Graduate Student Senate | UMass Amherst

News and Information

Spring 2019 GSS Election

The Spring 2019 GSS Officer Election will be taking place in Campus Pulse from Tuesday, February 19th through Thursday, February 21st.

Click here to learn more about the election and the candidates.

Campus Reaccredidation Committee

The campus is undergoing a comprehensive evaluation for reaccreditation by the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). A team of nine evaluators from public research universities across the U.S. will be visiting the campus on October 21-24. The university has submitted an extensive self-study that addresses all of their nine standards and 184 sub-standards for institutional quality criteria. You may find the self-study and more information about the site visit at www.umass.edu/planning/neasc.

The site visitors will be meeting with GSS leadership and additional four graduate students at a lunch on October 22 from 12-1 PM.

It will be required that students who would like to attend the lunch meeting familiarize themselves with the self-study. Chapters 4 and 5 address the academic program and students. Chapter 6 includes research, graduate study, and engagement.

Please note that there will also be an open meeting for any/all students to attend on October 22 at 4:15 PM-5:15 PM in Campus Center 168C.

2018-2019 Elected Senators

Senator list by College and Program, with contact information.

UMass Amherst Sexual Harassment Policy Survey:

The administration is updating the campus’ Sexual Harassment policy and seeking graduate students feedback on the draft. In order to facilitate the feedback process, GSS administrated a survey to collect feedback and would appreciate if you please read the draft and provide feedback on this very important policy by October 12th. A draft of the policy update was sent to all graduate students and you can access the anonymous survey here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScIHIe0XCvBbPrWbzCkcnrfZb3ETaZTYSmXcD7gYTVhWCafWw/viewform?usp=sf_link.

If you have any questions please reach out to GSS Racial and Gender Equity and Access Coordinator Mariam Rashid at gssaccess@grad.umass.edu and GSS Treasurer Bianki Torres at gss-treas@grad.umass.edu.

Search Committee Member Needed:

The Student Affairs and Campus Life is in the process of putting together a search committee for the Executive Director for Wellbeing, Access, and Prevention, and campus policy requires that search committees include one graduate student.

The timing of the search will span from Early November through March of 2019. The most busy time for committee members will be phone interviews and SKYPE/Video interviews from November 26th through December 13th.

If you are interested in sitting on this search committee to bring graduate students' perspectives to the table please email gss-pres@grad.umass.edu by October 8th, 5PM and include your motivation.

Here is the description of the position:

"Reporting to the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Campus Life (SACL) and serving as a member of SACL’s leadership team, the Executive Director for Wellbeing, Access and Prevention, under general direction and informed by priorities supporting student success, leads and provides strategic direction for a cluster of programs and services supporting the psychological and physical wellness of UMass Amherst students. Functional areas of responsibility include administrative oversight of the Center for Counseling and Psychological Health (CCPH), Center for Health Promotion (CHP), Campus Recreation, and Disability Services. Several key focus areas provide an administrative framework for the work performed by this position; including, resource alignment, program assessment, data-informed decision-making, and strategic planning. Success in this role will be based in large part on the Executive Director’s ability to build excellent, collaborative intra-/inter- departmental teams; establish and sustain positive working relationships with departments across Student Affairs and Campus Life, University Health Services, Human Resources, and other related stakeholders; implement programs and services that respond nimbly to identified needs and trends; ensure compliance with applicable laws, policies, guidelines and related requirements; ensure the implementation and performance of effective administrative and financial management systems; allocate and align resources to their best and most effective use; and, demonstrate the impacts of wellness programs on campus Student Success goals."

GSS 2018-2019 Agenda Survey

This is your opportunity to shape our senate meeting agenda! Please tell us what your highest concerns, challenges, and priorities are as a graduate student: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfxmAB9z1OIaztNFCPOK5KrI1p-512Oy92GWZ42m4eLu6fvHw/viewform?usp=sf_link.

GSS 2018-19 Officers Elected

Canan Cevik, President
Beyza Alpaydin, Vice President
Bianki Torres, Treasurer
For a complete breakdown of voting results please click here.

On March 12, 2018 GSS sent a letter addressed to Massachusetts Legislators regarding crucial support for the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority (PVTA): read it here.

This letter was sent to the members off the House Committee on Ways and Means (Chair: Jeffrey Sanchez), the members of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means (Chair: Karen Spilka), Representative Solomon Goldstein-Rose, and Senator Stanley Rosenburg. Without support from the Commonwealth, the PVTA is facing funding gaps and a budget shortfall that will cause service cuts and fare increases.