Doctoral Program Community Service Policy

1) The PhD program is augmented:

   a) Its definition and literature (i.e., website) are augmented to
   include a statement encouraging community service:

      "The Department of Computer Science takes pride in maintaining a
      well-developed sense of community, and sees as an essential part
      of its PhD degree program the preparation of its students for
      this important aspect of their future careers.  It therefore
      strongly encourages its students through their advisors to
      contribute a year of service to the department's professional,
      operational, or social needs, preferably in their first two
      years in the program."

   b) Incoming PhD students at orientation, as part of the overview of
   the program by the chair of the PhD Committee, are advised of this
   aspect of the community and how it is encouraged.

2) Management is augmented and formalized by establishing the
   following practices:

   a) Community service is coordinated by a designated PhD Student, as
   part of his/her community service, with the oversight of, and the
   authority delegated by, the chair of the PhD Committee.  This
   coordinator, working with advisors, balances supply and demand,
   taking into consideration the variation in role demands and role
   term limits.

   b) This coordinator maintains a public webpage that displays a list
   of community service roles and the status of all active PhD students:

      1) The Community Service list of roles is augmented to include:
         a) name of role
         b) description of role
         c) estimate of time commitment
         d) role term limit
         e) email contact (if applicable)
         f) current office holder(s)

      2) The Community Service webpage is augmented to include a list
         of all active PhD students, with an indication of their status
         with respect to community service, one of:
         a) fulfilled
         b) exempt (did not fulfill but has passed thesis proposal)
         c) in service
         d) eligible

   c) The coordinator, under the oversight of the chair of the PhD
   Committee, adds roles as suggested by the faculty and/or students,
   and modifies or deletes roles as circumstances demand.  (There are
   presently a total of 30 professional, operational, and social
   roles.)

3) The practices of student evaluation at Black Friday are augmented:

   a) Student electronic records in MICE are augmented to include a
   formal record of community service, and current student status with
   respect to it (fulfilled, exempt, in service, eligible).

   b) All community service contributed in that semester is formally
   acknowledged in the Black Friday letter.

   c) A student beyond the first two semesters who has not yet
   contributed to the community nor has become exempt by passing the
   thesis proposal is reminded and encouraged to contribute in the
   Black Friday letter.

4) The recognition and reward structure for community service is augmented:

   a) A new Annual CS Service Award is established.  The faculty
   selects those PhD students agreed to be in the top 10% in service
   contributions, and awards them a certificate.  The names and
   contributions of these students are announced electronically to the
   department by the department chair, and are also published in the
   CS Newsletter.  The awardees are also invited to a celebratory
   meal with a subset of the faculty.

   b) One of the above contributors is selected for the existing
   Michelman service award with a cash value (presently $500).

[Modified by full faculty vote on March 29, 2006. Effective immediately.]