Duke will host the National Association of Graduate-Professional Students National Conference Fall 2012.
The conference is an opportunity to facilitate communication, leadership and skill development and the sharing of ideas between graduate and professional students from institutions across the United States, according the NAGPS website. The Graduate and Professional Student Council announced that it would be hosting the conference at their meeting Tuesday night.
The conference will consist of a series of meetings, followed by a banquet on the final evening, said GPSC President Felicia Hawthorne, a fifth-year genetics and genomics doctoral candidate. The conference will be held at no cost to the GPSC, as the council will be reimbursed by NAGPS through registration fees.
“I can’t emphasize enough how really big [the conference] is for us,” Hawthorne said. “The recognition that we get as a larger group being involved in [NAGPS] is great for us.”
GPSC is also considering becoming a lifetime member of NAGPS, joining 65 other member institutions for a $10,000 fee, said Hawthorne. GPSC will vote on the membership next week.
A motion to close the meeting to the public passed after discussions of the NAGPS conference.
GPSC also approved its fall budget of $27,155, though not all committees were pleased with this semester’s funding.
GPSC Treasurer Philip Weissman, a law student, said GPSC provided as much funding as was permitted by its bylaws, and suggested that the committee apply for a co-sponsorship to receive additional funding.
“If I bend the bylaws for this group’s funding, I’m going to have to answer to a lot of people,” Weissman said. “And I won’t have answers for them.”
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