Graduate-Professional Student Appreciation Week

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Date/Time
Date(s) - 04/01/2013 - 04/05/2013
All Day

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Overview

In 1993, NAGPS established Graduate-Professional Student Appreciation Week (GPSAW) as a mechanism to support and appreciate graduate and professional students. Specifically, Graduate-Professional Student Appreciation Week seeks to emphasize the contributions, impact and value of graduate and professional students on campuses throughout the United States.

Graduate-Professional Student Appreciation Week will be held April 1-5, 2013. Since we realize that some of you may not be aware of GPSA Week, here is a brief list of possible events that your graduate-professional student organization can help organize or host in order to celebrate the week:

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  • Provide giveaways and prizes throughout the week
  • Host a talent show
  • Have a coffee break or donut hour just for graduate and professional students
  • Ask local businesses to provide discounts and specials during the week
  • Provide a quiet study space or free printing
  • Host an online wine and cheese social for distance students
  • Bring in special guest speakers on a variety of topics
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Most importantly, have fun in celebrating the important role that graduate and professional students play on campus! If you have any questions about Graduate-Professional Student Appreciation Week, please contact us. Also, when you decide what your organization will do to celebrate graduate and professional students, please let us know! We’re planning on compiling a listing of all GPSA Week activities in a future newsletter.

For more information on planning your Graduate-Professional Student Appreciation Week, please consult our GPSAW Guide as well as article about GPSAW in our Spring 2010 Newsletter.

 

Proclaim It! Request a Proclamation from your Governor, Legislature or City Council

As a part of Graduate-Professional Student Appreciation Week, NAGPS encourages graduate-professional student organizations throughout the country to request a proclamation in support of graduate and professional students from their governor, state legislature or city council. These proclamations serve as an important way to increase visibility and awareness of the graduate- professional student population and can serve as an excellent item to present to your general body, Dean, Provost or President at a special event during GPSA Week.

Generally, obtaining proclamations is a fairly straight-forward process. First, draft a proclamation discussing the importance of graduate-professional students to your state, region or city. Below are sample proclamations that can be used to request your GPSAW proclamation:

Sample Proclamation

Template Proclamation

Once the proclamation is drafted, visit the web site of your governor, state legislator or city council member and search for proclamation request. Sometimes it is helpful to call the office directly to ask for a proclamation request if such information is not available on the web. Typically the office will ask you for the drafted proclamation and will use the draft as a guide for the official proclamation. Once you receive your proclamation, take a picture of your GPSO’s officers and other campus officials with the proclamation and send NAGPS a copy at president@nagps.org. We’d like to post a collection of all of the proclamations received this year.

2011 Proclamations

Arizona – Governor Jan Brewer

Texas – Governor Rick Perry

Selected Previous Proclamations

City of Pittsburgh

State of Florida

State of Pennsylvania

 

Participating GPSAW Schools

Below is just a sampling of the schools that are hosted a Graduate-Professional Student Appreciation Week, in 2011 with a link to their GPSAW web site (if available):

Is your institution holding a GPSAW?  Let us know, and we’ll add them to the listing!