GSA Community Liaison

October 28, 2020

University of Maryland, Baltimore County 

Office of Graduate Student Life

GSA COMMUNITY LIAISON– GRADUATE ASSISTANT POSITION, 20 hours a week – AY 2020 –2021

The Office of Graduate Student Life (OGSL) is operated by the Graduate Student Association (GSA) to meet graduate students' needs as they pursue degrees at the master’s and doctoral levels in all disciplines at UMBC.

The successful candidate MUST be eligible for Federal Work-Study, determined by the student’s FAFSA (must be a U.S. citizen or a Permanent Resident).

Duties of the Community Liaison:

 Representation

•Facilitates GSA’s community engagement efforts and programming.

•Facilitates communication between GSA, OGSL, graduate students, UMBC University Committees, and the greater UMBC/Baltimore community.

 Graduate Student Organization Support

 •Advises, trains, and coordinates 26-28 Graduate Student Organizations (GSOs) and approves event requests while supporting them in event organization, as needed.

•Maintains a record of expenses of 26-28 Graduate Student Organizations and submits reimbursement requests on behalf of GSO leaders.

•Completes Journal Entries as needed.

•Receives approval from EAA on all student reimbursements and sends documents to accounting for final payment

OGSL Expectations

 •Serves as a member of the OGSL and assists the OGSL & GSA in its mission of supporting and promoting graduate students.

•Collegially supports and assists the GSA Executive Administrative Assistant, the Communications Manager, and the Travel & Research Grants Coordinator.

•Collaborates with the OGSL team & GSA Executive Board to implement GSA’s mission.

•Attends weekly OGSL team meetings, monthly Senate meetings, GSA Social.

Hours, Graduate Student Week events, the Graduate Experiences, Achievements, and Research Symposium, and The Graduate School events. Works 20 hours per week, staffing the office.

•Prepares monthly report for the Executive Councils review and places in Google

Drive/FY21 Reports.

•Maintains and develops knowledge of the Graduate Student Handbook,

The Graduate School policies and GSA policies.

•Other duties as assigned (e.g., assisting with the Graduate Research Conference).

Qualifications & Requirements 

•Must have flexible availability throughout the week to participate in committee meetings and GSA/OGSL events.

•Strong interpersonal, analytical, oral, and written communication skills required; conflict resolution skills desired.

•Knowledge of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Google applications.

•A commitment to diversity and team building is essential.

•Bachelor’s degree, full-time enrollment in a UMBC master’s or doctoral degree program, and be in good academic standing with The Graduate School.

•May not hold a doctoral degree or have UMBC adjunct faculty status.

•Ability to work independently and as a part of a team is essential.

•A positive attitude, strong time management skills, and a sense of humor are

advantageous.

This is a 20-hour/week assistantship, including tuition remission for Fall and Spring, stipend for Fall and Spring AY 2020-2021, and GA health insurance.

Please follow application instructions carefully. Your application will not be reviewed unless all of the following materials are submitted electronically:

Electronically submit:

• Your resume in PDF

• Your unofficial UMBC transcripts if already an enrolled UMBC graduate

student OR official transcripts of other universities attended if a newly admitted UMBC graduate student

• Cover letter in PDF

• Contact information for faculty reference (Name, Title, Address, Email,

Phone) to:

Dawn L. Galindo, E.A.A.

GSA

The Commons 308

dgalindo@umbc.edu

Relationship Violence Awareness Month (RVAM) brings people together to create and generate discussion and skill-building on how to prevent relationship violence in our schools, workplaces, and communities, Since most of our campus remains learning and working remotely, we won’t be able to physically come together this October to do this critical work in person… but it doesn’t mean that learning is cancelled!

The Women’s Center has been creating weekly postings to help guide your self-learning that we’ll share with you each week in October. We’re already at our final week – week 4! Below is a short list of relevant webinars or events, podcasts or blogs, and on and off-campus resources dedicated to cultivating awareness about relationship violence, posting your skills and knowledge around the intersecting issues, and increasing access to important resources.

While some of the learning content we’re sharing is all-encompassing, we’re also narrowing down on  few key themes this year to include: The Covid-Crossings of Relationship Violence, Relationship Violence’s Matrix of Oppression, and Un/Healthy Relationships for Young Adults. Through self-guided learning, you can dig deeper by listening to a podcast, reading a blog, attending a webinar and more. 

We’ll also be sharing this content on social media so let us know what you’re learning or what questions you have in the comments! 

• These images are from Women’s Center Clothesline Project, which occurs twice a year. It is a way for survivors to share their stories and experiences with sexual violence, and as one can see from the images, no survivor experience is the same. You can learn more about the Clothesline project here. Due to the Pandemic the project is not accepting projects, but will be back once the campus is fully open.
• Campuses all over the country are becoming more aware of how domestic violence affects the lives of college students. This article details the experience of a survivor in college, and how college campuses are helping to support survivors despite policy obstacles.
• This vlog was created by the One Love Foundation provides an in-depth view of what an abusive relationship looks like, behind the “couple goals” posts on social media. Please note that this video may be triggering to some as it contains images of violence.
• The Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence is an off-campus resource that includes hotlines which can help survivors access shelter, counseling, legal information, and referrals to other services.
• This podcast from “I’m not in an Abusive Relationship” gives Jen’s account of her experience with dating violence at the age of 15. Even though she was still in high-school, and living with her parents.
• Reminder: The Office of Equity and Inclusion’s SafeColleges mandatory training program is due November 1st. UMBC’s Faculty and Staff must complete their training by December 11th.

On September 1st, new and returning students received an email from safecolleges.com. This is NOT SPAM. It is information regarding a mandatory training from OEI. More info below:

**This has been reposted on behalf of the Office of Equity and Inclusion. original post.** 

The Office of Equity and Inclusion (OEI) assigned new and returning students our updated Sexual Misconduct/ Title IX/ OEI training through SafeColleges.

Trigger Warning: If you have been personally affected by sexual or interpersonal violence and are concerned that you may not be able to complete the training in this format as a result of this experience, please contact Mikhel Kushner - Title IX Coordinator.

If you are experiencing sexual violence or discrimination or are being impacted by past experiences with them, you can report using OEI’sonline reporting form, you can also find information aboutRights and Resources here. 

The training must be completed by October 31, 2020: A registration hold may be placed on the student's account if they fail to complete the training.

Before beginning the training students are encouraged to review UMBC’s Policy on Sexual Misconduct, Sexual Harassment and Gender Discrimination, (updated August 14, 2020), as well as the Discrimination and Equal Opportunity Policy, which outline UMBC’s expectations of conduct towards members of the UMBC Community.

Questions about the policies and procedures related to sexual assault, domestic/ dating violence, sexual harassment, or stalking, should be directed to Title IX Coordinator Mikhel Kushner at Kushner@umbc.edu. If you have any questions or concerns about the policies and procedures related to discrimination and bias, please contact OEI at oei@umbc.edu. 

Students will receive an email with instructions about how to complete the training which can be found at:

https://umbcstudents-md.safecolleges.com/

We thank our students in advance for participating in this training which will help address harassment, assault, and discrimination on our campus and promote an environment where all members of our community can study, learn, work and play.