After allotting $5,000 to various groups, the Graduate and Professional Student Council discussed and eventually bankrolled several initiatives intended to improve student mentoring and alumni relations at its meeting Tuesday night.
GPSC grants $25,000 per year to groups in a series of five funding cycles. Sara Becker, GPSC treasurer and a second-year graduate student in psychology, reported on this year’s second cycle. After reviewing many applications from graduate clubs and organizations, GPSC announced its allocation of $5,000 among 24 of these groups.
Beginning this year, GPSC is also allotting an additional $2,000 each semester as part of its Community Building Initiative. “Excellence in Mentoring” was the first theme chosen to receive the initiative’s $2,000 in priority funding, which GPSC granted to groups affiliated with student mentoring. These funds will be spent on mentoring panels, projects and other programs and events.
Heather Dean, GPSC president and a fifth-year graduate student in neurobiology, noted that mentoring has been an “umbrella theme” of GPSC, which hopes to foster communication and community building.
William LeFew, GPSC social co-chair, discussed the need for mentoring events and increased alumni networking, one of the goals of the Duke Alumni Association.
“Their vision is to create a sense of lifelong community. They see students as ‘alumni-in-training,’” he said.
LeFew said alumni are currently helping to create this community by hosting undergraduate and graduate interns. He also noted the need to build students’ appreciation for Duke through mentoring events and experiences such as apprenticeships.
Senior Liz Reaves spoke on behalf of the Duke Women’s Mentoring Network about Career Week mentoring dinners that will take place during the last weekend in January. Targeting all undergraduates, these dinners are designed to help students interact with alumni and faculty. There will be four dinners, each of which will focus on one topic: business, law, the sciences or the humanities.
GPSC also approved 34 new graduate clubs and organizations, including academic, business, religious and community groups. Some of these organizations are already active but have been awaiting official approval by a general assembly.
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