GSA Elections 2011 - UC Davis GSA

Welcome to the 2011 GSA Elections page. Congratulations to the newly elected members of the Executive Council.

Election results

Chair - Katie Kolesar

Vice Chair - Adam Costanzo

External Chair - Colin Murphy

Treasurer - John A. Peterson

Secretary - Ethan Evans

Campus Organizing Director - Erin Legacki

Public Relations Officer - Marissa Hirst

Counts of the votes: Election_tally_sheet.pdf

Thank you to those who ran to represent graduate students
Chair - Brian Riley
Vice Chair - Farshid Haque
External Chair - Rosalyn Earl
Treasurer - Robert M. Saper (Rob)
Secretary - Michael Accinno
Campus Organizing Director - Marguerite Wilson
Public Relations Officer - Vallerye Mosquera

Elected EC members' candidate statements

Katie Kolesar
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

This is now the end of my second year being involved in the Graduate Student Association. Over the past year, I served as Public Relations Officer whose main responsibility is to organize social events for graduate students. Among these are the weekly Coffee Bagel Donut Day, Woodstock's Happy Hour and a few new events. I have tried my best to listen to your concerns, and to make changes accordingly.

My first duty as PRO was to organize the Week of Welcome Barbeque which is the first GSA event of the year. In order for this event to be a success, I solicited help from graduate students across campus for Costco trips, food preparation, food serving and clean-up. Thank you to all of my wonderful volunteers who helped things to run very smoothly. In addition to providing the traditional hamburgers, I ordered bratwursts from the Meat Lab on campus and also provided both vegetarian and vegan options. Another big change that I made was to not serve bottled water and soda. Instead, we had refillable jugs of ice water and lemonade. This reduced our beverage costs, reduced waste and allowed us to provide more food!

At Coffee Bagel Donut Day I have had the opportunity to see many of your sleepy faces. Through these interactions, I have gotten a better feel for the broad spectrum of concerns and interests of the Graduate Student Community. Accordingly, I and the CBDD assistant, Marissa, have made some changes. This is the first year that the GSA offered not only a free plastic coffee mug, but a stainless steel option for $5. We also have attempted to reduce waste by starting compost buckets and using dry spaghetti as coffee stirrers. The weekly raffle continues, but instead of a $5 gift card to the UCD Bookstore, we changed the prize to a $5 gift card to Peet's Coffee, a seemingly more appropriate prize for the event.

During the winter quarter, I organized a final's week cookie and hot chocolate snack break at the GSA Office. This was well attended, and gave graduate students a much needed mid-day pause to research and studying. I organized two of the traditional Woodstock's Happy Hours, but wanted to add a little diversity to the graduate student social calendar. The first new event was a happy hour at Sudwerks. I negotiated beer happy hour prices for the entire duration of the event and the GSA provided food. For those who attended, this was a nice, relaxing evening on the Sudwerk's patio. The final new event that I am organizing is an end of the year picnic. This will take place on June 8th at the Solano Park Community Center and will be a great end of the year celebration for the graduate student community.

Now I have the opportunity to bring my wealth of knowledge and experience to the position of GSA Chair. My vision of the Chair position is two-pronged: to represent that diverse interests of all graduate students to various bodies on campus and to report to the General Assembly on the happenings of various campus sub-groups. It is the exchange gained through these two channels that fortifies the voice of the graduate student community.

Adam Costanzo

Statement for Adam Costanzo:

I've been involved with the GSA for four years now. I began by serving as a representative to the General Assembly from the History Department. For the next two years I served on the Executive Council as the Campus Organizing Director (COD) helping change the duties and nature of that position. As COD I teamed up with Outdoor Adventures to provide trips and events for grads away from campus. I also partnered the GSA with groups like the Yolo County Food Bank and the Special Olympics of Northern California to create opportunities for grads to give back to their community. As a member of the Executive Council during this period I authored the GSA’s response to the university’s near withdrawal from the system-wide Graduate Student Health Insurance Plan. I’m very proud that the GSA’s advocacy efforts helped convince the administration to keep our campus in the new insurance program which included an option for grads to purchase insurance for their dependents, a benefit we had gone without for too many years.

This past year I’ve served as the GSA’s Vice Chair. For this position I have worked to place grad students on the various Academic Senate and administrative committees which create academic policy and provide advice and input to university officials. I’ve also provided grievance assistance and advice throughout the year to grads who have found themselves in disputes with their professors, departments, or peers. I believe that this role is the most vital part of the Vice Chair’s position because it allows the GSA to provide support for grads at crucial moments in their graduate careers. Having been involved with the GSA for several years I’ve learned a great deal about the challenges faced by grad students across the various disciplines, the regulations that govern their study, and the campus resources available to help resolve problems which arise during their studies.

I’m running for re-election to the position of Vice Chair because I very much enjoy serving the grad student community. Next year, I hope to find grads willing to fill all of the committee positions open on campus so that graduate students can be at the table when decisions are made. I believe that, in previous years, the GSA served as a powerful and well-respected voice on campus for grad student advocacy. My vision for the GSA is one which follows the example of the faculty’s Academic Senate. The GSA should act as a partner with the Senate and the administration in order to develop solutions to the difficult problems facing the university. I hope that the Executive Council can foster a positive and productive relationship with the Senate and the administration because I believe that graduate students benefit when we engage as professionals with decision makers on campus. I hope very much that the Assembly will provide me with the opportunity to continue working toward these goals.

Colin Murphy

Statement for Colin Murphy:

I’ve had the honor of serving as your External Chair for the last year and my record over that time speaks for itself. I think that GSA officers should demonstrate a willingness to give time and effort, as well as the ability to produce results. On both counts, I think I succeed. We took three trips to Washington, DC, to meet with congressional staff and advocate for student issues. We also made visits to the State Capital in Sacramento and took part in the UC Day advocacy events. I planned and executed the IGPS training workshop and played a significant role in organizing the event itself. I have an excellent working relationship with the UCD external affairs team as well as several staffers for representatives in Sacramento and DC. Our efforts helped pass a tax exemption for grad student stipend income and our input has helped shape higher education legislation that will be introduced in this Congress.

Graduate students are a constituency that is easy for politicians to ignore. We’re all busy with our studies, we don’t have enough money to make campaign donations and if you wait long enough, we graduate and move on. Our power to affect policy comes from our ability to articulate our positions, to be reasonable in how we seek them and to convince the powers-that-be that our goals are also good policy. This means we have to be pragmatic and nuanced in our advocacy. Strident demands simply don’t resonate with politicians. Discourse and the ability to understand both sides of an issue do. I’ve achieved this necessary balance by focusing on policies that promote our core values and I regularly seek guidance from the General Assembly. The relationships I’ve build up over the last year give me an excellent foundation to make an even greater impact this coming year.

While I feel like I’ve done well as your External Chair this year, I think I can do better next year. I plan to expand the role of the lobbying assistant and revive the standing committee on external affairs. At present, there are two main areas the External Chair needs to follow: federal policy and state policy. This year, there were times when my attention was spread too thinly between these two. The expanded assistant role will take over one of them and ensure that we keep up with developments in congress and maintain constant contact between the GSA and our representatives. The standing committee will help me ensure that a variety of GSA voices are being expressed through the external chair’s efforts. The committee will also help ensure that when I depart this position, there are people who will be able to maintain continuity of connection to the contacts that we’ve developed over the last year.

TL;DR version: I am a results-oriented pragmatist who has effectively represented the GSA to policy makers for the past year. I plan to expand GSA’s advocacy efforts and continue to successfully advance graduate student issues.

John A. Peterson

Dear Assembly,

For the past year I have had the honor and privilege of serving as treasurer of the Graduate Student Association. The duty of the treasurer is simple: act as steward of the monies raised by student fees and allocated to us by other processes. I believe the job is done best when the amount of money returned to students is greatest. That is the guiding philosophy that has driven the decisions I have made as treasurer. I believe in that role, I have served as a good steward. I have made decisions that have followed university policies, our governing documents, and the instructions of the assembly. If allowed to serve a second term, I will use the experiences from my first year to more effectively return money to the graduate student population.

In my first year, I have seen the reduction of budgeted internal expenses by 60%. Winter travel awards were increased by 33% from last year. Spring travel awards were increased by 20%. Orientation funding was increased by 30%. The department fund was increased by 15%. The Coffee Bagel Donut Day funds were increased by 8%. In total, $12,000 was added to these five programs that directly impact graduate students. This money was recovered by streamlining operations and reducing budget surpluses. I asked the assembly to move us from the Cabernet room in South Silo, for which we paid money, to academic rooms that are free. This room had several other advantages, including technologies (the projector and document camera) that allowed us to reduce paper usage (and costs) at meetings.

As treasurer, I have also overseen the Travel Award process. Previously, applicants were required to submit transcripts and other time-consuming materials. That has not been required under my stewardship of the award. Last year, the awards were run with only paper versions accepted. This year, the GSA transitioned to an online process. Although the transition was not perfect, the participation in the Travel Award has increased by more than 20%. I was involved in training of three temporary hires and the hiring process for the permanent Office Coordinator. This has helped to insure that qualified people will distribute the awards granted by the association. I have also worked closely with other officers to help them be as cost effective in the execution of their duties as possible.

If elected to a second term, I hope to continue to find places where the association can move funds from accounts that do not directly impact graduate students to accounts that do. I will also be involved in dialogs with the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs regarding the possible move to Shared Services. As part of that conversation, I will bring financial projections to the assembly and the opinions of the assembly to the Vice Chancellor. I have a good relationship with the staff in that office and with Vice Chancellor Wood. I also intend to fight for funding the association receives in excess of student fees (approximately $24,000 or 11%) during the upcoming campus budgeting process.

Respectfully submitted,

John A. Peterson

Graduate Student in Geology

Ethan Evans

Candidate Statement: Ethan Evans

I would like to serve you as GSA Secretary. I have been a representative for the past year. During this time, I facilitated GSA comment on a proposal submitted by Dean Gibeling to reorganize Graduate studies and currently serve on the Provost’s Graduate Education Taskforce.

Secretary Position

As minute taker, the Secretary’s main job is to make it easy for you to inform your department or grad group about what GSA is doing and what special programs are happening. If elected my goal is to post draft minutes within 4 days of the meeting, so that you can rest your hand during the meeting.

Also, the Secretary is charged with knowing GSA Bylaws. I believe that helping the Executive Council follow the guidelines for GSA positions and programs will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our meetings. We all have pulls on our time and energy. I have carefully read GSA guidelines. As Secretary, I will strive to help keep tasks/meetings on track, improving the time we spend at Assembly meetings each month.

Qualifications

I have served as a volunteer to several non-profit and local government advisory boards with the Sacramento Housing Alliance and the County of Sacramento Disability Advisory Commission. Such experience will help me to work together with the other Executive Council members to ensure the GSA does its best to benefit all graduate students, grad groups and departments.

Erin Legacki

My name is Erin Legacki and I am a third year Animal Biology PhD student. This is my second year as a GSA representative for the Animal Biology Graduate Group. During my time as GSA representative I organized numerous events for our group. As a new graduate group we had very little social organization so there was a need to make our graduate students feel less isolated. I planned numerous social and professional events. I also created a social committee to help with ideageneration, planning and organization of events. I have been very involved with the GSA. I served on several GSA committees and took the Graduate Ally training last September. These experiences make me qualified to serve as Campus Coordinator.

I have many plans for the graduate students of the UC Davis campus. Most of these ideas stem from the feeling of isolation that people cited as a problem during our GSA meetings at the beginning of this academic year. Campus Coordinator should work to make our graduate community a more cohesive group. This is such a diverse campus that no one here should feel isolated. There are many ways to bring people of this campus together:

We have a Graduate student Facebook page but we don’t seem to have a GSA Facebook page. We need a place where we can post events and activities that are easily accessible. Although the wiki is wonderful, Facebook might a more user friendly media.
Have monthly explore Davis/Yolo county outings. As of now we have two big group events that only 20 people can go on. I plan to organize local events, e.g., bike the Davis Bike Loop, hike the yolo bypass, and volunteer with Putah Creek rehabilitation. These activities are fairly inexpensive and can accommodate a large group of people so that everyone can participate in GSA events.
Have an interdisciplinary Journal Club. Everyone enjoyed the IGPS and I kept hearing everyone say how impressed they were with all different research topics on campus. I would like to organize a monthly interdisciplinary journal club where a different graduate group presents each month. This would not only introduce us to the vast amount of research that goes on at UC Davis, but it would also introduce us to the vast amount people on campus.
Put together a graduate student MEETUP group. This is a forum that will allow graduate students to plan activities and find activity partners within the graduate community.
Help other graduate groups plan orientation events. I will accumulate a list of ideas for orientation/welcome week from as many graduate groups on campus as possible. These ideas will be sent to all GSA representatives for planning help
Organize a yearly bike maintenance course for graduate students potentially coordinating with the Davis Bike Collective.
Adopt a GSA sponsored philanthropy that graduate students can donate time to throughout the year. This philanthropy can be voted on at the beginning of the academic year.

Marissa Hirst

My name is Marissa Hirst, and I am a third year Microbiology PhD student. I have happily spent the last year providing all of you hungry graduate students with an abundance of coffee, bagels, and donuts at your weekly CBDD event. It has been my pleasure to welcome all of you to this great event, where graduate students from all walks of life have the opportunity to socialize and bridge the gap between different disciplines. Katie Kolesar and I have taken CBDD and attempted to make it as green as possible. We have started composting our waste, replaced paper towels with reusable towels, and at the suggestion of a graduate student that attends CBDD, we have started using dry pasta sticks as stirrers instead of environmentally unfriendly plastic straws. We have also provided graduate students with the wonderful free plastic mugs as well as a new option of a stainless steel variety for only $5!

In addition to organizing and participating in the weekly CBDD events, I have taken an active role in planning multiple social events throughout the year such as pizza nights at Woodstocks Pizza, cookies and hot cocoa at the end of winter quarter, a social gathering at Sudwerks, and along with Katie Kolesar, we're in the process of planning an end of the year bounty/picnic to celebrate another great year of incredible GSA events! Lastly, I helped out at the IGPS event this year by facilitating the move of CBDD over to the ARC for refreshments throughout the weekend.

My plan for next year is to increase the number of social events throughout each quarter. GSA events are one of the only opportunities graduate students have to interact with one another, foster community, and in general socialize. I would also like to advertise these events earlier so that more people are aware of upcoming events. We all have access to the GSA Weekly announcements, but how many people actually read through the whole thing each week? I also agree with Erin Legacki that a Facebook Page, along with the wiki, would be an excellent way to advertise. I also plan to purchase more free GSA mugs and keep the stainless steel type if GSA representatives agree that it is a good option. I have a great relationship with the staff in the GSA office, and I can't wait to start planning!