After being elected to a rare second term as president of the Graduate and Professional Student Council, Rob Saunders said he's trying hard this year to put the "success" in "succession."
The key to a productive year, in other words, is continuity. "Because we're a student organization, there's a lot of turnover," Saunders said. "People get elected, they get a lot done, and then they leave."
Saunders said his first year was hampered somewhat by having to familiarize himself with the job from scratch. As a result, GPSC is working on an executive agenda for future presidents detailing all issues, relevant contact information and advice on how to proceed.
After graduating from the College of William and Mary in 2000, Saunders entered Duke to pursue a doctoral degree in physics. Now a fourth-year student, he is currently researching X-ray detectors for breast cancer prevention and enjoys swimming, going to the weight room and ushering for basketball games in his spare time.
His first year as president taught him who to talk to, what to work on--and, he said with a laugh, that reading the entire canon of Western literature--one of his goals for last year--was not as easily accomplishable as he originally thought.
Saunders said he is scrambling to appoint a GPSC vice president before Tuesday. Former vice president Colleen Hannon, a neurobiology student, stepped down after her adviser relocated to Canada.
But considering that 17 of 19 election races went unopposed last year, a surprising amount of enthusiasm has emerged in filling the position, he said. About 15 students showed interest, and Saunders said he has narrowed the list down to a few candidates.
"At the end of the spring semester, a lot of people get burnt out," Saunders speculated. "You don't want to take on new responsibilities. If you advertise things in the summer or the fall, people are more enthusiastic."
Increasing the visibility of graduate student groups tops GPSC's list of issues to address, he said. The group launched an e-mail newsletter last year to announce pertinent events and is continuing to develop it this year.
"With 5,500 students, it's very hard to get the word out that you're here, that 'This is an activity for you,'" Saunders said.
GPSC, meanwhile, is trying to bolster its own reputation as an effective outlet for graduate student concerns. To that end, the group has spoken at every graduate student orientation program and started a series of community lunches to address smaller interest groups.
"Last year, we talked about LGBT issues, about ethnic minorities and about women in the grad school, and it led to some really good discussions," Saunders said. "We'd like to continue them so that GPSC has a formal avenue to talk to students [it] can't hear regularly."
Providing child care for graduate students will be another GPSC concern. Saunders praised the most recent advances--30 of the slots in the expanded Children's Campus program have been reserved for graduate students, and the Graduate School is offering a child care subsidy for all doctoral students--but added that the effort is not over.
An attempt to provide a full-time co-operative initiative has run into trouble, he said, because North Carolina state law prevents unlicensed co-operatives from having children present for more than four hours at a time and because of financial problems.
"We've been advocating for several years to have more space," Saunders said. "To be frank, I'd like to see subsidies offered to all students, but you can't get everything all at one time."
Other issues are likely to include parking--a perennial point of discontent, though Saunders said the new Parking Garage IV has made matters much better--the possibility of an undergraduate mentoring program and a greater graduate student presence in general on campus.
Jacqueline Looney, associate dean of the Graduate School, lauded Saunders' willingness both to take charge and listen to others. "Rob is a very thoughtful leader," Looney said. "He has a style where he considers lots of views different from views he has.... He's very inclusive in his leadership [and] worked hard to recruit a great team on the executive council."
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