The Graduate Student Issues Council (GSIC) of the Northeastern Educational Research Association (NERA) is currently engaged in the activities planned for the 2007-2008 year. Our primary concern this month is to identify the recipient of the 2007 Best Paper by a Graduate Student Award. GSIC has organized the Best Paper by a Graduate Student Award Competition, for the first time this year. This award is different than the Lorne H. Woollatt Distinguished Paper Award (Woollatt) and the Teacher-as-Researcher Award (TAR). Whereas, the Woollatt award can be awarded to any faculty, teacher, or graduate student NERA member and the TAR can only be awarded to full-time teachers who may or may not be enrolled in a masters program, the Best Paper by a Graduate Student award can only be awarded to individuals enrolled in a doctoral program who presented their papers or posters at a NERA Conference.

By early January 2008, GSIC had received eight submissions (from six graduate students, representing five institutions) for the 2007 Best Paper by a Graduate Student Award Competition. Each of the submitted papers is currently being reviewed by two independent graduate student raters and one board-appointed faculty expert. Reviews of submitted papers are based on 18 guidelines designed to assess the scholarship and rigor of each manuscript. The awarded graduate student will be announced in the next Graduate Lounge of the NERA Researcher and the NERA website's GSIC page. The winner will receive a voucher in the value of $250 towards expenses to next year's NERA conference.

Meanwhile, we are working on establishing relationships with the graduate student committees of other organizations, especially that of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). Remember that the GSIC represents graduate students at all NERA Board meetings. Please contact us with ideas, contributions, concerns, or anything else you want to discuss. We will consider your input.

GSIC Members 2007-2008

Carol Barry James Madison University barrycl@jmu.edu Megan France James Madison University francemk@jmu.edu Andri Ioannou University of Connecticut andri.ioannou@gmail.com

Christine (Lewis) Shea University of Massachusetts Amherst clewis@acad.umass.edu Leah Kaira University of Massachusetts Amherst lkaira@educ.umass.edu Asil A. Ozdogru University at Albany aozdogru@yahoo.com