Letter from the 2019-2020 Graduate and Professional Student Association

As your president and assembly president of the Graduate and Professional Student Association (GPSA), we are excited to be serving the graduate community for the 2019-2020 school year! GPSA is the student government body that represents and serves graduate and professional students at ASU. We host social events to build community among students, support graduate student professional development through travel and research grants and advocate on behalf of student concerns. 

I, Leah Jones, am beyond honored to serve as your GPSA President for this upcoming year. A fourth-year Ph.D. student in the School of Sustainability, I initially joined GPSA as a way to give back to the larger ASU community. I quickly found myself developing a passion for graduate student affairs and wanting to make an impact on individual experiences here at ASU. This year, I am thankful for the opportunity to continue serving graduate students. As President, I will be a voice for graduate students to ensure that all perspectives in our diverse student body are heard and that the ASU community continues striving towards greater inclusivity. I am here to serve you, and look forward to getting to know, hear from and collaborate with many of you throughout this year.

And I, Peter Crank, am excited to lead the legislative branch of GPSA as Assembly President. After spending my first two years serving the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning as a Ph.D. representative for the graduate student committee, I wanted to increase my school’s engagement with the broader graduate student community. I then joined the GPSA Assembly to increase the diversity of disciplines and fields represented in GPSA. Over the course of the year, I had the opportunity to learn some of the inner workings of GPSA as well as of The College’s relationship to their graduate students. This year, I will work to strengthen the scaffolding of the Assembly so that the Assembly representatives can focus on better serving the graduate students they represent. Additionally, I will work to make the elections process more transparent so that graduate students will continue to have the opportunity to voice their concerns across all the branches of GPSA.

To learn more about GPSA or find out how you can get involved, please visit gpsa.asu.edu

You can also follow us on social media (Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter) to stay updated on all things GPSA.

Wishing you the best for the upcoming year! We’re sure it’s going to be a great one.

Leah Jones, GPSA President

Peter Crank, GPSA Assembly President