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About the BGSA

Objective:
The Biomedical Graduate Student Association (BGSA) sponsors various events, academic and extracurricular, throughout the year. Its goals are to promote social interactions and provide a forum for graduate education issues. The BGSA is always looking for new ideas and volunteers. You are encouraged to get involved by asking your program representative what you can do to help. You are also welcome to attend our monthly meetings which occur on the first Monday of every month from 1:00-2:00 pm, in S218 BST.

Creation:
The BGSA was formed by graduate students of the School of Medicine to address their needs. Initially the graduate student organization was associated with the medical students, but this arrangement was not satisfactory to their different needs. Therefore, the BGSA separated in order to more effectively sponsor activities specific to the needs of graduate students. To explore the by-laws of the BGSA, read the BGSA Constitution.Since that time, the BGSA has invited other programs with the common biomedical theme to be represented in the council.

Composition:
The BGSA council is composed of representatives from the nine interdisciplinary programs and representation from the first year interdiscplinary class. Each program elects at least one representative at the end of every summer. For every 20 graduate students one representative is elected: for instance, if a program had 25 graduate students they would be entitled to have 2 representatives. The representatives then elect the officers for the academic year. The President is responsible for the smooth running of the BGSA and chairs the meetings. The President is also the student representative to the Graduate Council. The Vice President helps the President and runs the meetings when the President cannot attend. The Treasurer takes care of the BGSA finances. The Secretary keeps the minutes of the meetings. The GPSA Representative attends the monthly Graduate and Professional Student Association (GPSA) meetings. The Publicity Officer is responsible for making and distributing flyers/posters/etc for BGSA-sponsored events.