GPSA elections kick off this week

Graduate and professional students can sign on to the my.pitt.edu portal this week to cast their… Graduate and professional students can sign on to the my.pitt.edu portal this week to cast their vote to select the next executive board of Pitt’s Graduate and Professional Student Assembly.

This year’s elections feature 11 candidates running for five positions — president, vice president of committees, vice president of communications, vice president of finance and a new position created this year, vice president of programming.

Winners of the elections will govern Pitt’s graduate student population in much the same way as the Student Government Board governs undergraduates — primarily serving as the liaisons between students, University administration and local and state government.

Nila Devanath, the current president of GPSA, said that the new position was created in order to lessen the workload on the vice president of communications.

Voting runs through Friday at 5 p.m.

Second year Pitt Law student Dwyer Arce is one of the two presidential candidates running in this year’s GPSA election. The other is Nyasha Hungwe, a second year Pitt law student. Arce said he is reaching out to fellow graduate students in the hopes of winning the election.

As the current president of Pitt Law Democrats, Arce believes he is qualified to serve as GPSA president. He pledged to utilize the connections he’s built with local and state government officials to oppose Governor Tom Corbett’s proposed budget cut — a popular campaign platform this year.

Arce’s campaign technique is simple: “I’m just meeting as many people as possible and making people aware of the elections,” he said.

Hungwe, wants GPSA to be a bigger force on campus.

“The GPSA doesn’t reach all 10,000 graduate students. I’d like to see that happen,” Hungwe said.

If Hungwe is elected president, he would like to make the GPSA financially viable and work to bridge the gap between alumni and students.

GPSA currently provides travel grants for students looking to present their research at conferences. Hungwe pledged to raise funds to significantly increase the grants given each year to graduate students.

Hungwe also wants to bring the graduate and alumni communities closer by forming the Graduate and Professional School Alumni Council.

The council would propose efforts like mentorship programs to connect students with alumni, Hungwe said.

Devanath said there are not many requirements for graduate students looking to run for a position on the executive board.

The candidates must have at least a 2.0 GPA, be remaining in Pittsburgh over the summer and can’t graduate before their term is over next April, she said.

Candidates began applying two to three weeks ago by filling out a form on the GPSA website, Devanath said.

The original self-nomination deadline was March 25. The deadline was extended to March 30, however, due to technical difficulties experienced by the GPSA. The online voting process started Monday and will end this Friday, April 8, at 5 p.m.

“One day doesn’t work,” Devanath said, adding that graduate students often have rigorous schedules that could make voting difficult.

Graduate students are more focused on their workload, Devanath said, and there are not as many student groups for these students as there are available to the undergraduate population. Therefore, GPSA campaigns are typically not as formal as those of candidates running for SGB.

This is the first year that candidates have campaigned online — posting videos in which they answer a set of questions about their political leanings and University aspirations.

Candidates have also attended events at the various grad schools on campus as a part of their campaigns, Devanath said.

Current Vice President of Communications Melanie Rodrigues said that last year’s vice president of communications called each candidate after last year’s elections and told them the results on Saturday morning around 9 a.m. She is unsure who will be calling the candidates this weekend.

The candidates are informed of the results before they are made public on Monday in order to work out any complications that might ensue, Devanath said.

The inauguration of the new executive board will take place in room 548 of the William Pitt Union on Sunday, April 17.

Presidential Candidates:

Dwyer Arce – Law school

Nyasha Hungwe – Law school

Vice President of Committees:

David Givens – Arts & Sciences, Religious Studies Dept.

Vice President of Communications:

Michael Lipschultz – Arts & Sciences, Computer Science Dept.

Bryan Murray – Law school

Karina Sepulveda – Katz Graduate School of Business

Daniel Taglioli – Law shool

Vice President of Programming:

Samannaaz Khoja – Graduate School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences

Katie Moriarty – Arts & Sciences, Dept. of French and Italian

Bryan Murray – Law school

Vice President of Finance:

Anthony Cray – Katz Graduate School of Business

Devi Sharanya Sampath Kumar – Graduate School of Public Health