Proudly Taking the Reins

Dear fellow UCSF grad students, at the January 2016 meeting of the Associated Students of the Graduate Division (ASGD), then President Michael Le announced his intention to step down and begin wrapping up his graduate training at UCSF. Congratulations are in order for Michael!

However, ASGD loses a skilled and dedicated leader who helped guide the student government reorganization two years ago and has served as the ASGD President since then. He was, and remains, a staunch advocate for UCSF graduate students.

At the February 2016 meeting the ASGD board voted to appoint me Interim President until scheduled ASGD elections occur in June 2016. I am grateful to the board for giving me the privilege to lead ASGD in this time of transition.

Although I joined the ASGD board last June as a representative for my graduate program, Pharmaceutical Science and Pharmacogenomics, I served as the President of my undergraduate’s student association where I worked to open lines of transparent communication with our College’s administration.

UCSF is its own large and unique institution, but I hope to build on my previous experience in this new role.

I am excited to continue the hard work Le and the rest of the ASGD board have begun this year, building community through events such as Game Night, advocating for a more diverse UCSF in faculty and student recruitment, and facilitating important discussions about the financial stresses of grad school at events like the House & Transportation town hall in November.

All graduate students (M.S. and Ph.D) are voting members of ASGD, and I hope you will join us at our monthly meetings (see asgd-ucsf.org for details) as we work to represent graduate students within the Graduate Division and across all of UCSF.

In my 3+ years here it has become clear to me graduate students have valuable ideas about how to build on the strengths which make UCSF a world-class research institution, as well as address its weaknesses.

If you cannot attend our meetings, we still want to hear from you directly! Reach out to us at asgd@ucsf.edu with any and all career, social, and student life concerns you may have. We are also on Facebook and Twitter @ASGDatUCSF.

I believe student advocacy is an important part of a healthy UCSF and I am excited to have the chance to fill the role of Interim President. Please, pull me aside any time to discuss ASGD initiatives or UCSF student life in general.