The Yale Graduate and Professional Student Senate is made up of representatives from each of the graduate and professional schools. Each Senator represents a maximum of 150 students. Each professional school has a minimum of one Senator per class, and the Graduate School is represented by an equal number of Senators representing the Humanities, Social Sciences, Life Sciences, and Physical Sciences.

There are officially 11 Graduate and Professional schools but the GPSS recognizes EPH as separate from the Medical School in terms of representation. The Senate generally consists of about 50 Senators who are elected at the beginning of each school year in elections held within each school.

Elections for Executive Committee Officers are held each February in the Senate, and the new Executive Committee is responsible for directing the organization through the summer and into the next school year. The officer positions are President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary, Student Advocacy Director, and Public Relations Officer.

WHAT IS A SENATOR?

A Senator is elected from his or her graduate or professional school and represents that school in all official Senate activities. Duties of a Senator include attendance at all Senate meetings, timely reporting of Senate activities and events to one's constituency, and active participation on at least one Senate Committee.

WHEN AND WHERE DO WE MEET?

The Senate meets at the Graduate and Professional Student Center at Yale (GPSCY), 204 York Street, New Haven. Meetings are held bimonthly during the academic terms, usually on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month.

HOW DO I RUN FOR THE SENATE?

We encourage all interested students to run for a seat on the Senate! Depending on the school, elections are held either in the spring or fall, but a seat may be available in your school.

QUESTIONS? COMMENTS?

Please feel free to direct questions and comments of a general nature to the Secretary of the Senate, Marie Schaefer (marie.schaefer@yale.edu).

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE GPSS AND THE GSA?

The Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS) represents all postgraduate students at Yale, including the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and all the professional schools: Architecture, Art, Drama, Divinity, Forestry, Law, Music, Nursing, Public Health, Medicine, Management, Physicians Assistant Program. Because our represenation is so large, we focus on issues that broadly affect all graduate and professional students. In particular, we do our best to find new and fun ways for all professional and graduate students to socialize and work together. Please read our Mission Statment for more details.

The Graduate Student Assembly (GSA) represents only the graduate students from the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.