Leaders will continue to focus on improving TA workload and getting graduate housing

Four Graduate and Professional Student Council representatives were elected last night as the organizationâs top officers for next year.

The new officers, who will represent about 8,000 graduate and professional students, say they want to increase awareness of GPSC among graduate students and continue working on issues like teaching assistant workload and graduate housing.

Incoming president Pete Morris said he has plans to create a council with more constituent involvement and increased communications with University of Arizona administrators.

ãI am planning to take an active role at constituent meetings,ä Morris said.

In addition to continuing to focus on TA workload and housing, Morris also wants to work on getting tuition remission for TAs.

ãIf we donât have the conditions to favor the best graduate students, we wonât get them here,ä he said.

Morris said he believes the administration will be very supportive with GPSCâs requests and looks forward to working with them.

Incoming administrative vice president Thomas Kinney said he wants to update the GPSC Constitution, which has recently been found to contain ambiguities that clouded this yearâs representative elections.

ãYou get legitimacy if you follow the rules,ä he said.

Despite the recent budget crisis, Kinney still believes it is important to work for tuition remission and better TA stipends. GPSCâs past relationship with the UA administration has given the council room for growth, he said.

ãWe have made advancements even in spite of the budget cuts,ä he said, ãI know how valuable we are to the university.ä

Outgoing President Kirsten Copeland said she sees GPSC as a growing organization, especially with the higher number of nominees for officers and representatives. She said she believes that all those who ran were well-qualified for the job, which makes it easier for her to move to her next projects.

ãItâs hard to hand it over, but I feel really good about it,ä she said. ãThe council is in great shape.ä

Beata Blachuta was voted executive vice-president at last nightâs meeting. Roberto Flores will be the new GPSC treasurer.