2CUL TSI Steering Committee meeting, 10 June 2013
Participants: Adam, Kate, Jim, Boaz
1. Former Columbia staff member, Alena Ptak Danchak, has agreed to do some part-time, free consultant work for us in late-June / early July. Among her tasks will be to: (1) review and comment on TSI work to date, (2) advise on methodology for evaluating and organizing Phase 1 reports, and (3) offer advice on Phase 2, including team formation and project management. Kate will work with Alena, providing an introduction and background to our work and pointing her to the TSI wiki. Jim will give her temporary access to the TSI Basecamp project pages.
Although we see this arrangement as a a source of free, experienced input, we are concerned that our collective time investment may not be worth the potential gain. We also feel that her investigation might be "destabilizing" and send an unwelcome message to the working groups (i.e. that we've enlisted an outside consultant to advise them). For this reason, we will not give her access to TSI working group participants. We agreed, though, the members of the SC would make themselves available (within reason) to answer questions. Kate will ask Bob and Xin if they'd be willing to provide input.
2. Xin Li has arranged with a colleague at MIT, Tracy Gabridge, to talk to us about a major reorganization they undertook at that institution.