FACULTY NEWS

    As President of the Graduate Student Organization, Rosann Santos wants to get the message out that G.S.O., located in Room 165 B of the Campus Center, is here for ALL graduate students.
    Santos, a doctoral student in history, knows what it is like to be a graduate student with a full plate of responsibilities. She just returned from Cuba, where she gave a conference paper at the third International Women's Studies workshops at the University of Havana.
    A native of the Bronx and a graduate of Syracuse University who tried social work on the Lower East Side of Manhattan for a year before entering graduate school, Santos said the situation of graduate students is unique.
    “We lead very busy, crazy lives. Many times school is not the only thing we are doing. Often, graduate students are busy raising families, working full-time jobs, or being teaching assistants,” she said. With so much going on in their lives, graduate students may not have time to notice the G.S.O. office tucked away in a corner of the Campus Center near the vending machines.
    “One of my major goals for the organization is exposure, making sure students are aware the G.S.O. is here,” she said. G.S.O. is the umbrella organization and governing body which oversees graduate student groups. It also serves as a clearinghouse for the distribution of funding generated by the graduate student activity fee. Each department is represented. Santos is focused on making the group as inclusive as possible.
    “We are seeking greater involvement from part-time students, from international students, from students of color, and from women," she said. Toward this end, the organization is trying to make sure its programs and advertisements reach these students.
    At the moment, Santos is working with Steven Thomson in the Office of International Student Services to make sure graduate students know they are welcome at the traditional Thanksgiving Day dinner given each year for international students and others who will not be going home for the holiday.
    The dinner will be given at Chapel House from 1 to 3 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 25. “While many of our international students may be aware of the dinner, students who are from places as far away as Michigan or California may not know they are also welcome to attend. We want graduate students to feel a little less isolated on campus,” Santos said.
    Part of representing student interests includes having a good working relationship with the administration, according to Santos. The G.S.O. assembly met with President Karen Hitchcock in early November, and the group is planning a meeting between the entire G.S.O. board and the president later this month. 
    One of the main functions of G.S.O., of which graduate students may not be aware, is to provide travel and research grants on a competitive basis. According to Santos, this is fairly unusual for a graduate student group. This fall the group distributed $11,000 in funds. Santos said the group has a $100,000 budget for all of its student groups. The budget comes from the student activity fee.
    “Part-time students may not be aware that since they pay the student activity fee (according to how many credit hours they are taking), they too are eligible to apply for these travel and research grants,” she said.
    In order to keep the process as fair as possible, the peers on the board who make award judgments are ineligible to apply for such grants themselves, and they make their decisions without having access to the name of the person who applied.
    Santos herself chose Albany “for very practical reasons.” The tuition was lower than that of Columbia or New York University, and she was only two hours away from the city. She said the stipend level for teaching assistants remains one of her top concerns. “It is the whole issue of providing a living wage for TA's,” she said. Vice President for Research Chris D'Elia recently cited the issue of adequate financial support for graduate students to be among his key concerns, saying the current stipend provided by the state is not competitive in many disciplines.
    Another issue for graduate students is the need to have access to University facilities during the holidays, Santos said.
    "Many facilities shut down when undergraduates are not here. But we graduate students are doing our work even when the holidays come along. In fact, holidays are a perfect time to do research," she said. Finally, she said, adequate lighting for those who park in the student portion of Dutch lot and walk to their cars after dark is a concern, along with appropriate health coverage and parking availability.