UNMC’s Graduate Student Association is undertaking several initiatives this academic year, but leaders indicated the major underlying themes in 2024-25 will be reaching out to the greater UNMC student body, and, relatedly, networking.
Graduate students will collaborate with student success and other organizations to broaden their experience and networks, said GSA president Evie Ehrhorn.
“We’re inviting med students and nursing students, dental students, allied health, all of these different students across UNMC’s campus, to have a cohesive environment of graduate students being able to collaborate with other students that they don’t necessarily see very often,” she said.
GSA vice president Annant Kaur said events may delve into non-academic career opportunities, such as consulting, science policy and science communication.
“Speed networking” events will introduce students to alumni and others in the community they should know.
GSA will work to put graduate students and others on campus in situations where they can begin to practice networking skills. It’s OK to do so at a beginner level at first, before moving on to more professional settings.
“You’re not really attending conferences until you start to get the data for it, which is more along the end of your second year, third year,” Ehrhorn said. GSA will strive to give graduate students the opportunity to begin exploring the idea of networking sooner than that.
“It’s a skill that the more you do it, the more you develop it,” Kaur said.
Ehrhorn said she got involved with the GSA because she’s always tried to surround herself with community. “And I felt joining the Graduate Student Association was the first step that I could take in order to do that,” she said.
Her first-year lab mates, a couple of whom were already in GSA, told her she was right. So she joined the organization almost right away. “This is my fourth year in grad school and my fourth year in GSA,” she said.
It’s been a good fit. Ehrhorn is excited to now be leading the organization with a new leadership team (see sidebar).
Kaur, GSA vice president, who joined Ehrhorn in an interview with Graduate Posts, had a similar experience.
“A lot of people in my lab also were part of organizations such as GSA and ISA (the International Student Organization),” she said. She found serving in student leadership organizations has given her purpose beyond the lab.
“I like taking initiative and doing something other than research, which gives me happiness also,” she said.
“It sort of balances out my research,” she said.