Saad’s Blog – Meet the GSA Council

Hi, my name is Saad. I hope you’re doing well with your studies. I don’t know about you but I’m actually really enjoying these winter months. Something about them is helping me enjoy spending time with my friends all the more.

We as your council thought it would be better if you know more about us and what we aim to do for you this year. So, here we are.

I’m the chair of The GSA Council. I’ve been in York for three years, and before that I was studying in The US. My job is simple, it’s to make sure that your elected council officers can represent you efficiently and usefully so that your postgraduate lives can be broader and more exciting.

I hope to bring my international experience to the table and to see you soon at our upcoming events.

Here are my colleagues who would like to say hi too:

Events Officer

“Hi there! My name’s Joe and I am the GSA Events Officer. It’s my job to take your suggestions for events and coordinate with the staff at the GSA to put them on. I’ve organised a range of events so far including the puppy lounge, clothes swap and helped with the larger events that the GSA puts on. I’m always looking for new ideas for events, if you have any email me at events@yorkgsa.org”

Community Officer
“I am Gracia Paramitha, the community officer of the GSA Council. It’s been 5 months living and studying in York, especially doing PhD in Politics. Basically, the community officer is open for any collaboration with stakeholders at campus. The existing networks under GSA are : Masters Network, PhD network, Family Network, and LGBTQ Network. Those networks are interactive platforms for postgraduate students to get in touch and know more about the students’ experiences.  For instance, the ASEAN Society organized Discover ASEAN Week 2017 last January and Chinese New Year Celebration last week were such interesting project that have been involved with many students alongside local societies and governmental representatives.”

Equality Officer

“I am Annis Stead and I am the Equality Officer on the GSA Council. I am a 2nd year PhD student in the Department of Education, and also did my MA in Women’s Studies at York. I have always loved being involved in the GSA, particularly helping out with events and welcoming new students to the University. In my role as Equality Officer, I am consulting with staff members in the Equality and Diversity department, writing policy for the GSA and putting on events for representation of marginalised groups (LGBT and Black History Month for example). I am also the LGBTQ Network Co-ordinator and run meet-ups fortnightly.”

Sports Officer

“I am Danielle Watkins, the sports officer on the GSA Council. I am a Master’s student studying Public Administration and Public Policy here at York. While I am new to York and the GSA, I have always been involved in university life and sports. I am very excited to continue my involvement in university sports through my role in the GSA Council. My role is to ensure that the GSA offers a variety of sports and those sports are being run in the best way possible to ensure the best social opportunities for the graduate student community. I want to encourage every graduate student to participate in sport. Sport is a great way to be active, make friends and relax in a very busy graduate student schedule. Overall, I will work with the everyone on the GSA Council to support sports and graduate students.”

Colleges Officer

“I am Momchil Kyuparski and I am the colleges officer on the GSA council. I am completing my master at the York management school and my masters is in Management with Business Finance.

The colleges officer’s role is to help with any collaboration between colleges in York, regardless of whether its Heslington East or West. Part of my role is also to provide support in any way or area that graduate students at the university might need while on campus while working with the rest of the GSA council to make sure that voice of the graduate community at the university is being heard.”

Student Trustee

“I am Christopher Chow, the Student Trustee who sits on the Board of Trustees for the GSA. Technically speaking, I am the odd one out since I am not a council member. My role is to ensure that GSA’s changes and policies are in the best interests of students. In other words, I will be representing your voice and opinions on GSA’s developments and strategy implementation. Nevertheless, I aim to cooperate with the GSA Council and help where I can.”

So, there you are, we all aim to have a great year, make our community better connected and more vibrant.

Be tuned to make sure that you see the rest of the blog posts.

Stay chipper,

Saad Alzahrani