ISU graduate students have the opportunity to take an active role in some of the university decisions that directly affect them through the Graduate Student Senate.

“Basically, what we do is discuss issues important to graduate students,” said Amber Denton-Johnson, parliamentarian of the GSS Executive Board. “We are a sounding board for ideas.”

Debbie Martinez, president of the GSS Executive Board, said the board has established several goals for this year.

Its foremost priority deals with helping graduate students to find adequate and affordable child care, said Martinez, graduate student in sociology.

The executive board also will focus on decreasing the cost of graduate school, she said. Some ideas up for discussion are to increase the tuition scholarship offered to graduate students and to increase the portion of tuition fees allocated to the graduate school.

Another goal is to make GSS more visible and accessible to graduate students, said Dee Egdorf, vice president of the GSS Executive Board.

“There are certain issues that affect graduate students differently because they are so career-oriented and looking to the future,” said Egdorf, graduate student in human development and family studies.

“GSS provides an outlet for students to deal with these things.”

GSS provides several scholarships and works to serve as a social outlet for activities with other graduate students.

The senate funds graduate student activities such as speakers and lectures, said Denton-Johnson, graduate student in forestry.

“Graduate students are alienated in a way, because they are not undergrads and are not necessarily non-traditional students,” Martinez said. “We want GSS to be a place where graduate students can go for fun and help.”

GSS works much like the U.S. Senate. A certain number of senators are allowed per department depending on the number of students in that department.

These senators are responsible for informing their constituents of the issues being discussed and to feed back important information to graduate students.

After students have served on the senate for at least one year, they have the option of running for office on the executive board.

There still are several graduate departments that are not currently represented and have a great need for senators, Martinez said.

The senate also works closely with the Government of the Student Body.

“We work with GSB in a spirit of cooperation and commitment,” Martinez said.

For more information on GSS, visit www.grad-college.iastate.edu/gss/