Rep. Responsibilities

About GSAB

The St. Catherine University (The University) Graduate School Student Advisory Board (The Board) will serve as a liaison between the students in the various graduate programs / schools (The Students) within The University and members of The University administration.

The Board is made up of representatives from each student activity fee-paying graduate program at St. Kate’s. Each program gets up to two votes, though they can provide more than two students representatives. The students in each program have the responsibility of selecting representatives each year.

GSAB represents the perspective and voice of the graduate student body to the University. In this capacity, representatives are asked to serve on University-wide committees and provide input on behalf of the graduate student experience, as needed. Examples include hiring of administrators (ex: hiring committee for the Provost), dining committee, Integrated Learning Series committee, etc. When these opportunities arise, the GSAB advisor will bring them to the Board to ask for volunteers to serve.

Funding

GSAB receives its funds from a portion of the graduate student activity fee. These funds are divided between the GSAB General Fund (15%) and the graduate programs. Funds are distributed to the programs based on the number of students enrolled in each program. The student representatives are responsible for submitting funding guidelines each fall that details what can and cannot be covered by their program’s GSAB funds. Failure to submit these by the deadline will result in the program’s funds being frozen until the guidelines are submitted.

Student representatives are also responsible for reviewing funding requests from peers in their academic program. These requests are initially submitted to the GSAB email with a completed GSAB funding request form. These are then sent on to the reps. for approval. The GSAB advisor needs to hear from at least half of the program’s reps before a request can be approved or denied. If approved, the GSAB advisor will work with the student on the reimbursement process.

GSAB Meetings

The Graduate Student Advisory Board meets once a month during the fall and spring semesters. GSAB typically meets on the third Wednesday of the month from 4:45 - 6:15 pm. These meetings are sometimes moved up by one week if it is the end of the semester. Meetings are virtually over Zoom. Representatives are expected to attend and participate in each meeting. Failure to attend and participate in monthly meetings will result in the program's funds being frozen.

Representatives are expected to provide updates on the program to the Board at each meeting. They can also come the meetings with questions or concerns and seek feedback from other graduate students/programs.

Resources

All student representatives will have access to the GSAB Rep Resources Google Folder. This folder contains the GSAB budget, GSAB bylaws, an example of funding guidelines, club charting paperwork, and a subfolder for each graduate program and club.

Newly appointed representatives should make sure that they have connected with the GSAB advisor to be given access to these resources and added to the GSAB email list. The GSAB advisor can be reached at gsab@stkate.edu.