News & Updates
Check back for updates about events and initiatives your GSA is working on!
To keep updated on all events see the Event Calendar.
GPSA: Advocacy for ALL Graduate & Professional Students
On October 12 of this year, the Council of the UCSD Graduate Student Association voted to change its name to the Graduate and Professional Student Association.
The change is an explicit recognition that the GPSA has always represented the interests and concerns of graduate and professional UCSD students on campus, locally, system-wide, state-wide, and nationally.
Professional students at UCSD, alongside their grad student colleagues, have been long-standing participants in and constituents of the duly elected student government. Several professional students have even served in high-ranking elected positions within the GPSA, including the current President, Quynh Nguyen, who is an MD-PhD student.
In years past, incoming professional students had sometimes not been aware that they had an elected student government through an organization called the Graduate Student Association; this confusion was exacerbated because several of UCSD’s professional schools—including the Rady School of Management, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and the School of Medicine—all have their own elected student bodies that each interface with the GPSA.
It is the Council’s hope that explicitly stating its representation of professional students in the name will clear up any such confusion in the future.
“In the past, sometimes when I mentioned the GSA to my classmates it took a second to register what I was talking about. I think that partly had to do with the fact that med students don’t really consider themselves grad students in the common sense of the word. Hopefully, the name change will make it easier to recognize that the GPSA is the voice of all students, not only those who are here for masters or Ph.D.,” says Jack Olmstead, 2nd-year student and Representative of the School of Medicine.
The GPSA is constituted to represent and promote the academic, social, and political interests of all postgraduate students. It endeavors to represent the graduate and professional student community within the University community, to serve as an advocate of graduate and professional students’ needs to ensure that their concerns are heard and addressed and to provide services and funding to meet the special needs of the University's diverse graduate and professional student community.
By changing its name to represent all of its constituents, the GPSA renews its promise to do exactly that.
Welcome to UC San Diego!
GPSA (formally GSA) President Quynh Nguyen welcomes our new graduate and professional students to UC San Diego!
Graduate & Family Housing Transportation Updates
With the start of 2020 Fall Quarter, there are some updates to the UCSD shuttles at Graduate and Family Housing!
- Mesa Circulator - New shuttle at Graduate & Family Housing
- Connect to Regents Express to access central campus
- Runs weekdays 6:30am – 9:00pm
- Grocery Shuttle – La Jolla & Convoy
- Runs Saturday and Sunday 10am – 6pm
- See above links for exact schedules and stops
Shuttles run during Fall, Winter and Spring Quarters, excluding university holidays, with reduced service during academic breaks and summer session.
See for more https://transportation.ucsd.edu/ information.
Graduate Triton Weeks of Welcome: Finding Your Community
Below are the details for the first week of our weeks of welcome for Graduate & Professional Students! If you have any questions or concerns, please email the Graduate Division and/or GSA and check out our websites for more information. We look forward to meeting you in the coming weeks!
August 25, 2020
3-5pm Info Session hosted by Graduate Division. Register here.
August 26, 2020
4-5pm Women in Grad (WC): Zoom
5-6pm LGBTQIA+ in Grad (LGBTRC): Zoom
6-7pm Black in Grad (BRC): Zoom
7-8pm Asian Pacific Islander Middle Eastern Desi American in Grad (APIMEDA): Zoom
August 27, 2020
4-5pm Latinx/Xicanx in Grad (Raza): Zoom
5-6pm International/Undocumented in Grad (ISPO, USS): Zoom
6-7pm Disabilities In Grad (OSD): Zoom
August 28, 2020
7-9pm Dance Party with Identity Groups : Meeting ID 932 6835 9147, password GSA2020
For a free Welcome Goodie Bag courtesy of GSA and our campus partners, please fill out the following form. We will be in touch with information for pick-up.
Welcome New Graduate & Professional Tritons!
Below is the schedule for our Graduate Triton Weeks of Welcome from August 25-September 25, 2020. Over the next five weeks, we hope to provide you with resources and a community for your time here at UCSD. Registration & Zoom information for each week’s events will be sent out the week before.
FINDING YOUR COMMUNITY |
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Tuesday, August 25, 2020 |
3pm-5pm |
Resource Info Session: Campus Community Centers & Student Identity Groups |
Wednesday, August 26, 2020 |
4pm-8pm |
Identity groups: Women in Grad, Black in Grad, LGBTQIA+ in Grad, Asian Pacific Islander Middle Eastern Desi American in Grad |
Thursday, August 27, 2020 |
4pm -7pm |
Identity groups: Latinx/Xicanx in Grad, International/Undocumented in Grad, Disabilities In Grad |
Friday, August 28, 2020 |
7pm-9pm |
Dance Party with Our Identity Groups! featuring DJ Leon from Ethnic Studies |
SUPPORTING THE WHOLE STUDENT: HEALTH & WELLNESS |
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Tuesday, September 1, 2020 |
3pm-5pm |
Resource Info Session: Student Health & Wellness & Introduction to Rec Classes |
Thursday, September 3, 2020 |
4pm -5pm |
Student Panel on Wellness |
Friday, September 4, 2020 |
6pm-7pm |
Zoom Trivia on Wellness Resources ($25 Grocery Gift Card Prizes!) |
SUCCEEDING IN YOUR ACADEMICS |
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Tuesday, September 8, 2020 |
3pm -5pm |
Resource Info Session: Academic Resources on Campus |
Thursday, September 10, 2020 |
4pm -6pm |
Student Panel on Conquering Your Academic Life for Masters/PhD/professional |
Friday, September 11, 2020 |
6pm-7pm |
Zoom Trivia on Academic Resources ($25 Grocery Gift Card Prizes!) |
BEYOND ACADEMICS: OPPORTUNITIES AT UCSD & BEYOND |
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Tuesday, September 15, 2020 |
3pm -5pm |
Resource Info Session: Opportunities at other institutions & abroad during your time at UCSD |
Wednesday, September 16, 2020 |
12:00 PM |
International Student Orientation (ISPO) |
Thursday, September 17, 2020 |
various 1 hr time blocks |
Zoom with your GSA! (offered over the day at different times, ie/ something at reasonable times for folks on every continent) |
7:00 PM |
Social with ISPO! |
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Friday, September 18, 2020 |
6pm-7pm |
Zoom Trivia on Opportunities & Resources ($25 Grocery Gift Card Prizes!) |
BUILDING AN ANTI-RACIST CAMPUS |
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Thursday, September 24, 2020 |
4pm -6pm |
Community Building |
Friday, September 25, 2020 |
7pm-9pm |
Meditation on Anti-Racism & Unloading DANCE PARTY! |
For a free Welcome Goodie Bag courtesy of GSA and our campus partners, please fill out the following form. We will be in touch with information for pick-up.