student mentors should be assigned to first-years upon their arrival.
• Specific Guidelines-Requirements should be clearly stated so that students know what GPA they need to keep to remain in the program or keep funding, how exactly the qualifier process works, etc.

First Year Students

• Field class seminar-Students in the second semester of their first year should have some idea of the diverse research opportunities available in the fields offered at A&M, so that they will have more complete information in choosing their fields. Professors teaching field classes the following semester might come and give a brief overview of class topics and research opportunities in their respective fields. (Plans for a field class seminar are currently being made.) This should be offerred in Spring '09.
• Job market guidance-We could have a seminar or meeting in the spring for students who are considering going on the market the following fall. This would allow students to get an idea of what they need to do over the summer to be ready for the market. The job market advisor and fifth-year students who have already been on the market could attend to give advice for students starting the process.
• Weekly afternoon tea at the tables by the pond-We could use this as a way to encourage faculty/student interaction. This would be a small-scale event each week, with 1-2 faculty members and 5-10 graduate students. Faculty and students would sign up to participate each week. Idea was dropped in favor of potluck.

General Program/Curriculum
These ideas were considered by the GIC, but deemed not fitting into the objectives of the graduate program.

• Resources for students interested in gaining additional math proficiency-Thomas Sargent's NYU page includes a list of helpful math courses for graduate students. He suggests that students, while they are taking core economics PhD courses, should also take one math class a semester. We could create suggestions/guidelines in conjunction with our professors.
• Creation of a programming or computational economics course-This would be very beneficial for students who are focusing on empirical research. Currently, students are expected to "pick up" programming skills as needed for their research. A class that provided programming basics would provide a lot in terms of "value-added" to the program.
• Creation of a history of economic thought course-Many top programs require this course to give students a foundation in economics history. This would provide a crucial perspective on the discipline that is currently not offered, even as an elective course.

Graduate Student Lounge/Kitchen

• Update decor and resources
• We could buy art posters or print out pictures from students' home countries from istockphoto.
• We could also get a subscription to some major newspapers, The Economist, and/or The Journal of Economic Perspectives to be kept in the lounge for general use.
• Ideally, we would like to make the lounge a comfortable place for graduate students to congregate and exchange ideas (not only to eat lunch). We might consider buying a couch from a discount furniture store at some point.
• Kitchen-We are still having problems keeping the kitchen clean. In the past, we have assigned cleaning duties to specific students every month. We might reconsider that.
• Paper towels.

Website

• Scholarships and grants-both internal and external sources of funding, application procedures and deadlines, requirements to gain and keep funding
• Travel funding for conferences-department guidelines for conference funds, application procedures, outside sources of travel money (university-wide grants, etc.)
• Summer research opportunities
• Resources for graduate teaching assistants
• Job market information-timeline information, tips on how to prepare for the job market (As an example, Harvard has an especially detailed timeline/checklist available at http://www.economics.harvard.edu/jobmarket.)
• We might also consider creating graduate student profiles, like the faculty profiles that are currently online. (All students have the option to create personal websites linked to the department website; this would be similar to that.)

Suggestions from Master's Students

• Additional mentoring-Students would like a peer mentor (possibly an upper-level PhD student) who would be available to help with questions about the program, classes, etc. They recognize that the graduate advisor is here for that purpose, but they would like additional people who would act as more informal resources.
• Rooms available for reserve-Because master's students do not typically have offices, it would be nice for them to be able to reserve a room in which they could work for a few hours while they are in the department.
• Additional courses taught at the master's level-Currently, master's students are required to take three introductory classes; the remainder of their coursework is filled by electives of their choosing. Many of these electives are taught at the PhD level, and many master's students are not adequately prepared for this. (For example, it is possible for a student to take the field sequence in public economics without ever having taken even an undergraduate econometrics class. Consequently, it is difficult for professors to teach a class at a level that is appropriate for all their students.) It would be nice to offer more courses geared towards master's students. At the least, students should be required to take undergraduate econometrics before taking any empirically-driven fields.