Meet GPSC

Imagine that at the end of this sentence you knocked a glass of water onto your keyboard. Bad, right? It would be hard to keep up with work or make progress on your assignments. It’s one of those small, unpredictable things that can throw a wrench in a graduate student’s career, which are hard to account for beforehand. Most graduate students will probably go through something like this—water on the keyboard, broken glasses, fender bender, etc.—but despite the widespread prevalence of small impactful accidents, it’s doubtful that UArizona will establish a “Keyboard Protection Fund,” and for good reason: It’s just not feasible. However, there is actually a fund to help students recover from small accidents. It’s called the Basic Needs Microgrant, and graduate students who apply can receive up to $200 to dedicate to anything that might be hampering their educational progress.

The microgrant was introduced this year by the Graduate and Professional  Student Council (GPSC). GPSC is a student government organization that represents the interests of the graduate students at the University of Arizona. Each college has its own representatives, and all of the representatives are led by an executive board that interacts with Deans, the university President, and the Arizona Board of Regents. Each GPSC representative is responsible for being on at least two internal committees and one external committee, where they advocate for graduate students and their own constituents’ particular interests.

“I advocate very strongly for students who have disabilities,” says Lindsey McHugh, Musical Education master’s student and representative at large, “particularly those who are blind or who have vision loss. I also advocate very strongly for mental health. If we don’t speak up, how are those who make decisions about graduate student life supposed to understand what students need, or what they’re going though, if the students aren’t communicating with them?”

“We also create opportunities for graduate students to be together,” says Maritza Marquez Olague, Ph.D. student in Educational Leadership & Policy and College of Education representative, “like stress relief and snacks during finals, or Friendsgiving for students who can’t visit their families over the holidays.”

GSPC does a lot of area-specific work, but broadly, it supports students in five general areas: fees, tuition, childcare, healthcare, and standard of living.

“Those five areas are really about what graduate students need to succeed,” says Benjamen Douglas, Ph.D. student in the Applied Intercultural Arts Research program and GIDP representative for the Graduate College. “We’re really thinking about this in a systematic way, trying to figure out what causes students not to complete their degree and how we can help mitigate those obstacles.”

One of the most common reasons that students don’t finish their degrees is financial stress, which is why GPSC provides a number of grants for students. Like a travel grant for up to $1000 for domestic travel and $1500 for international travel, for students to attend a conference. GPSC also provides grants for research, childcare, and healthcare. They provide feedback on submitted grant applications to all those who apply, including applicants who don’t receive awards.

Creating these grants, and lobbying for graduate students in general, is GPSC’s function, but the strength of GPSC’s position is dependent on how much of the graduate student body’s voice they represent. That’s why they encourage students to sign up for their newsletter, follow them on social media, and reach out to representatives personally. You can find most college representatives’ emails on GPSC’s website, and they’re more than happy to hear from constituents. If you don’t see your college represented, it may be because several colleges (Architecture, Planning & Landscape Architecture; Engineering; Management; Medicine (Tucson); Nursing; Optical Sciences; Veterinary Medicine, and several interdisciplinary programs) don’t have a full complement of representatives at the moment, or don’t currently have representatives at all. This is a problem for GPSC because it weakens their bargaining power, but it’s an opportunity for any students who want to get involved.

“To run for a position,” says Maritza, “You need to collect ten signatures from people in your program and submit a letter detailing what you think you can bring to the organization.”

However, for open positions, students can either complete a semester of service or even run as a write-in candidate if they would like to get involved right away. Of course, not everyone has the time or inclination to join student government, but just by learning about it, by sharing it, by talking to its representatives, you’re helping to advocate for graduate students all over campus.

(Learn more about GPSC and the election here: https://gpsc.arizona.edu/elections(link is external))