In a three-hour marathon meeting, the Graduate and Professional Student Council elected its leaders for next year Monday night. Unlike in previous years, many of this year's races were decided by narrow margins and occasional runoffs.
Treasurer and neurobiology doctoral candidate Heather Dean was elected president, edging out Brian O'Dwyer, chair of the parking and transportation subcommittee and a student in the Fuqua School of Business, who subsequently was elected vice president.
Dean said she wanted to continue to help graduate student groups become affiliated with GPSC. As treasurer, Dean worked with many student groups to help them secure funding and recognition from the council and to increase the role of graduate and professional students within the Duke community.
"My big goal is really to bring in student groups," Dean said. "I would want to connect these groups more and more."
Dean added that during outgoing president Rob Saunders' two terms, GPSC has become one of the "big four" student groups, along with Duke Student Government, the Duke University Union and Campus Council.
O'Dwyer presented an agenda for president that, like Dean's, emphasized increasing the role of GPSC and reaching out to more of Duke's 6,000 students enrolled in the graduate and professional schools.
"We need to expose people to this [council]," O'Dwyer said. "We can expand, broaden and deepen GPSC's bounds of its relationships."
In a show of good will that characterized the elections, GPSC members quickly nominated O'Dwyer for vice president after he lost the presidential race. O'Dwyer won that position unopposed.
Biology graduate student Kellye Kirkbride was elected executive secretary. The position includes responsibility for recording the meeting minutes and the oversight of the GPSC website. Kirkbride also won unopposed.
Sara Becker, a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology and former consultant, was elected treasurer in another uncontested race. Becker said her experience as a consultant prior to her matriculation to Duke would help her manage the council's funds. "My portfolio made 70 percent last year," she said.
Current Communications Coordinator Matt Block edged out incumbent Attorney General Rachel Lovingood for her position. Block, a second-year law student, expressed a commitment to streamlining the council.
"My top priority would be to straighten out the charter and bylaws so somebody can get a good idea right off the bat of how we do things and how we get things done," Block said, adding that his experience in the School of Law made him a good choice. "I'm a law student. Rules and bylaws are part and parcel of what I do."
The role of ombudsperson, who acts as a facilitator for graduate and professional students involved in disputes, was sought by Lovingood and Community Affairs Coordinator Audrey Beck. Beck, a graduate student in the sociology department and a former GPSC vice president, defeated Lovingood.
Bill LeFew and Lara Oliver were named co-chairs of the Student Life Committee in an uncontested election. LeFew, a graduate student in mathematics, and Oliver, current co-chair of student life, emphasized their experience with the committee.
Saunders edged out Jenny Woodruff, a graduate student in musicology, for community affairs coordinator. Saunders emphasized that he would use the position to plan events for the gay and lesbian community, the international student community and other groups that many in the council worry are often overlooked in programming.
In the night's final executive officer election, Lovingood was elected over Woodruff for the position of communications coordinator.
After the executive officer elections, a series of elections was held for representatives to the University's Board of Trustees. Almost every one of these elections was decided in a runoff. Ultimately, O'Dwyer and Julia Boucher, a nursing school student, were elected to the Buildings and Grounds Subcommittee; Woodruff and Dean to student affairs; Oliver and Sean Burt, a graduate student in religion, to academic affairs; Megan Burns, a graduate student in public policy studies, and Saunders to budget and finance; and Olujimi Ajijola, the outgoing executive secretary and a medical student, to medical center affairs.
Saunders said that although the long running time of the elections was a drain on the voters, it indicated a good future for the council.
"You saw a lot of people who had an interest in these positions," he said. "It resulted in contested elections, [but] I think that's a positive."
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