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Departmental Life & Governance
A relatively small, close-knit community of 14 faculty members and about 30 graduate students, the department is marked by an unusual degree of collegiality. Students have a direct role in departmental governance, and both students and faculty in different areas of specialization come together to attend dissertation defenses and weekly colloquia, or to audit seminar courses. "Town Meetings" of all members of the department provide a forum where issues of general concern are discussed.
The Graduate Linguistic Student Association (GLSA), composed of all the graduate students, makes an essential contribution to the intellectual and social life of the department. It organizes our colloquium series, bringing visiting speakers to the department every week. Also, its very active publication program ensures international distribution of doctoral dissertations completed in the department, and produces the University of Massachusetts Occasional Papers in Linguistics. Each year the GLSA elects two representatives to sit as voting members at faculty meetings and play a consultative role at meetings of the departmental personnel committee. The GLSA representatives often initiate important changes in departmental rules or procedures.