Current Projects

Help Wanted

We are always looking for people to help out. Below are some of the tasks we are actively seeking volunteers to help out with:

Planning a Winter Social to be held in February 2010
Working to address issues related to the Continuing Student Fee
Outreach to other BU and Boston grad groups

Contact your rep or the GSO at gso@bu.edu to volunteer!

National Association of Graduate-Professional Students (NAGPS)

The GSO recently joined the National Association of Graduate-Professional Students.

More information about the NAGPS can be found at www.nagps.org

2008 NAGPS Conference Program: PDF

2009 NAGPS Conference Program: PDF

Results of Fall 2009 Survey

In fall 2009 the GSO conducted a survey regarding topics that had been brought up during meetings to find out how much these issues were felt by the student population at large. These topics covered:

"Regular" Printing Needs
Poster Printing Needs and Availability
Interest in Graduate Research Seminars
Bike commuting

A pdf of the results is available. PDF

Health Care

We are working to improve the general standard of care available through the university health services. We recently submitted a letter to the Deans requesting that all fellowships granted at BU cover the Student Plus health insurance plan. A draft of this letter can be seen here: PDF

We will continue to work to address other health issues such as:

Dental Insurance
Family Care
Mental Health

Parental Leave

At the moment, Boston University does not have a Parental Leave Policy for graduate students in the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. Women in Biology, Women in Physics, and the GSO have met with members of the GRS administration and discussed this issue. We will keep you updated as more information becomes available. To learn more about the details of this project you please contact the GSO at gso@bu.edu.

Comparison of Parental Leave policies at other institutions: PDF

Outline of specific scenarios: PDF

Social Events

The GSO sponsors social events throughout the year. The following are some of the events we have hosted during the Spring of 2008:

Pub Nights at the BU Pub

Jazz Brunch

Summer Barbecue

SAGE/GSO Survival Guide

We have created a survival guide with SAGE directed at incoming graduate students. The guide addresses issues like:

Housing: where to live and what is affordable.

Setting up BU accounts.

The survival guide needs updating! If you're interested, contact your department representative or the GSO to volunteer.

Library Resources

The GSO recently organized a seminar about using Web of Science. A summary of the seminar is available here.

The GSO recently contributed several books to the Mugar Library pertaining to careers in academia, publishing scholarly work and other topics of interest to graduate students. Click here for a list of these titles.