Dear Graduate and Professional Students,
On behalf of The Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS), I wish you all a Happy Holiday Season! Please see announcements and reminders from GPSS below:
2021-2022 Highlights: We are thrilled to announce our continued programming and initiatives this year!
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The Community Engagement committee in collaboration with the Yale College students in the Education Studies coordinate our New Haven tutoring program- YETI. Our initiatives this year continue to provide students with the opportunity to engage with local nonprofits such as CitySeed market that support local farmers. We also work closely with New Haven nonprofits such as CTVIP that service children and families. We recently launched our ongoing holiday toy and winter clothing drive! Use our Venmo: @gpssyalesenate to donate to support families in New Haven. Please contact us if you’re interested in volunteering, tutoring, or getting involved with CE this winter!
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The Diversity, Equity & Inclusion committee is working on COVID-19 G&P student parent issues. We are also dedicated to Belonging at Yale and student concerns related to accessibility in campus buildings. Most recently we have coordinated a Diversity portrait cross campus initiative, and worked on the Pauli Murray documentary screening during IAfrican week.
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The Social Committee hosts both virtual and in-person programming for our G&P community. This year we hosted a virtual cocktail making class led by Crown 116 with over 100 G&P students! We also coordinated a speed friending event. We rounded out the Fall semester by hosting and coordinating a graduate and professional student Harvard/Yale (H/Y) tailgate in Thompson Village. The Social committee remains dedicated to fostering student life on campus despite the logistical difficulties with in-person events. We look forward to hosting more dynamic events next semester!
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The Advocacy Committee has been continuing projects from previous semesters in addition to starting new ones. The Period Project is excited to continue to provide free menstrual hygiene and sanitary products to students, staff and faculty across campus. We have expanded our product disbursement to more locations across campus and are optimistic about advocating for university-funded free and permanent distribution of products across campus. We renegotiated a new dental plan as part of our continued advocacy for the Graduate and Professional Schools Dental and Eyecare Programs. This year, we have also been advocating for shorter wait times for Yale Mental Health and Counseling. Additionally, we are working to bring a sexual assault anonymous reporting system to Yale and to start a campus food pantry for graduate and professional students. Contact Chrishan Fernando to get involved with Advocacy this year!
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The Professional Development committee has been working to expand the opportunities for our G&P students. Specifically, we launched the inaugural cross-institutional networking event in partnership with 5 top universities in the east coast, with the goal of connecting students from different universities with similar career interests. In collaboration with YCC, we paired graduate students with undergraduates, showing undergraduates what graduate students’ life is like, increasing graduate students’ mentoring experience. In partnership with YAA, we are working on the networking events for G&P students to connect with Yale Alumni from different industry professionals. We look forward to the wonderful events to come for the spring!
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The Public Relations committee has been working to revamp the weekly announcements to be more stylish and accessible, which will debut SOON! The committee has also reengaged with our social media, spreading the word of the good work done by the other committees, and being the first stop for many student concerns. We also met students and provided school gear at events including the orientation and the Harvard-Yale game.
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The Funding committee has been diligent in our deliberations, having allocated over $7000 dollars for student groups and events on campus during fall semester! The majority of the events we have funded have been university-wide groups or collaborations between multiple school groups. Some specific events we’d like to highlight include the HAVEN Free Clinic's Annual Anda! 5K, the South Asian Graduate and Professional Association’s Navratri Celebration, and the Office of LGBTQ Resources Out of the Qloset Clothing Swap. The funding committee will continue to accept funding applications over the break and into the Spring Semester. Interested parties should review our guidelines!
REMINDERS: Part of the mission of the GPSS is to influence the policy, culture, and views of the University leadership by expressing the views of the student body to the administration, and by issuing statements of our position to the media and administration. You can learn more about the Yale Senate by viewing our orientation video.
The Senate is also a major funding and advertising source for G&P community events put on by G&P student groups across campus. Some of our recent projects, accomplishments, and initiatives can be found on our website. You can stay current with our upcoming events, as well as other happenings in the G&P community, by reading our Weekly Announcements, visiting our Calendar of Events, and following us on YaleConnect, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Want to make an impact on student life? If you feel passionate about issues affecting G&P students at Yale, contact us via email or come to our meetings! They take place every other Thursday night starting back up in the Spring on January 27th at 7:00 PM EST on ZOOM. Our first meeting this Spring will feature special guest President Peter Salovey (1/27/22). All of our general Senate meetings are open to all G&P students.
I wish you all the best and a very Happy New Year!
Sincerely,
Patrice Collins
President | Graduate and Professional Student Senate
Senate Executive Board 2021-2022
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Patrice Collins, President
Dustin Gavin, Vice-President
X Huang, Treasurer
Chrishan Fernando, Advocacy Chair
Katie Ebinger, Community Engagement Chair
AJ Hudson, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Chair
Marina Edwards, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Chair
William Weinberg, Funding Chair
Zenan Wang, Professional Development Chair
Nick Fisk, Public Relations Chair
Jacob Chen, Social Chair
Eriele Tellis, Social Chair