Serving as a GAPSA Officer

TLDR: Proud of my time contributing to improving the graduate student experience at GMU.

Over these past three years, I have served in various capacities in the Graduate and Professional Students Association (GAPSA) at GMU.

Most recently, I served as the Executive Vice President. I led several initiatives across different functions, often beyond the scope of what I was required to do. My main responsibility was to support the running of the GAPSA General Assembly (GA). The GA comprises graduate and professional student representatives, one for each of the active programs at George Mason. We meet monthly to discuss and vote on important GAPSA initiatives and other events or activities supporting graduate student success.

In addition to these responsibilities, I led several new initiatives in response to graduate student feedback. I served on the Mason Recreation Board as the Graduate Student Representative, providing a graduate student voice toward policy and programming. I was directly involved in discussions about the Child/Minor policies at the campus recreation facilities, and because of the advocacy, a new draft policy has been proposed for Summer 2024. I served as a liaison to Parking Services, addressing changes across the campus, including the West Campus lot, and general concerns regarding parking. Finally, I engaged with registered Graduate Student Organizations (GRSOs) at Mason to explore how GAPSA can bring together resources across the graduate population. Though preliminary, the inventory will allow GAPSA to engage in a timely fashion with the Graduate Organizations. I also served as a Graduate Representative to Mason Facilities and the Graduate Council.

In the prior year, I served as the Director of Communications for GAPSA (2022-23). During this appointment, I created GAPSA's new logo (perfect for sticking on your water bottle!), graphic design across the organization, and modernized the branding of all the marketing materials, tying GAPSA to Mason's inclusive and diverse community – truly “All together, different.”

Finally, I served as a representative of the IT PhD program to the GA.

Click on the images above to view the full image. All images are © Ashish Hingle.