A graduate task force plans to release a November report highlighting the needs of graduate students at UCF.
The UCFGRAD Task Force has been meeting since July and is composed of three graduate student leaders, three undergraduate student leaders, two faculty representatives, and three administrators that are invested in finding methods to better meet graduate student needs, Gene Kruckemyer, news editor for the UCF News and Information Office, said.
Dr. Maribeth Ehasz, vice president and leader for the Division of Student Development and Enrollment Services, created the task force after graduate students demanded the floor at an open forum with President Hitt in March.
Graduate students at the forum asked the faculty members for support after the SGA’s Judicial Council invalidated a student body vote which would have ratified the creation of a Graduate Student Assembly as a representative body of graduate students at UCF.
The task force would be aimed at conducting studies of graduate students’ needs so that leaders can come together on graduate issues, Ehasz said in March.
“They have been collecting data from direct surveys, anecdotal discussions, other Florida institutions, and various schools around the country for ideas to move our campus forward,” Kruckemyer said.
To further meet the needs of graduate students, Matt Bagwell, Graduate Student Association president, encouraged students to vote in SGA Senate elections last week.
“Consider writing in graduate student candidates that you feel might represent graduate student interests on the SGA Senate…GSA will always advocate and support UCF graduate students,” Bagwell said via Facebook.
While the task force is still only in its research stage, graduate students are making gains in the meantime. As SGA Senate voting ended Wednesday, some graduate students celebrated the simultaneous grand opening of the new Graduate Student Center.
Located in Colburn Hall, the Graduate Student Center offers a multipurpose study room, a presentation room, a conference room, and a data analysis room. The center is complete with sofas and seating, LCD screens, video and audio recording equipment, computers, and printers.
The rooms are available for reservation by graduate students.
