UPPSA Presidential Roundup- October 31st

Happy Halloween!
Take a look at this week’s announcements as you excite and inform your trick or treaters by handing out candy wrapped in excerpts of Lefebrve’s “Right to the City.”
• GA/TOD- The next UPPSA General Assembly/Transit Oriented Dining will be Friday, November 12th starting at 6pm. The meeting will take place at the TOD location in the Pilsen neighborhood- Nuevo Leon 1515 W. 18th St. Chicago, IL 60608 (312) 421-1517 www.nuevoleonrestaurant.com
Directions from UIC: Cycling/Driving -- Take Van Buren west for about 3/4 mile until Ashland Ave. Take a left onto Ashland Ave. and go south for 2 miles until 18th St. Then make a left and go east for 1 block.
CTA -- Walk west on Van Buren for about 3/4 mile until Ashland Ave. Take the Ashland bus (#9) south until the 18th St. stop. Then take a left and walk 1 block east on 18th St.
To RSVP for the social event, please go to www.uppsa.org before Wednesday, 3-NOV so we can get a rough head count to make our reservation. Please let me know if you have any other questions. We hope to see you there!
• CUPPAH Gridiron Challenge- On Friday, November 19th the combined athletic abilities of UPPSA, SUPA (undergrads), PASA (Public Administration) and CUPPS (Phd’s) students will create an unbelievably awesome flag football game. Email UPPSAinfo@gmail.com if you are interested in playing, cheering on or coaching for the game. Most likely the game will take place the afternoon of the 19th. We’ll finalize that once we have a better idea of interest.
• Great Cities Institute Forum, Friday November 4th from 3-4:30pm- GCI will host Manuel Albers for a discussion on the Production of the Financial Crisis in New York City. This event will take place in GCI on the 4th floor of CUPPAH. For more information search for Great Cities Institute on Facebook.
• The Illinois Student Environmental Coalition (ISEC) is holding its Annual Fall Conference on Saturday, November 6th, 2010 at Columbia College. This conference will feature State Senator Heather Steans as the keynote speaker, student led workshops, and opportunities for students to share ideas and inspiration for environmental projects on campus. I wanted to personally invite the Urban Planning & Policy Association to the event as a way to get to our organization. To RSVP for this event visit www.GreenStudents.org
• Masters Project Forum- Based on this past Friday's UPP Next event during which UPP faculty and former students presented on the MUPP masters project, we thought it would be a good idea to begin an on-going discussion board for students to put their ideas out into the MUPP community, learn about resources and find people for collaboration. One of the ideas that came up was the disconnect between completing a solely individual masters project and then working in careers that will almost never involve purely individual work. Us this thread as a forum for collaboration. Feel free to post 1) your idea for a masters project 2) requests for information, sources or people to connect with 3) provide feedback to others and 4) begin the process of pursuing a collaborative masters project. To view it go to http://www.uppsa.org/forum.html
• Academic or Assistantship Advocacy- Any MUPPs with concerns about department-wide academic issues are encouraged to contact UPPSA at UPPSAinfo@gmail.com with your feedback about the program. The Board of UPPSA meets regularly with the UPP department and the Dean of CUPPA. Let us be your advocate. Also, for those students with assistantships, UPPSA President Bob Fuller is also the Graduate Employee Organization (GEO) steward for CUPPAH. If you feel you have been treated unfairly in your assistantship (Teaching, Graduate or Research) feel free to contact him at rfulle5@uic.edu to get connected with the GEO’s grievance resources.
• Halloween Critical Mass- Get your bike on and show your style: Halloween Critical Mass (http://chicagocriticalmass.org/about/whenwhere). Like always, Critical Mass takes place on the last Friday of the month and in October it is all about Halloween. Celebrate everyone’s favorite holiday and bring awareness that bicyclists are traffic too. This month’s critical mass is the most fun. Riders will gather down at Daley Plaza (around the Picasso Sculpture) and leave at 5:30pm. Yes, 5:30. So try not to be late. And don’t forget your costume. If you are interested in attending, email Sara Amaral @ samara2@uic.edu.
• If you have important news for fellow MUPPs and you would like it included in the President’s Weekly Roundup and/or on the UPPSA website email UPPSAinfo@gmail.com by 2 p.m. each Sunday.
Have a great week,
Bob Fuller
President- UPPSA