Get Involved, Share Your Ideas

The Graduate School is a school of students. As such, we make a conscious effort to solicit and incorporate input from our graduate students as we work to enhance their experience. This is done in a number of ways, including standing meetings between the school leadership and various student organizations, particularly the Graduate and Professional Student Government, the official representative body for Ph.D. and master's students in The Graduate School. Aside from those meetings, there are several other ways we receive input from our students.

Office of Graduate Student Affairs

grad-gsa@duke.edu
919-684-2056
2127 Campus Drive

Graduate Student Affairs Advisory Committee

The Graduate Student Affairs Advisory Committee (GSAAC) is made up of representatives from the graduate faculty, students, and staff. It provides The Graduate School with advice and direction about student support services, student-faculty community-building efforts, recruitment activities, and program development. The committee also shares suggestions about ways in which the school can best serve students' needs and improve the overall quality of graduate student life at Duke.

The GSAAC meets twice during the academic year (typically in October and March) and maintains email communication about updates, questions, and ideas as needed.

If you are interested in serving on the committee, contact Assistant Deans Alan Kendrick (alan.kendrick@duke.edu) and Melissa Bostrom (melissa.bostrom@duke.edu).

Graduate Student Affairs Graduate Student Liaisons

The GSA graduate student liaisons help The Graduate School strengthen its relationships with graduate departments and programs. The GSA liaisons help accomplish this through efforts such as providing word-of-mouth promotion of Graduate School events and resources, informing the school of student-life and professional-development needs and concerns within their departments, and volunteering for Graduate School events such as orientation, recruitment, appreciation week, and graduation.

Students also benefit from their service as GSA liaisons by gaining awareness of resources from The Graduate School and opportunities to shape those resources, getting a chance to develop leadership skills as a student representative for the department, and increasing their visibility for representation on university-wide committees and other opportunities.

If you are interested in becoming a GSA graduate student liaison, contact Assistant Dean Alan Kendrick (alan.kendrick@duke.edu).

Council of Presidents

The Council of Presidents consists of leaders from various student groups. It meets with the dean of The Graduate School several times a year to help the school become more keenly aware of what's happening around campus so that it can address potential issues more proactively. The council was formed in December 2015 as a response to campus discussions on race and inclusion.

About Graduate Student Affairs

The Office of Graduate Student Affairs (GSA) works with students, faculty, and other campus offices to develop programs, resources, and services to meet our graduate students’ needs in areas such as health, safety, childcare, mentoring, and professional development. We also work to address the needs of students from various ethnic backgrounds, international students, women, the LGBTQ community, students with disabilities, and other groups. Among other things, the GSA

  • assesses and responds to the concerns of graduate students;
  • works to strengthen communication among graduate students, faculty, and staff;
  • advises and assists graduate student organizations, including the Graduate and Professional Student Government, the official representative body for Ph.D. and master's students in The Graduate School;
  • recruits underrepresented students to Duke and helps them thrive throughout their matriculation (learn more about our diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts); and
  • is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities (if you believe you may need and qualify for reasonable accommodations, visit Duke’s Disability Management System for detailed information and procedures).

If you have questions, concerns, or suggestions about your experience as a Duke graduate student, contact the Office of Graduate Student Affairs at grad-gsa@duke.edu or 919-684-2056. You are also welcome to visit our offices at The Graduate School at 2127 Campus Drive.