As a graduate student in the Department of Geography, there are many ways to get more involved in the graduate student and departmental community through service positions. While service positions are not mandatory or required, they are meaningful aspects of professional development and give you insight into how the department functions.

If you have questions about any of these positions, what they entail, or how to get involved, ask a graduate representative. Senior grads can also help you strategize about the questions of when, what, and how much service to do.

Graduate Representatives

Grad Reps serves as a conduit of information between the graduate student body and the administration. They are also involved in many aspects of the department. For example, they attend faculty meetings and communicate developments to grads, facilitate job hires and grad lunches with candidates, acquire funding for grads to attend the American Association of Geographers annual meeting, organize town halls to collect student feedback, organize professional development opportunities, manage this website, conduct orientation for new grads, and serve as point persons for other matters. There are five Grad Reps serving at one time. Grad reps serve a one-year term, with election for 3 positions at the end of the spring semester and 2 positions at the end of the fall semester.

Supporting Women in Geography (SWIG)

SWIG is a departmental organization with the mission to support women in Geography and STEM fields more generally. SWIG organizes grad lunches with female speakers in the department and facilitates other professional development opportunities. SWIG also conducts outreach to young women in area schools to expose women to Geography and encourage them to pursue higher education in STEM fields.

Undergraduate Research Opportunities Connection (UROC)

UROC is a program through which graduate students can mentor undergrads in research skills. Each semester, two graduate students work with Jodi Vender to run this program. This includes facilitating the application process and organizing the UROC student presentations at the end of each semester.

PLACE Lab

PLACE Lab has historically been an institution to support human geographers, who do not belong to “labs” like other students. PLACE Lab (Rm 324) is meant to serve as a collective space for these students, though it is open to everyone. Historically, PLACE Lab has had a budget to conduct professional development opportunities, buy collective resources, and provide funds to human geographers. At present, these funds have been discontinued, such that there are no real duties associated with the lab. However, if students would like, they may serve on this committee to plan professional development workshops.

Various departmental committees

In addition to these service positions, the department has various committees that include one or more graduate representatives. These shift from year to year, and members are generally appointed by the Dept. Head and/or Graduate Program Director. Historically, these committees have included the Graduate Program and Curriculum Committee (deals with matters of the curriculum), Public Presence Committee (deals with website and other matters), and Coffee Hour Committee (plans weekly coffee hour lecture series).

OTHER SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES IN THE UNIVERSITY

GRADUATE AND PROFESSIONAL STUDENT ASSOCIATION COUNCIL

The GPSA is the mediator between the graduate and professional student body and the university administration. GPSA members serve in various capacities to organize events, support student organizations, vote on various policy measures, and communicate this information to the grads in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.

EMS STUDENT COUNCIL

EMS Graduate Student Council is an official group within the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences that represents graduate student at the college level, and organizes events for graduate students within the college. The council generally has two major duties a year, organizing the EMS graduate poster session and award ceremony, and running the EMS centennial travel funding award. The council also organizes social and informational events throughout the year, most recently an information session about Unionization.

LGBTQA Center Advisory Council

Students serving on the LGBTQA Center Advisory Council provide feedback on the programming put on the by LGBTQA Center. They meet once a month to review ongoing programming and offer feedback on the center’s various initiatives.