Welcome back and Happy New Year!!! The Graduate Student Assembly is the voice of graduate students at UMass Boston. The GSA is dedicated to enhancing the academic and professional development of our graduate student community by supporting graduate research and skill development. Graduate students are invited to attend our meetings, which are held every other Thursday. Please visit our website at www.gsa.umb.edu for this semester’s meeting dates.
We’re looking for new faces! We have some exciting programs and events planned for the upcoming year and invite you to become involved and have your voice heard!
Recognized Professional Association (RPA) Spring 2005 Activation The Graduate Student Assembly sponsors Recognized Professional Associations (RPAs) to promote interaction and professional development among graduate students at UMass. A list of this year’s current RPAs is available on our website. RPAs are open to all graduate students. If there is not currently an RPA to match your interests, consider organizing a new one! A potential new RPA must have at least 10 graduate student members (but no two RPAs may have more than a 20 percent membership crossover), a constitution outlining its purpose, structures, and procedures, and a faculty advisor.
RPAs must be re-activated yearly and activation materials may be found on our website. Any RPA activated in Fall 2004 will remain active for Spring 2005, but the deadline for new RPA activation is Thursday, February 3 at 5 p.m. The President and Treasurer of each new RPA must attend Officer Training. Please check the GSA website for the training date.
Game Room Night – Wednesday, February 9The GSA will be sponsoring a Game Room Night for graduate students on Wednesday, February 9 from 4 – 7 p.m. in the Campus Center Game Room (Upper Level, Campus Center). Stop by, grab some pizza, enter our raffle drawing, and play some pool or air hockey on us! This event will be a great opportunity to relax and meet other graduate students! We hope to see you there!
Spayne and Bollinger Fall 2004 Awardees AnnouncedThe Graduate Student Assembly would like to congratulate the Spayne and Bollinger Grant Awardees for Fall 2004. Peter Van Do and Malo Ngozi Iffoma were granted Robert Spayne Master’s Thesis awards, and Katia Fredriksen and Christopher Allen received Craig Bollinger Doctoral Thesis grants. The GSA would like to thank all who applied and wish these students the best of luck with their research. The deadline for the Spring 2005 Spayne and Bollinger grants will be announced shortly.
The Office of Student LifeHave you stopped by the Student Life Counter to pick up your Student ID sticker yet? The Student Life Office has many programs and discounts available to graduate students! Discount movie passes, and passes for both the Museum of Science and the Aquarium can be purchased at Student Life with your Student ID. You can also get into the Museum of Fine Arts and the JFK Library for free with your current UMass Boston Student ID.
Professional Development GrantsThe Professional Development Grant (PDG) program is one of the GSA’s most utilized resources. As graduate students, we know that conferences can be a great opportunity to network and learn, but travel costs and registration fees sometimes deter students from participating. The goal of the PDG program is to assist graduate students with this economic burden and encourage students to represent their programs and the University at academic conferences by providing grants to pay for some of the cost of attending professional meetings.
In order to serve as many graduate students as possible, the GSA has improved the PDG application. Please be sure to read the guidelines and application on our website. Note that all application materials must be submitted 30 days prior to travel to be eligible for review.
Looking for us?We are located on the third floor of the Campus Center, in room 3404. For applications, forms, or more information on any of our programs, please visit our website at www.gsa.umb.edu.