~~~Congratulations Class of 2007~~~

Congratulations! Tomorrow morning at 9am some of you will be walking in the ceremony to graduate with your Masters or PhD degree. I will be there as part of the platform party. So be sure to wave or give me wink if you read this! :D It's been a good year. I hope it's been a good year for you too.

We're in our Final Stretch!

So, I was in the GSO office and someone said, "I want the end of the semester to happen without the next two weeks!" I couldn't agree more. As of today I have one lab, one paper, two finals, and one project to complete. Somehow it all gets done and there is hope!

If you've looked at the GSO calendar this Friday is packed beyond belief! Betty Shadrick from the Graduate Studies office is having a Spring Bling with free food and a time to relax in the Terrace Lounge from 3pm - 5pm, the Art RGSO is having an exhibit at the Fuze Box on Central from 5pm - 9pm and the GSO GALA Annual Awards Evening will take place at the Patroon Room, free for all graduate students, from 6:45pm - 8:45pm! I recommend, if you're distracted tomorrow anyway to go to the Terrace Lounge at 3pm, grab a bit and take off at 4:30pm to hit the Art GSO exhibit downtown till 6:00pm and head back to the Uptown Campus Center at 6:45pm to catch the GALA in the Patroon Room and then chill and schmooze with fellow graduate students, faculty and staff afterwards. Just remember 25 years from now you won't remember what your finals were on, but you will remember the experiences you had in graduate school and the GALA promises to be one of them.

~VOTE!~ VOTE!~ VOTE!~ VOTE!~ VOTE!

This year has been a tremendous year for the GSO. We've focused on building the graduate student community and stressed the need for our community to take ownership of our organization. Many graduate students have responded to the call and with that we've seen so many more possibilities as to how we can better serve the entire graduate student population. We've updated our website, rearranged the GSO Office, purchased new equipment, printer, computers, monitors, conducted a graduate student survey, held GSO Socials which are fantastic events in our local downtown, raised awareness of the graduate student housing situation to Administration with the result from University Life Council to address the recreation of Off-Campus Housing Services, along with a long list of events, services, RGSO co-sponsorships, and the list goes on and on... We're working with graduate students on the East Campus to plan for services there and we've been open to partnering with graduate students on the Downtown Campus to do the same! Now the year is coming to a close we need you to participation in the GSO Elections.

Time to VOTE! From May 1st to May 3rd, the GSO elections are taking place!
On the ballot we need to vote:

1. For new GSO Officers
2. On updating GSO Constitution
2. On increasing the Graduate Student fee by $7

To read the bios on the candidates click here.
To read about the changes in the constitution click here.
To read about reasons why we should increase the graduate student fee click here

As a graduate student at University at Albany it is your right to voice your opinion through this democratic process. Please vote!

To Vote go to MyUAlbany and logon. There will a link on the right side of the page for Graduate Student Elections!

Need some encouragement?

Okay, this is so cool...

if you need some encouragement because school work is bogging you down, not getting along with your boyfriend, girlfriend, or you just need a little pick me up

click on this link and follow the directions:

Encouragement

okay, back to studying...

Administrative Assistant Day - April 25th

We have three graduate student Office Managers who work at GSO Office in the Campus Center and I have to say that we've all been very fortunate to have them at our service. Who else could we count on when there is a jam in the copier? Who else could we count on when there is a jam in the printer? Who else could we ask about picking up our tickets to see the Mama Mia or tickets to go to NYC for $10? What would we do if we ran out of coffee, tea or water? What would we do if we ran out of staples? Who else would change our reams of paper???

And so many times these Office Managers keep us company and listen to our problems, like "I've had a rough week in class", "my professor seems so unreasonable", "I have to write a 100 page paper and it's due tomorrow", "there's a jam in the copier", "there's a jam in the copier", "why doesn't the printer work"?

Oh the silent steady sacrafices they make! :D

What I appreciate most about Elisabeth, Xinxin, and Gregory is their commitment to all of us and their dedication to the organization in building up the graduate student community. Happy Administrative Assistant Day! Thank you for all your hard work.

ARRrrrrrrggg.... Fountain Day 2007

UAlbany Fountain Day 2007 lives up to all the hype it turns out to be. I will never look at the podium the same way again with all the festivities and all the people dancing the chicken noodle, playing carnival games, tossing the beach ball up in the air! Even Dean Pryse joined in as a volunteer staff for the day!

Around 2:30pm they opened up the main fountain area and a flood of students took off their shoes and socks and dipped into the fountain. Then a few minutes to 3pm there was a count down where they blasted the large fountain to commence this season! We couldn't have planned for better weather. It was perfect in almost everyway. So hot that many people wore shorts, bikinis, t-shirts. Student Life transformed the podium into a carnival-like atmosphere with laser tag, bop-em jousting, hot dogs, fried dough.

What a great way to spend a beautiful Sunday as a university community! OH! and I love the pirate ducky! ARRrrrrrrggg....

Since the weather was so beautiful, afterwards I went to see the sunset in East Greenbush with a view just looking over Empire Plaza and University at Albany Campus. *sigh* Life is good...

Virginia Tech, our prayers are with you...

It's hard to know what to say or think when something so tragic happens in our country. The violence, the senseless shooting, the young promising students whose lives were lost at Virginia Tech today, the countless others who were wounded.

Tomorrow night, Tuesday April 17th, at 5pm Provost and Officer in Charge, Susan Herbst, has called together the UAlbany community to hold a candlelight vigil at the small fountain in front of the Campus Center. If you can make it please come.

In Herbst's e-mail she wrote, "It is important for all of us to come together to remember those who needlessly lost their lives in this heartbreaking incident and to offer consolation and support to one another. In times such as these, our gathering will provide an opportunity to share our individual strengths for the collective comfort of our campus community.

The effects of such a catastrophe are so very far reaching that each of us will be forever changed by this unthinkable act. Please join me and others in the University at Albany community to express our heartfelt condolences and deepest sympathies to the families and friends of the many who lost their lives."

I mourn their loss, grieve with their families and empathize with the students affected by this incident.