[Gsaucr] GSA newsletter

[GSA Public Relations]

In this week's GSA newsletter, you will find announcements concerning:

1.  GSA Conference Travel Grant Application Training Session – Today at 6:30
pm next to 203 Commons

2.  December Conference Travel Grant Applications – Due November 1st

3.  UCSA Student of Color Conference (SOCC) @ UC Santa Cruz

4.  Candidates for GSA UCR Finance Officer

5.  The Search for the next UC President
6.  Register to vote!

7.  G.R.O.W. (GrassRoots Organizing Weekend) at UCR

8.  Letter to UC Professional Students from UCSA Graduate and Professional
Committee Chair

9.  Graduate Students for Campus Committees

10.  Let the Regents hear your opinion on raising UC fees


 Please read below for detailed information on each of these announcements:


  1.  GSA Conference Travel Grant Application Training Session – Today at
6:30 pm next to 203 Commons

The GSA Conference Travel Grant Coordinator will be holding another
training/Q&A session to help students understand all the steps required for
applying for a conference travel grant.  If you are interested in applying
for a conference travel grant and want to be sure that your application will
not be denied and that you get PAID, I strongly recommend that you attend.

This is also your opportunity to meet the travel grant coordinator and an
opportunity for you to address questions and concerns about the program.
The session will be at 6:30 pm on Wednesday, October 24th in the senate
chambers next to the GSA office (203 Commons).

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2.  December Conference Travel Grant Applications – Due November 1st
Just a reminder that if you are planning to present at a conference in
December and you would like GSA to supplement your funding, the application
form must be submitted to the GSA Office by 5:00 pm on Thursday, November 1
st.  If you have more questions about the application process, please go to
the travel grant website for more information:  www.gsa.ucr.edu/travelgrant,
or contact Joe Steirer, the Conference Travel Grant Coordinator at
gsagrant at yahoo.com.

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3.  UCSA Student of Color Conference (SOCC) @ UC Santa Cruz

The UCSA Student of Color Conference (SOCC) will be held at UC Santa Cruz
this year on November 10-12th.
* Learn to organize your Student of Color Community
* Build unity
* Participate in safe spaces where race, gender, class, sexuality,
nationality and disability will be actively discussed

GSA UCR will pay for all transportation, registration, lodging, and per Diem
for GSA UCR grads that attend this conference. The deadline for applications
is Oct 25th, at 5pm, in order to have expenses paid by GSA.

If you have any questions or are interested in attending, please contact the
GSA EVP Louise Hendrickson at evp.gsaucr at yahoo.com

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4.  Candidates for GSA UCR Finance Officer

The candidate statements for the GSA UCR Finance Officer will be up on the
GSA Website main page. Check it out to see who is running for the position
and come hear their speeches at the November GSA Council meeting.

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5.  The Search for the next UC President

The UC is looking for a new President of the system, as President Dynes
resigned in August. UCSA just appointed students from across the system for
the Student Advisory Committee.
The committee wants your stories/concerns! Tell us: What are things that
make it hard to attend a UC? What do you want the next UC President to work
on to make the UC better for students? Don't let these questions limit you;
we want to hear about any problems or concerns. Post or send your stories on
the UC Student Association Blog at: http://ucstudents.blogspot.com/

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6.  Register to vote!

Voter registration cards are available in the GSA office. Stop by to fill
one out if you have just moved to CA, if you have moved recently, or want to
update your political party or any other information.

GSA will mail the form in for you; just leave it with the GSA EVP Louise
Hendrickson or the ASUCR EVP Alex Johnson at the GSA/ASUCR offices!

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7.  G.R.O.W. (GrassRoots Organizing Weekend) at UCR

GrassRoots Organizing weekend is a training hosted by the United States
Student Association (USSA) where students have the opportunity to learn not
only grassroots tactics but organizational development skills as well. come
and learn how to win viable campaigns for your organization while you
network with other students.

The weekend starts Friday, November 2, 2007 at 5:30pm and ends Sunday,
November 4, 2007 at 3:00pm

If you would like to sign up, please email: ASUCRexternal at yahoo.com

Or go to the ASUCR/GSA office 202 New Commons

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8.  Letter to UC Professional Students from UCSA Graduate and Professional
Committee Chair

Dear UC Professional Student,

The UC Regents this past September agreed to a 3 year fee-increase plan
specifically for professional students.  This plan calls for increases of
approximately 7-13% a year.  If you are in school now and have three more
years, you could be paying almost 150% of what you pay now in fees by your
last year!

While some professional students may graduate and pursue lucrative careers
in their respective industries, there are more than just a few of us who are
interested in public interest work. Unfortunately, without loan repayment
programs, as fees increase (and public interest work salaries remain low) it
becomes more and more prohibitive for us to give back to the communities we
wish to serve.

At present, the UC Student Association is trying to gather data from
individual professional schools from all ten campuses regarding their own
in-house loan repayment programs.  We are hoping to consolidate this
information to argue for more institutional funding for these programs.  The
Regents affirmed their interest in this endeavor by adopting a supportive
amendment to the fee policy passed in September of this year.  If you, or
anyone you know, are interested in helping us in this endeavor (specifically
by researching the loan repayment program options at your school), or if you
are simply interested in learning more about loan repayment programs, please
email ahnika at gmail.com (UCSF Medicine).

Good luck to you in your studies!

-Ahnika Kline
UCSA Graduate and Professional Committee Chair
UCSF Medicine and PhD.

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9.  Graduate Students for Campus Committees

Hurry, there are still a few spots on several campus committees.  In order
to ensure UCR is a hospitable environment for graduate students, please
share your perspective by participating in one of these committees.
 Interested parties please contact Erik Kolb (zookolb at yahoo.com ) or Alex
Cortez ( gsaucr at yahoo.com) we look forward to your participation.

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10.  Let the Regents hear your opinion on raising UC fees.

As you may (or may not) know the University of California is governed by a
board of Regents, who will be having their November meeting at UCLA on the
14th on November.  One of the big items on their agenda is considering
raising fees. Fees for graduate student have increased 84% since 2002 and at
their last meeting, just before school started, the Regents raised fees for
graduate and professional students by more than 20%. Imagine coming back to
school to find it cost almost a quarter more than last year, and what's more
the Regents justified this by saying the "students asked for these
increases". (Seriously, they did.) The Regents allot sometime at each
meeting to hear comments from the public and this is your chance to make
your voice heard. If your interested in attending the Regent's meeting this
month, or just learning more about these issues, please contact Gary Coyne,
Legislative Liaison, at  gary.coyne at email.ucr.edu.

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If you would like more information, please go to the GSA website or contact
the GSA at gsaucr at yahoo.com .

Graduate Student Association
203 Commons
University of California Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
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