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The University of Mississippi

GSC Newsletter

Hello all,

Outgoing GSC President Ethan Booker

Ethan Booker

My name is Ethan Booker, and I am the outgoing President of the Graduate Student Council (GSC). First and foremost, I want to thank you all for an amazing school year! It was such an honor to serve as your President. I have always said that this university is great because it has the best people. You all have proved this correct once again. I am continually inspired by the hard-work, innovation, and perseverance of our graduate students.

Last spring, when this administration took over, we had two goals for GSC: 1) build upon our current foundations and 2) effectively advocate for the diverse interests of all students. I feel confident that we met these goals, and I am proud of the executive board’s work. Some of our accomplishments include:

  • increased director’s pay from $800/year to $1,000/year
  • expanded the total number of directors from 3 to 5 (including Director of Inclusion and Director of External Affairs)
  • increased the overall GSC budget by 170%
  • appointed our Treasurer to the Student Activity Fee (SAF) comptroller board
  • restructured our budget to allow for more symposium allocation
  • our Director of External Affairs helped us raise donations from the community – a first for GSC!
  • re-Ignited philanthropy efforts by partnering with the university’s Athletics for the Stronger Together Campaign
  • created the first annual GSC Alumni Reunion weekend with a reception at the law school and a football tailgate at the school of pharmacy
  • served on all chancellor’s standing committees, effectively communicating the concerns of graduate students
  • recommended graduate student members for and served on the graduate student stiped taskforce, charged by the Chancellor, which gave a formal recommendation to Chancellor Boyce on increases
  • worked with Associated Student Boy (ASB), Staff Council, and Faculty Senate to create a Joint UM Governing Bodies standing meeting to increase communication
  • helped create the Southeastern Conference Graduate Student Council Coalition, including all SEC schools
  • expanded the Annual GSC Research Symposium to include all areas of study and renamed it the GSC Research and Creative Achievement Symposium
  • increased the scholarship amounts for awards at the symposium
  • had a record number of abstracts submitted for the largest research symposium in school history
  • brought in a keynote speaker, Sly Spencer Lee, to the symposium
  • saw record voter turnout for GSC elections

By no means is this exhaustive, but it highlights some of our key accomplishments. None of this would have been possible without an incredible team of senators and executive board members. I am thankful for each of their leadership!

2022 Graduate Student Council

Vice President – Chad Diaz, II

Treasurer – Chancey Mullins

Secretary – Jennifer Bagby

Director of Student Affairs – Benjamin Salvador

Director of External Affairs – Elizabeth Tettleton Mason

Director of Inclusion – Jazmine Kelley

Directors of Academic and Professional Development – Kritika Gupta & Preethi Lakkala

As the school year comes to an end, my administration is officially passing things off to your new leadership team. I can confidently say that GSC is in great care with this incredible group of new student leaders who will continue to build upon this past year and bring GSC to incredible new heights.

I hope you all have a fantastic summer!

 

Hotty Toddy,

Ethan Booker

 

Spring/Summer 2022 Articles

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