Letter from the UGSA President

The UGSA is here to serve you and advance the interests of graduate students to the graduate school administration.

Greetings new graduate student!

On behalf of the University Graduate Student Association (UGSA) and the entire graduate student body, welcome to NC State University!

These first few weeks can, and probably will, be simultaneously scary, hectic and exciting, as you begin this chapter of your life called 'Graduate School'. With classes, teaching, research, and learning to navigate this new environment, it's a wonder that some of us survive at all! But have no fear -- to help make this transition period smoother, the UGSA offers a New Student Survival Guide for new graduate students that provides important university and local information, including useful contact numbers and online links to help get you started and settled.

The UGSA also offers other benefits to graduate students. For example, every graduate student is eligible for travel funds to support travel to professional conferences to make presentations. Also, the UGSA offers thesis funds to cover copying and/or binding the thesis or dissertation. For more information on the Thesis and Travel Fund, please visit the UGSA website at: http://ugsa.ncsu.edu. The UGSA also sponsors social events for all graduate students in the fall and spring, which are a great way to have fun and interact with other students from across the University (and sometimes other Universities, like Duke and UNC Chapel Hill!) Additionally, we hold an annual event to recognize outstanding efforts in graduate student teaching, as well as a newly instituted Graduate Student Research Symposium.

The UGSA is here to serve you and advance the interests of graduate students to the graduate school administration. It also provides a forum for discussion of problems and issues pertaining to graduate student life and academics.

All graduate students are members of the UGSA, even though your department may not have a graduate student association chapter. If you or other students would like to form a GSA chapter in your department, please contact me or any of the other Executive Board members, and we will help you set it up. Each chapter on campus sends a representative to our monthly meeting (please see the UGSA webpage for confirmation of dates and times). All graduate students are welcome to attend, and we encourage you to let your voice be heard. For more information about the UGSA and contact information, see our web site.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me at: ugsa_president@ncsu.edu. I look forward to hearing from you in the coming year!

Thanks, and once again, welcome to NC State!