Welcome everyone to the start of a new academic year. By now, most of the new graduate students have started their program, and are getting familiar with their surroundings. As for the rest of us, this month is another passing month, however, this is an important time for the GSA to gear up for this academic year. I will take this opportunity to highlight some of the goals of the GSA for this year, and explain some of the ways we represent the graduate students at the University of Prince Edward Island to represent the graduate students. We are here to give a unified voice for the graduate students. If you have any concerns or problems related to your program or campus life, please contact us. We can find the appropriate channels to deal with issues. The GSA can only work as well as the input/commitments from the graduate students. Our newsletter and our events are our main methods to diffuse information to you. If you want to help with any events or with the newsletter, please do so. We will welcome any articles or the newsletter or volunteers for activities. The graduate students have representation in many committees across campus. These committees are all very important since decisions are made which affects us all. It is the wish of the GSA to compile a comprehensive list of these committees and the students serving on them. As some of you may be aware, the University of Prince Edward Island wishes to expand its graduate studies programs. As part of the expansion, a School of Graduate Studies is "in the works". It is imperative that your opinion is heard during the building of this centre. We will be circulating a general questionnaire to all current and some past graduate students to get an idea of what we can do to help and improve the student’s needs. To our knowledge, there has never been a comprehensive questionnaire and we hope this will be utilized by many other decision-making groups on campus to reflect the graduate student’s needs. Keep an eye out for the on-line questionnaire which will be available early October. I wish to re-iterate that your participation is needed, and we welcome help from you, our fellow graduate students.
Sincerely, Raphael Vanderstichel UPEI GSA President |
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