University of Maryland, Baltimore County - Graduate Student Association

Overview How does all of this work? The Graduate Senate is built from elected graduate students representing the academic as well as cultural diversity at UMBC. Four senators come from each college (COEIT, CNMS, CAHSS) and another four senators come from the graduate student population at-large. The Graduate Senate has overarching control of the organization, exerted during Official Meetings of the Graduate Senate. Between these meetings, the elected members of the graduate student body constituting the Executive Council (EC) are given the authority by the GSA Governing Documents to make decisions on behalf of the Graduate Senate. These members are (click to see a description of responsibilities and current contact information): - President - Vice President - Treasurer - Historian - All Standing Committee Chairs The Office of Graduate Student Life (OGSL) is built from three Graduate Assistants that work for The Graduate School to aid in carrying out the mission of the GSA as laid out in the GSA governing documents. To be clear, the OGSL works to execute the policies and procedures the Graduate Senate lays out. Although the overall goals of the OGSL are driven by the Graduate Senate in this way, the day-to-day operations are overseen by staff from The Graduate School. Namely, an Executive Administrative Assistant (EAA) of the Associate Dean of The Graduate School is placed in the OGSL to assist with logistics concerning personnel and PeopleSoft (or other administrative software) finances. The GSA is built from both of these groups and led by the Executive Council. GSA Funds come from student fees. All graduate students that have programs on-campus pay the Graduate Program Fee. As of the 2018-2019 Academic Year, this fee is assessed from each graduate student as $17 per credit hour. These funds are delivered to The Graduate School at UMBC, who gives authority of the funds to the Graduate Senate. Per the GSA Bylaws, it is the responsibility of the GSA Executive Council to develop and present a budget to the Graduate Senate for approval each year. Graduate Student Organizations are the entities that the GSA assumes form a representative sample of the various groupings of students on campus. GSOs may be formed around a grouping of students by program or around a grouping of students based on any cultural/hobby/professional groups. Basically, GSOs are graduate student clubs! But participation is not limited to just graduate students. The GSA may ask GSOs for their input on a variety of issues, particularly issues that concern social or cultural interests.