Department Representatives: Information, Responsibilities and Contract
GSA Department Representative Information
Each department or independent program within each school participating in the GSA will be entitled to appoint one representative and one alternate to serve in the General Assembly.
Each department is entitled to one vote; the departmental representative carries this vote. In the event of the representative's absence, the alternate is entitled to cast the vote.
Representatives and alternates must be graduate students in good standing, registered for the current semester, and enrolled/active in the department that they will represent.
GSA Department Representative Responsibilities
A department representative must do the following for a department to be in good standing with GSA:
Attend 3 of 4 meetings a semester;*
Forward all GSA emails to your department;
Actively participate on one GSA committee; and
Have a graduate student from their department and two faculty judges to assist at the Research Symposium.
Note: Some graduate programs do not have voting privileges in GSA and are ineligible for to serve as a GSA Department Representative.
*If both the department representative and alternative are unable to attend the semester's General Assembly meetings, they may request an exemption (see the Constitution and Bylaws, Article 1, Section 3.3). Those representative are then required to complete this reporting form to maintain communication between the GSA and their department.
All Department Representatives must complete a GSA Representative Contract and have it signed by the Department Chair or Graduate Program Director.
***In addition to a completed GSA Department Representative Contract, a short bio and photo should also be submitted for the website.***