GSA Officer Information

For more information, see the GSA Constitution or previous officer's descriptions.

Self-nomination form Available in Word and PDF format

President
As President of the Graduate Student Association, my primary role is to serve as a representative of Graduate Students to Faculty, Administration, and other students on campus. There is a lot of work that is done behind the scenes. Outside of running the monthly meetings, I am often asked to serve or find representatives to serve on program planning meetings (e.g. Graduate Education Week), task forces (Tuition Fee Waiver Task Force), attend special events (e.g. alumni breakfast), or meet with members of the Administration regarding Graduate Student Issues (e.g. graduate student fees and graduate student career services). In terms of in house GSA operations, the President runs the meetings, plans executive board meetings, and helps facilitate the other members of the executive board with their duties. Sometimes the facilitation may include contacting the Graduate School or the GSA Advisor to find out who the appropriate people are to contact regarding marketing, finances, or activity implementation. Finally, GSA holds several ex-officio seats on committees on campus including Graduate Professional Council Liaison, Graduate Faculty Senate Liaison, and Graduate Professional Leadership Council Liaisons. The President may serve or appoint which member serves on each one of these committees. In the past three years that I have been involved, I have seen the members of the Executive Board really strengthen and elevate the status and position of GSA on these committees. Administration has commented on the partnerships and group efforts that have been occurring on campus across the Graduate Organizations. I hope that the incoming officers will continue to elevate the position of GSA and encourage the voice of Graduate Students to be heard. (Disraelly Cruz, GSA President 2007-2008).

Vice President
First, GSA execs attend various university meetings. Although specific meeting attendance may be decided by the President and/or other execs, the Vice President usually attends the monthly GPC meeting, as the graduate student liaison, as well as semester Graduate and Professional Leadership Council (GPLC) meetings. Second, the Vice President assists the President, as well as the other execs, with designing and implementing programming geared towards graduate students. Therefore the primary function of the VP is to organize and execute the Superior Graduate Student Award’s Banquet. Additionally, the VP works with the Graduate School to coordinate Interviewing Docs in the spring semester. Like all GSA executive members, the Vice President serves as an integral role between the voice of graduates students and university officials. It is the responsibility of this position to share information that will enhance the graduate student experience while attending Mizzou. (Leslie Rill, GSA Vice President 2007-2008).

Secretary
The primary jobs of the secretary apply to this GSA officer position: recording minutes, writing agendas, taking attendance. The secretary is required to submit their minutes to the University Archives for future reference. The GSA secretary is also responsible for the GSA listserv (handled through the MU Listserv system) and for checking the GSA e-mail system. I volunteered to attend monthly Graduate Faculty Senate meetings this year, and occasionally attend GPC or GPLC meetings if another officer cannot attend. I have also served as webmaster for the GSA website for the past two years; I enjoyed learning web design and maintenance. The Graduate School has staff assigned to communications that are also available to maintain the website if future officers prefer not to personally manage the website (Kate Hertweck, GSA Secretary 2006-2008).

Treasurer