GRADUATE STUDENT ASSOCIATION

Upon admission to the program, all students become members of the Graduate Student Association. The Association serves as a liaison between graduate students and faculty members. The Association provides an organized approach to meeting individual and group needs and can be a useful vehicle for communicating with the faculty and administration about program improvement.

Students in the program elect representatives: president, vice-president, secretary, social chair, and editor of The Scrivener (the GSA newsletter). The English Graduate Student Association is organized as follows:

President

The president, Jessie Wirkus,

• Directs the affairs, activities, and meetings of the Association.
• Attends Graduate Advisory Committee as a non-voting member to advise them of student needs, perspectives, and opinions relating to the graduate program.
• Attends to both general and specific association objectives and sees that activities are planned to meet them.

Vice-President

The vice-president, Christie Peterson,

• Attends designated meetings with the faculty.
• Acts as the GSA Treasurer.

Social Chair

The social chair, Matt Dinger,

• organizes a variety of activities during the school year. Some traditional activities include Faculty-Student Sports Events and seasonal get-togethers for Halloween, Christmas, and end-of-Winter Semester.

Secretary

The secretary, Catherine Curtis,

• serves at the discretion of the president.

Editor of The Scrivener

The editor of The Scrivener, Mary Hedengren,

• edits the graduate student newsletter, which appears several times during the school year and provides news on the program, bios of faculty and students, and other useful information.

Other GSA Roles

In addition, officers of the Association:

• Create a sense of professional community among English MA students at BYU.
• Increase and improve student-faculty relations.
• Help disseminate information.
• Offer practical service in career and graduate school placement.
• Offer practical support in scholarly, social and spiritual endeavors.

Specifically, these will include:

• Arranging socials.
• Producing a periodic newsletter, The Scrivener.
• Organizing a yearly Graduate Student Symposium.
• Helping to coordinate professional internships, job opportunities and graduate school information.

Student Influence on Change

The English Department urges students to get involved in influencing department policies. There are four major ways that MA students in English may effectively influence the curriculum and policy-making process:

• Make suggestions to the GSA President to bring before the Graduate Advisory Committee.
• Prepare written statements for faculty members to consider.
• Attend symposia and forums where students are specifically invited to engage in discussions.
• Approach faculty members directly in a responsible and professional manner.