Graduate student leaders think they have good ideas to improve life at Penn for their peers, but the tricky part may be spreading the word.
Increasing awareness of the opportunities available for graduate students is on top of the agenda this semester for the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly, the governing body for graduate and professional students at Penn.
In recent months GAPSA has been setting up programs to promote interdisciplinary study for graduate students, "but the problem is that students don't know what options there are," said GAPSA Chairwoman Lela Jacobsohn.
She added that one of the biggest challenges the group faces is keeping the graduate student body informed.
To address this issue, GAPSA has asked the Provost's Office to create a Web site to collect and compile information from all 12 schools about interdisciplinary programs. The Web site is scheduled to go up by the end of January or February, according to Jacobsohn.
"We have tried to get graduate issues into the administrators' radar as well as being more vocal so we can voice our concerns," GAPSA First Vice-Chair Mete Civelek said.
This semester, GAPSA also plans to publicize and implement a summer fellowship program for interdisciplinary research.
Jacobsohn added that a joint mentoring program with the Undergraduate Assembly and the Graduate Student Center that pairs graduate students with undergraduate mentees will also get a "bigger push on publicity."
The mentoring program has already seen the number of pairs double since the program's inception in 2003.
GAPSA's public relations committee hopes to make sure that graduate students receive weekly e-mails about events around campus that are not necessarily GAPSA-related.
The organization has also set up a community input page on its Web site from which members receive feedback from graduate students.
According to George Leslie, a GAPSA spokesman, the organization received a significant amount of input on its Hurricane Katrina relief efforts last semester.
"Attendance has gone up this year in all of our events," he said.
However, some students feel that GAPSA's efforts may not be as far-reaching as the members would like.
"I know people who are involved with [GAPSA] but I am not really familiar with what they do and I haven't really been impacted by their work," Classical Studies graduate student Roshan Abraham said.
Leslie said that targeting graduate students can be difficult.
"People are busy. They tend to make their friends within their own schools. It is difficult to take time out and meet people from other schools," Leslie said.
GAPSA in '06 - Graduate and Professional Student Assembly hopes to increase the visibility of its programs within the graduate student body - Decentralized nature of graduate studies at Penn cited as a cause of low awareness - GAPSA touts its mentoring programs and efforts to promote interdisciplinary study for graduate students as achievements
