Location: ECS Building
Object: Menu for “Food for Thought” for Tuesday, Dec 5, 2023
Observations: 1) Starting in Fall 2017 at the suggestion of our Graduate Advisory / Admissions Committee and one of its members, Charlotte Hyde, our department’s faculty and staff have made lunch for our 35-40 graduate students during each semester’s last week of classes or finals week. As of Fall 2018, we included our term instructors in the invitation. 2) The event emerged as a way to build community and offer some relief during a hectic time of the academic year, but we were also responding to increasing food insecurity amongst our graduate students and term faculty. 3) During the recent pandemic times, when it was not safe to gather in a group to provide a meal, we shifted to a small gift of faculty-donated monies, providing each graduate student and term instructor with $10-$15 card for a grocery store or local restaurant. With Fall 2023, we’re re-introducing homemade meals alongside those monetary gifts. 4) How does it work? Faculty volunteers prepare an entree (serving 10-15) to donate. Today’s contributions, as the above flyer shows, included Carrot and Coriander Soup (prepared by Anne Longmuir) and Chicken Biryani (prepared by Michele Janette and Robbie Bear). Other faculty volunteers for this fall’s meals include Anna Goins, Naomi Wood, Elizabeth Dodd, Tom Sarmiento, Abby Knoblauch, and Cameron Leader-Picone. 5) We are, of course, happy to offer nourishing food for our amazing graduate students and term instructors as well as provide a small gift of funds with the help of faculty donations. We are also equally committed to advocating for higher GTA stipends and term instructor salaries. GTA stipends, in particular, have fallen far below peer institutions, and cost of living continues to rise. We are looking forward to the results of ongoing collaborations with our university leadership teams and to next year’s Next-Gen K-State Workforce Strategic Compensation Study, so our GTAs and term faculty can have competitive remuneration for their contributions to the mission of K-State.
— Karin Westman, Department Head
K-State English 