On February 28th, 2024 the GPSG assembly passed a resolution calling for Diverse and Equitable Representation on the Campus Sustainability Executive Committee. The vote was 12 for the resolution and 1 against the resolution. 

Summary:

This resolution aims to address the lack of diverse student representation on the Campus Sustainability Executive Council (CSEC). Students have been leaders and advocates for sustainability at CU Boulder for 50+ years and there is a growing consensus among the student body that sustainability is a top priority to them. This resolution outlines the history of student advocacy for sustainability and discusses the importance of including their unique experiences and perspectives on the CSEC. To avoid an ineffective implementation of the Climate Action Plan (CAP), as seen with the 2009 CAP, it is crucial that the CSEC governance structure be amended to include multiple student and student-representative seats, across various leadership backgrounds. This resolution also discusses the importance of inclusive representation in governance structures, in alignment with STARS, as we pursue a STARS platinum campus rating (Appendix C). With undergraduate and graduate students being directly impacted by the decisions and discussions of the CSEC, it is imperative that their voices have a seat at the table. This resolution advocates for the implementation of six student seats to the Campus Sustainability Executive Council to ensure the future of CU Boulder’s climate action includes substantial input from the voices of tomorrow’s leaders. Students have already shown up for campus climate action and have continued to do so through the CAP public comment period.

Given that the CAP aims to improve community awareness, engagement, and understanding, we believe the CSEC should capitalize on the existing base of informed students by adding well-connected student decision-makers to ensure undergraduate and graduate students remain engaged throughout the lifetime of the CAP and beyond. 

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To our graduate and professional student colleagues, here are this week's announcements and updates: 

Happy Birthday Month to our CMCI Senator, Laine Zizka. 

Laine is a Communication Ph.D. student in the organization communication emphasis. Her primary research interests are crisis communication, the act and process of organization, how communities weather crises through communication, and the connection between identity and narrative. When not serving as Chair of the Awards and Grants Committee, she can be found jamming out to musicals, mainlining podcasts, or walking with her dog, Zelda.

Announcements: 

• We want to welcome our two new Law Senators, Mathew Yaeger, and Nick Floyd. Thank you for taking the time to make a difference in the graduate student community. 
  • ​Senator Floyd is a Colorado native from Erie and 1st year Juris Doctor candidate at the University of Colorado Law School. He enjoys skiing on the mountain slopes and biking the trails that Colorado has to offer. 
  • Senator Yaeger is a 1st year Juris Doctor candidate at the University of Colorado Law School. Their academic focus is on juvenile and family law, with a specific interest in the legal aid field. Mathew is from Greenwood Village, CO, and they enjoy photography and have three photos published in National Geographic.
• COO O’Rouke will not have an AVC meeting this November. In the last Associate Vice Chancellor meeting, Dr. Sonia Deluca, Senior Vice Chancellor for DEI, presented the Shared Equity Leadership framework. This comprehensive framework acknowledges essential components of Leadership by guiding governance through equity, critical consciousness, and personal journey strategies. Students or faculty can find more vital resources on their . (This website is a 365 SharePoint). 
• The Equity and Advocacy Committee is working on a summer stipend resolution for International graduate students who experience financial hardship due to lack of funding and visa work restrictions. If any international graduate students have information to share, we urge the public to come and comment, as our data is limited for this resolution.

Updates:

1. Second reading of for FY24 (Senator Carias).
   1. The assembly voted in favor of the Bill unanimously. 

2. First Reading of (Prasanth Prahladan)

   1. Discussion around the first reading centered on specific language related to mandating or recommending CU implement the “be it resolved” sections of the bill. 

   2. Further discussion of subsequent resolutions in the future related to this topic depends on how CU responds. 

Ongoing Meetings: These are always open to the public to join and comment on items at their convenience. If a public or organization member would like something added to one of the committees or the legislative assembly for review/support, please give an advance notice to Jason at chiefofstaff.gpsg@Colorado.edu.

starting Thursday, 10/25/23 at 1:30 pm

- Tuesdays at 12 p.m

- Tuesdays at 4:15 pm

- Wednesdays at 5 p.m

- Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m

Equity and Advocacy Committee: this will change this week; an update will be released before the meeting.  

Outreach Team: TBD

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To our graduate and professional colleagues,

Happy end of summer! Summer has been pretty quiet for us as we prepare to kick off a new year of grad and professional student representation this fall. As Executives, we've put together a list of priorities to work on with campus administration and the GPSG Assembly has also been brainstorming projects for the coming year:

• Increasing transparency about grad student stipend compensation and appointment expectations
• Increasing grad student stipends to match the cost of living in Boulder
• Increasing transparency about the "fine print" of grad and professional student benefits and services offered through the university
• Increasing direct communication between campus administration and grad and professional student groups
• Student representation on the CU Board of Regents
• Improving access to DEI educational materials for students
• Increasing parking and transportation safety on campus
• Improving accessibility of campus buildings

As always, we value your feedback! You can contact us any time by emailing the Executives or your Assembly Senator or using our anonymous .

Upcoming events:

• GPSG meetings
  • All GPSG meetings will be scheduled during the first week of classes in August
• New Grad Student Orientation on August 16th

Opportunities:

• Applications for positions within GPSG and on campus boards and committees are open! Many of these positions are paid and no previous experience is necessary. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and more positions will be added as we get closer to the start of the school year. Position descriptions can be found and application materials .
• !

Looking forward to seeing you this fall!

We hope you have a great rest of your summer,

Barra Peak, and Mckenzie Dice

GPSG Executive Team

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To the Graduate and Professional student body,

The Graduate and Professional Student Government (GPSG) has opened voting to elect next year’s leadership team!

GPSG leaders aim to serve the unique and diverse needs of the graduate and professional student body. To do this, we need you to share your voice in selecting your College representatives and Executives. To learn more about the candidates and how to vote, please visit our website: /gpsg/elections#vote-55. And do not hesitate to reach out to us with any questions!

Voting closes on April 15 at 5pm.

Best wishes,

Emily Jensen

President of Engagement

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To the Graduate and Professional student body,

The Graduate and Professional Student Government (GPSG) has opened voting to elect next year’s leadership team!

GPSG leaders aim to serve the unique and diverse needs of the graduate and professional student body. To do this, we need you to share your voice in selecting your College representatives and Executives. To learn more about the candidates and how to vote, please visit our website: /gpsg/elections#vote-55. And do not hesitate to reach out to us with any questions!

Voting closes on April 15 at 5pm.

Best wishes,

Emily Jensen

President of Engagement

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To our graduate and professional colleagues,

Welcome back to a new semester! Please see below for a weekly update from the Graduate and Professional Student Government, which you should also be receiving from your department representative or college senator.

Upcoming events and opportunities:

• GPSG meetings
  • - Wednesdays 5pm
  • - biweekly Thursdays 4pm
  • - Tuesdays 3pm
  • - Thursdays 10:30am
  • - Mondays at 10am
• Applications for Spring travel grants are open, due Friday, January 28.

Week in Review:

• Our first Assembly meeting of the semester was on Wednesday. These meetings are always open to the public.
• We met with the Graduate School this week. We will be adding graduate students to the Housing Master Plan Committee. Other discussion items included how to coordinate communications and structure CUBT emails to better engage graduate students.
• GPSG welcomes Jennifer Reeve as Executive Advisory Committee representative and Benjamin Burney as Dir. Social Events! We are looking for students to join two committees: graduate mentoring and to discuss the possibility of adding a third semester to the academic calendar. .
• GPSG executives meet regularly with high level campus administrators such as the Chancellor, the Chief Operations Officer, the Dean of the Grad School and many others. If you have questions/concerns that should be addressed to these people please let us know! Assembly meetings are also the appropriate place to discuss these topics.
• Please let us know if there are particular issues you’d like us to prioritize in the new year!

If any questions arise, you can reach out to your representative or contact us at gpsg@colorado.edu.

We hope you stay safe and have a great week,

Emily Jensen, Barra Peak, and Mckenzie Dice

GPSG Executive Team

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To our graduate and professional colleagues,

This is our last edition before the holidays! Please see below for a weekly update from the Graduate and Professional Student Government, which you should also be receiving from your department representative or college senator.

Upcoming events and opportunities:

• GPSG meetings
  • all meetings are on hold until the next semester
• To avoid the possibility of having a delay in enrollment in the CU student health insurance for spring semester make sure you are enrolled in classes or dissertation credits before December 9th!
• Our Director of Social Events is hosting a coffee hour for grad and professional students next Monday from 10-11 at Pekoe on campus! Stop by to get $3 off your coffee or snack.

Week in Review:

• We met with the IDEA council and the Director of Residence Life last week. We will be meeting with the Chancellor and the Graduate School once more before winter break.
• Fee Advisory Board meeting next week. GPSG is proposing significant changes to Institutional Fee Plan. We believe this is the central way we can control/reduce fees for grad & professional students.
• As of December 25th, Bobby Vondrasek is resigning from the President of Outreach position to be replaced by Mckenzie Dice. We would like to thank Bobby for his years of service to GPSG and the grad student body as Director of Legislative Affairs, President, and President of Outreach.
• The GPSG Assembly is on winter break! Assembly meetings will resume the first week of classes in January. GPSG executives and officers will continue to work until December 23rd. We will be observing CU Boulder administrative holiday leave December 24th - January 3rd.
• GPSG welcomes Marlene Palomar as the new Senator for the College of Education! .
• Ryan Gomez will be serving as Dir. Legislative Affairs starting in Spring. Ryan will be replacing Mckenzie Dice as she takes the Pres. Outreach position.
• Please let us know if there are particular issues you’d like us to prioritize in the new year!

If any questions arise, you can reach out to your representative or contact us at gpsg@colorado.edu.

We hope you stay safe and have a great week,

Emily Jensen, Barra Peak, and Bobby Vondrasek

GPSG Executive Team

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GPSG extends a welcome to two new college senators officially confirmed at Tuesday's meeting. Their information will be posted soon on the Assembly Representation page. You can learn about your college senators and find their contact information on this page at any time.

The new senators joining the Assembly are:

• Lauren Flaten, School of Music
• Anna Vernier, School of Education

We still have open senator positions in CMCI, and Education. If you are interested in serving, please contact Speaker Mader at speaker.gpsg@colorado.edu.

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To our graduate and professional colleagues,

Please see below for a weekly update from the Graduate and Professional Student Government, which you should also be receiving from your department representative or college senator.

Upcoming events and opportunities:

• All GPSG meetings are cancelled during Fall Break next week.

Week in Review:

• Remember to take the Campus Culture Survey to help us reach a 50% response rate! A personalized link to the survey was sent to you with the subject line: "Reminder: Your link to the Campus Culture Survey.”
• We opened applications for GPSG Dir. of Social Events and Dir. of Legislative Affairs. Read more about the positions and apply here.
• We met with other shared governance leaders to hear about campus DEI plans.
• Updates from the Associate Vice Chancellor’s meeting:
  • Subject to federal requirements, CU employees and students will no longer be able to claim a personal exemption for the COVID-19 vaccine. Students who do not change their vaccination status will not be eligible for the 3% stipend increase in January.
  • for finding COVID vaccine and booster shot appointments
  • Spring 2022 COVID guidance will be announced on Friday
• GPSG Executives are meeting with the Graduate School leadership on Thursday to discuss the new fee remittance and base pay increases.
• GPSG Assembly confirmed four new senators this week!

If any questions arise, you can reach out to your representative or contact us at gpsg@colorado.edu.

We hope you stay safe and have a great week,

Emily Jensen, Barra Peak, and Bobby Vondrasek

GPSG Executive Team

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GPSG extends a welcome to four new college senators officially confirmed at Tuesday's meeting. Their information will be posted soon on the Assembly Representation page. You can learn about your college senators and find their contact information on this page at any time.

The new senators joining the Assembly are:

• Taher Ujjainwala, College of Engineering and Applied Science
• Sarah Osman, College of Engineering and Applied Science 
• Morgan Riffe, College of Engineering and Applied Science
• J. Benjamin Burney, College of Arts and Sciences

We still have open senator positions in CMCI, Music, and Education. If you are interested in serving, please contact Speaker Mader at speaker.gpsg@colorado.edu.

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