New officers of the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly were elected on Monday during the final GPSA meeting of the academic year in the Big Red Barn Graduate Student Center.
Michelle Leinfelder grad, the current executive vice-president, was elected president of the new executive board. She identified three main goals of the new GPSA executive board: to continue working on the Graduate Committee Initiative, to represent the voices of graduate and professional students and to make sure that the administration understands the immediate needs for a graduate student center.
Apart from Leinfelder, none of the newly elected officers have previously served on the GPSA executive board. However, they all have experience on various University or GPSA committees. Mario Guerrero grad will serve as the next executive vice-president and communications committee chair. Deondra Rose grad will be the next vice-president of operations — this position was previously called secretary. Joern Kupferschmidt grad will be the new funding policy committee chair. Darrick “Nighthawk” Evensen grad will serve as the next finance commission chair. Brian Forster grad was elected as the advocacy committee chair. The position of events planning committee chair will be elected in Fall 2008.
Apart from GPSA officers, Tamara Pardo grad, Nick Brideau grad and Ed Strong grad were also elected as graduate and professional student representatives on the University Assembly. Pardo is the only returning representative. All three new U.A. representatives are also GPSA members.
The 17 GPSA voting members, who were elected at the final Council of Representatives meeting two weeks ago participated in the election for GPSA officers.
Leinfelder is pleased with the election results.
“I couldn’t be happier with the new slate of officers. Each one of them brings a blend of experience and new ideas, and their enthusiasm will keep the organization on its path of success,” she stated in an e-mail.