Graduate Student Associations

[Levon3]

Hi all, what are your thoughts on participation in graduate student associations? I can think of some obvious benefits: getting to be on the team advancing causes, building professional contacts, etc. I think it might be fun. But before I apply, I also want to weigh the costs/benefits.

I'm curious if this is something that would even be worth noting on a CV. Have those of you who participated found it to be very time-consuming? (I'm sure this varies by position).

 

[fuzzylogician]

I have a student right now who is very involved with our local union.* It is important to him and he's invested but he's definitely spending a lot of time and mental energy on it. I think you do it if you care, not for a line on your CV. (Though yes, it can go on your CV as service, but it should be clear to you that no one gets a job because they were active in a student organization, or for any other service activity for that matter.)

* or rather, with the current attempts to establish a union... 

[TakeruK]

Ever since my 2nd year, I've been a very active member of my school's grad student government (i.e. 4 out of 5 years total). I find the work very rewarding personally, and while I do include it as a line on my CV, as fuzzylogician says, I am pretty sure it is never the deciding factor for anything outside of my school. At my school, our grad student organization is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit that is independent of the school, so it allows us to do a few things that might not be as easy at other places. I've been part of our organization as a department representative but also spent a year in a much more active role, leading our Advocacy Committee and being part of the executive of the organization.

Here are some things I really enjoyed about serving on my student government:
1. A way to give back to the community. In my first year, I benefited a lot from programs designed to help students in need. Along the way, I learned a lot about how things work and how students can be helped. So I find that advocating for students through our student association and also helping make students aware of resources to be a good way to pay it forward.

2. You get to meet, make friends and work with people from all over campus. Otherwise, my social circle would mostly just be my department or research group.

3. The grad student association plans a lot of social and fun events too (in addition to great advocacy work) so you get to know about these first and also give input on future events.

4. During my year on the executive, I had a lot of regular contact with the Dean, VP Student Affairs, and the President of our University. We met with the President once or twice a year and the Dean and VP for Students every month. My school is a small school with a relatively flat hierarchical structure so it's easy to meet with people who can make a difference. Another nice thing about being at a small school is that I can email the Dean and set up a meeting within 2 weeks to talk about an important issue.

5. I've got to participate in a lot of job interviews as the interviewer. When hiring student services staff, they generally ask for volunteer student interviewers from the student government. I also was part of a hiring committee for the Associate Graduate Dean position at my school. I would say that if you are looking for career related benefits, this experience was the most helpful. Even though it was not for an academic research position, there are a lot of parallels in that process and postdoc/faculty processes (so I'm told).

6. I really do enjoy running events and workshops that inform people and make people happy. This Friday, I am arranging for the local humane society to take adoptable dogs on a field on campus for students to interact with as a de-stress type event but also to provide information on students who want to adopt a pet or volunteer. Next month, we're doing a workshop on navigating the US healthcare system. It's our third time running this and people are always very grateful for the knowledge. I find this very rewarding! Also, a lot of the things I learn from the research on these workshops are helpful to me, and sometimes, to people on these forums

7. Finally, in research, we often spend many long hours making small progress that we can't really see or things that take months or years to come to fruition. I find it helpful to have smaller projects (like planning an event/workshop) that doesn't take as much time and you can see it from start to finish in a couple of weeks. There is a definite end to these projects! I find that these small accomplishments help me get through research struggles and frustrations as they are a reminder that I am a capable person that can get things done!

There are certainly lots more and some are more specific to my school and you can PM me if you want more information. You also asked about the downsides:

- Not all of your projects/goals will succeed. There are some stuff I've been working on since my 2nd year on the government that is still slowly plodding along. It's frustrating when you run into administrators that either just don't get it, or are outright hostile to your goals. For the most part, 90% of the administrators here are very supportive of students but there are some that are much more challenging to work with. So it could add extra stress to your life.

- Not really a downside but info on how much time this will take: For our organization, the minimum commitment is a few hours per month. When I was on the executive, I spend probably 20 hours per month carrying out my responsibilities. This is about half of a work day per week. On average, I do take on more projects than the typical member of the association so I would say I work 5-10 hours on student government stuff per month.

- If your advisor doesn't support this kind of stuff, you might feel like you have to hide this from them, which makes it extra stressful for you. Fortunately for me, my advisor is very supportive. 

- In my past graduate program, I have also been very involved with the union and I put this on my CV as well. I could imagine that some non-unionized places and places fighting against unions could see this and not like it. I think grad student unionization is important so I choose to leave it on my CV. Not sure how much of a positive/negative effect this is.

- Some grad associations/governments work better together than others. You might end up in conflicts with other students and this could add extra stress to your life. Our organization is run fairly well and we keep all disputes/debates professional. Most of the time, our votes are unanimous but even when they are contentious, everyone is still friendly. We all know that we are all working towards a common goal and debate is healthy as it leads us to the best decision we can make for our students. 

[2017 Applicant]

26 minutes ago, TakeruK said:

This Friday, I am arranging for the local humane society to take adoptable dogs on a field on campus for students to interact with as a de-stress type event but also to provide information on students who want to adopt a pet or volunteer.

This is almost enough to convince me to join student government.

[maelia8]

@TakeruK has done a great job of outlining the why of student government, but I'd like to second them in saying that participating in my university's graduate student association/assembly has been incredibly fun and rewarding for me - I've learned about so many resources, met so many fantastic, charismatic and motivated people, and managed to escape the small bubble of my department, which, while filled with people I love, tends to narrow my perspective. I especially love to form connections and pass information between my departmental student association and the broader graduate student community, and it feel great to be able to point my colleagues toward sources of funding and lots o social as well as professional development activities. I'm sad that I'll be going overseas for research next year and will lose my seat - but maybe when I get back, I'll run for a paid executive position