Graduate and Professional Students of IUPUI,
Welcome back to the beginning of the 2024 Spring semester, and the closing of an important chapter in our school’s history. GPSG is proud to welcome you back to IUPUI for what proves to be the final time and mark the bittersweet occasion knowing this is the last semester for IUPUI’s joint venture with Purdue as we know it. We will soon be part of a new IU Indianapolis community.
Like you, we at GPSG are returning to our activities, each aimed at improving student life, raising graduate voices, offering paths to meaningful involvement on our campus and community, and advocating for our needs to IU administrators. GPSG has been following three guiding principles which will continue to lead our work: accountability, transparency and interdisciplinarity.
Behind closed doors and in public, GPSG shows up. Our executive team, General Assembly, and our subcommittees accomplished many things this semester, including strides in all three target areas:
Accountability – Served on the executive committee for Strategy 2023, ensured Chancellor candidates commented on graduate pay and support, rebuilt ties to Faculty Council by offering transition support and seeking guidance on adoption of a Graduate Bill of Rights, fought for graduate pay increases in lowest supporting departments (alongside the Graduate School), meaningfully reconnected with IU Auxiliary services to begin addressing issues including but not limited to: parking, food, childcare, books, etc.
Transparency – Working with accessibility services to make requests and materials more student friendly, are close to achieving public access to IU Surplus to promote sustainability, have conducted DEI reviews of key IU pages in need of revision, ensured IU and Purdue transition documents are made publicly available, and fight to keep public access to key leadership open to students.
Interdisciplinarity – Hosted 4-part series of Graduate Finances 101 to teach graduate students financial health, supported key student groups by allocating additional funds, spearheaded an all-state collegiate student government conference through All University Student Association (AUSA), promoted graduate research outlets for IUPUI students to present original research, and look forward to celebrating the 10th anniversary of our Elite 50 Awards (April 9, 2024).
Our promise to IU Indianapolis, our graduate, professional, and certificate colleagues, students, and administration alike is this: we commit to putting forward more programming, speaking up for our needs as the IUPUI transition concludes, and reimagining the next phase of GPSG at IU Indianapolis. Though it feels far off, we know May and the end of this year’s GPSG team are just around the corner.
GPSG would be remiss to forget the rich traditions of protest, activism, civic engagement, and shared ownership of our campus community. Whether cataloged in the display windows of the Payton Philanthropy Library, stunning images hung in the campus center, or the community’s commitment to our multicultural center—Indianapolis is a campus of change, engagement, and the spirit of “bring on tomorrow.”
Good luck this semester and Go Jags.
Sincerely,
GPSG President Megan Hillier-Geisler
