Grad News Forum

“I really don’t want to talk, I just want to listen”

The words of F. Jon Kull, Dean of Dartmouth Graduate Studies at a debriefing session on the issues of sexual assault and prejudice at the College.

On Monday 6^th May, the Graduate Student Council and the Grad Studies Office held a program wide-debriefing session to discuss the recent unrest at Dartmouth. Classes were cancelled on Wednesday 24^th April due to an escalated conflict between fellow students and with the administration.

A group of student protestors had disrupted the Dimensions events to highlight their dissatisfaction with College responses to discrimination, specifically sexual assault, on campus.

The venue of the protest, the Dimensions event, was particularly controversial. Many students see the Dimensions Show as an iconic part of the Dartmouth experience. It brings prospective students to the College where they sit through a performance by current students.

The response of what appears to be a minority of students to the protests amounted to aggressive cyber bullying.  Some Dartmouth students had taken to posting on the “Bored at Baker” website. This site allows for posting anonymous comments, usually in a humorous context. However on this occasion, the comments were aggressive and derogatory. Some comments even threatened violence.

Given the very serious nature of this bullying, which included threats of personal harm, the College cancelled classes to allow for space for students to discuss what had happened. There were teach-ins amongst other events to provide this space. Many graduate students took the opportunity to get involved in these events.

Members of the GSC executive board got together with Dean Kull to organize a debriefing session for graduate students. The meeting was open candid and informal. All students were encouraged to speak. Each student filled in an anonymous comment card giving their thoughts on the issues at hand. Kull then collected and redistributed these cards to facilitate discussion.

One of the meeting’s first points of discussion was where graduate students stand in relation to the worrying events. Graduate students have a unique place on campus. They do not share the same culture as undergraduates, yet are inseparable in so many ways. They act as mentors and teachers, making the Dartmouth experience as rounded as possible.

Graduate students’ experiences of mentorship meant that the issues, protests, conflicts and subsequent events affected graduate students as they did undergraduates. However there was an acceptance that graduate students had some responsibility in increasing communication between the two communities.

Many of the comments and suggestions raised at the session were enthusiastic about further participation with the undergraduate community and undergraduate organizations. There was the feeling that the graduate community has a responsibility to help nurture a Dartmouth environment that is welcoming for all.

Speaking on the event and the issues, GSC President Lisa Jackson said, “One of the biggest themes that arose in the discussion was the need for better communication between graduate students and undergraduates.”

Jackson continued “I echo the sentiments of many in the room who said these events have exposed a communication gap in that regard, and thus, an opportunity to reach out to undergrads moving forward in order to help foster more unity on campus.”

Above all, the event showed there was unanimity that it is important to discuss these problems, and to be bold standing up when a student feels that their position at Dartmouth is threatened.

We encourage all graduate students to reach out to Dean Kull, the Grad Office and the GSC if they wish to further talk about these, or any other issues.

by Dan Durcan

Old and new – Exec Board ’12-’13 and ’13-’14

On Tuesday May 8^th, the GSC held it’s annual elections for the Executive Board. Eight positions were open for election. They were: President, Vice President, Finance Chair, Student Life Chair, Academic Chair, Secretary and two Social Chairs. The Executive Board is responsible for the leadership of the GSC. Each member has their own portfolio and collectively they run action teams and organize social events. They also represent the GSC and Dartmouth, meeting the president of the College, the trustees, and grad leaders at other Ivy Schools.

While all graduate students are welcome to run in Executive Board elections, votes are cast by Departmental Representatives who have fulfilled both the attendance and volunteer requirements outlined in the GSC constitution: to vote, Departmental Representatives must attend all council meetings (two absences allowed) and volunteer at two GSC events.

The GSC’s role is to nurture and enhance a sense of graduate student community across Dartmouth’s graduate departments, schools, and programs. The GSC consists of elected Departmental Representatives from all Graduate Arts and Sciences programs, including TDI and Thayer, and non-voting representatives from the Tuck School of Business and the Geisel School of Medicine.

The winners of this year’s elections are:

President: Lisa Jackson

Vice President: Anne Xu
Finance Chair: Adrienne Perkins
Student Life Chair: Meg Menon
Academic Chair: Laurie Laker
Secretary: Drew Wong
Social Chairs: Haofeng Li and Erin O’Malley

For more information about the GSC, please visit the home page and don’t be afraid to reach out to your new Exec Board.

Elections for Departmental Representatives are held in the fall term.

The Exec Board in their own words:

Lisa Jackson, TDI, President: I feel so honored to have been elected President of the GSC for the upcoming school year! Building off the work initiated by this year’s GSC executive board and council as a whole, I hope that next year’s GSC will continue to foster communication and collaboration between the other grad student governments, between grad students and undergraduate students, and between grads and the college administration and broader Upper Valley community. By working together, we can continue to enhance the Dartmouth experience for everyone! Congratulations to my fellow executive board members elected on Tuesday as well; I can’t wait to work with you all.

Ani Xu, MALS, Vice President: For a long while, I’ve struggled with the concept of community at Dartmouth, or the lack thereof. Lately and thankfully, I’ve been proven dead wrong. I am absolutely overwhelmed by the strength of character of the students here. This community has given me so much and I sincerely hope that by serving as Vice President of the Graduate Student Council, I will have the opportunity to contribute back to the absolute best of my abilities. I am beyond excited to work with this excellent group of people in the coming year.

Adrienne Perkins, Biology, Finance Chair: I’m happy to have the opportunity to continue serving and working with the GSC as Finance Chair.

Drew Wong, Thayer, Secretary: I am excited to build on the framework established by the former GSC committees and to pave the way for the future councils.

Meg Menon, MALS: I look forward to working with the Graduate Student Council, as we support your interests and strive toward fostering our deep sense of community through tangible and sincere efforts. I promise to do my best in this position and  I encourage you to think of me as an advocate for your well-being and an agent for change that you would like to affect. Thank you.

Laurie Laker, MALS, Academic Chair: I’m honored and excited to have been elected to the GSC Executive Board. We’re all here at Dartmouth to better ourselves academically, and I’m excited to have the opportunity to serve our graduate student community towards that betterment. As a current MALS rep on the GSC, I’m excited to take the reigns of Academic Chair from Rich Lopez – who has done a tremendous job this past year. I can’t wait to get started.

Haofeng Li, Social Chair: Excited about this great opportunity! Hopefully our efforts will make this coming year awesome:)

Erin O’Malley, Social Chair: I am very excited to have been elected as the GSC Social Chair for 2013.  I look forward to being able to bring many diverse groups together and provide the very important social interactions that can all too often get missed in our hectic lives as graduate students.  Also, I look at this as an opportunity to use leadership skills to plan events that everyone can enjoy and to make this another successful year.

On Wednesday April 10^th, the Graduate Studies Office hosted the annual Graduate Poster Session. This event gives graduate students the opportunity to present their research to a wide audience. It also serves as the setting for the presentations of the Graduate Community Award, Faculty Mentoring Award, and four Poster Awards.

In a crammed Alumni Hall, graduate students congregated to share their knowledge and learn from their colleagues. Along with students, faculty, and members of the local community was President Carol Folt and the Dean of Graduate Studies F. Jon Kull.

Sadik Antwi-Boampong from the Chemistry Department explains his poster.

In total, four Poster Awards were given out.  A carefully chosen panel from different backgrounds and disciplines was selected to pick award winners. The judges’ criteria were wide-ranging: from how clear the posters were to the practical implications of the research. Students had just a few minutes to explain their work to the panel members. Speaking about selecting the winners, Assistant Dean of Graduate Studies Gary Hutchins noted: “It’s always tough because the quality of competitors is so high.” Hutchins continued, “This year we chose Marianna Kleyman because we were particularly impressed by how clearly she communicated her research.”

The Poster Award winners were:  Sadik Antwi-Boampong for his poster on the “Detection of Formaldehyde Vapor Using Conductive Polymer Films.” Antwi-Boampong is from the Department of Chemistry and advised by Joseph Belbruno. From the Department of Earth Sciences was John Gartner, advised by Carl Renshaw. His poster was on “Irene Landslides and Sedimentation in Vermont Rivers: Importance of Gradients in Transport Capacity.” Marianna Kleyman, from the Department of Biochemistry also won. She is advised by Duane Compton, and her poster was titled “STAG2 Regulates Kinetochore-Microtubule Attachments in Human Cells.” Alexander Schlegel, from the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences was the final winner. He is advised by Peter Tse and won for his poster “A Neural Network Supporting Mental Operations on Visual Imagery.”

Ron Bucca and Marie Onakomaiya won the Graduate Community Award jointly. Bucca, a second year Master of Arts in Liberal Studies student, received his award for work as the Student Life Chair of the Graduate Student Council and as the Chair of the Dartmouth Graduate Veterans Association. Onakomaiya is a fourth year PhD student in the Department of Physiology and Neurobiology in the Program of Experimental and Molecular Medicine. She received her award for, amongst other endeavors, her work with the Graduate Relief Team.

Professor Kathryn Cottingham and Professor Robert Hawley were this year’s recipients of the Graduate Faculty Mentoring Award. This award is given by the Graduate Student Council for exceptional service to graduate students. The award is guided by graduate student nominations and reflects the hard work that both students and faculty put into graduate research at Dartmouth.

The combination of different awards adds to the poster session in that it illustrates the holistic nature of the Dartmouth graduate experience. World-class research goes hand in hand with graduate students’ relationship with the community and faculty.

Speaking on the event, Dean Kull remarked: “The poster session was really a fascinating event. It shows the diversity of disciplines of our graduate students as well as the hard work that goes into PhD and Master’s programs.”

The poster session provides the opportunity for graduate students to proudly demonstrate their research to a wide-ranging audience. It is a key date on the graduate students’ calendar.

“It really brings the graduate experience together,” says Kull.

by Dan Durcan

On Saturday, April 6^th, over 150 children and adults turned out for the very first Science Day at Dartmouth. F. Jon Kull, dean of Graduate Studies, dubbed Science Day, organized by Graduate Women in Science and Engineering (GWISE), a “great success.”

Anna Prescott and Aarathi Prasaad, PhD candidates in Psychological and Brain Sciences (PBS) and Computer Science respectively, organized the event with help from a small army of volunteers from across Graduate Studies. The aim of the event was to excite children about the sciences and being a scientist. Graduate students, being highly motivated scientists, were up to the challenge.

A graduate student walks a young person through a computer simulation.

Another motivation behind Science Day was to encourage female participation in the sciences.  Dartmouth graduate students have a reputation of challenging the “science is for boys” stereotype. Science Day was no exception. “Over 50% of women led activities or gave demonstrations,” says Prescott. Whilst men were not discouraged, the high interest of female scientists in the event showed young people that science is gender neutral.

GWISE set up 20 stations from the departments or programs in Earth Sciences, Environmental Studies, Physics and Astronomy, Mathematics, PBS, Computer Science, Neurology and Biological science departments. Activities gave the young people an introduction to each discipline. For example, representatives from the Department of Physics and Astronomy illustrated centrifugal forces with a bike wheel and a rotating chair.

PBS had a particularly popular station. Rachel Pizzie, a PhD candidate in the department, gave participating students a “lie detector test.” She gauged excitement by measuring how well skin conducts electricity. Our hands sweat more when we are surprised or shocked, sweaty hands conduct electricity better. Pizzie placed sensors on volunteers’ hands to measure increases or decreases of sweat. From this she could determine her volunteers’ excitement to questions, much like a polygraph test. The audience’s excitement level did not need such a test.

Many parents noted that they were unable to get to each station, not because there were too many stations, or that the stations were too far apart, but because their children were so engaged that they lingered at each demonstration and activity.

The day’s success was facilitated by the dedicated efforts of graduate students. One parent remarked: “the students were great at explaining their research to the kids, and they had an infectious enthusiasm for research.”

Over 50 graduate students took five or six hours out of their weekend to help. They set up demonstrations, they showed the visitors around the college and they dropped pizza off to their hungry colleagues. Furthermore, GWISE took sole responsibility for organizing and funding the event.

Prescott remarked on the success of the day “there’s just something special about visiting the labs and campus buildings. We really wanted to show kids what careers in science look like.” She continued, “Meeting with enthusiastic kids to tell them about what we study, why it’s cool, why it’s important, and why we love it is a great way to reinvigorate ourselves!”

GWISE is going to build on the success of Science Day 2013, to make Science Day 2014 reach out to even more children and young people.

“Encouraging others to get involved in science is one of the most rewarding experiences a young scientist can have,” says Prescott.

by Dan Durcan

The Graduate-Undergraduate (G-U) Mentoring Program was officially launched on April 4^th, 2013 with a kick-off event co-sponsored by Dartmouth Graduate Studies and Career Services.

The launch event was hosted at the Career Services office in downtown Hanover and began with an introduction of the Mentoring Program by graduate students, Max Mehlman and Marie Onakomaiya. A panel discussion followed with Thayer professor, Dr. Kofi Odame and five graduate students (Stela Celaj, Max Mehlman, Erin O’Malley, Elizabeth Sergison, and Jeremy Thompson), who answered questions from the 30 undergraduates who attended the event. The final session was the meet-a-mentor breakout session, during which undergrads could mingle and talk one-on-one with graduate students in their field of interest.

Almost a year in the making, the idea for the Mentoring Program came from a conversation in the spring of 2012 between Onakomaiya, a PhD student in the Program in Experimental and Molecular Medicine, and Jessica Friedman of the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding. Friedman highlighted the need to connect Dartmouth undergraduates interested in graduate school with graduate students, so they could experience what graduate school is like. Unless they do undergraduate research in a lab or an honors thesis with a professor, students do not get to experience what it is like to go to grad school until they begin. This conversation led to the initial concept of a day of shadowing grad students.

Through collaboration with Mehlman, a PhD student in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences (PBS), Anna Prescott and Aarathi Prasad of the Graduate Women in Science and Engineering (GWISE) group, and Kathy Weaver, the assistant director of the Office of Undergraduate Advising and Research, the program evolved into more than just shadowing. A summer pilot was set up, and through announcements in the Graduate Student Council (GSC) Gazetteer, graduate students were recruited to be “low-pressure” mentors to undergraduate students in the Women in Science Program (WISP). Over 40 graduate students signed up to be mentors within a month of recruiting—an indication of the enthusiasm of graduate students to help the Dartmouth community fill this gap.

After the summer pilot, the feedback from the 18 participants was largely positive. One undergraduate, Holly Wakeman, said of the program “I found the program very helpful! I’m an undergrad considering applying to grad school, and I met with several mentors to talk about how and when to apply, their experiences, and my interests. While I’m not still in contact with most of the mentors I met with, it was a very valuable experience and really helped me to better understand what I’d like to do and how to get there!”

Through the fall and winter terms, Mehlman and Onakomaiya re-evaluated the program and worked on how to launch it campus-wide. Weaver connected them with key people in offices across campus involved in undergraduate-graduate education, including the Undergraduate Deans Office, Pre-Health Advising, Graduate Studies, and Career Services, among others. They also pitched the program to professors in different departments and schools on campus, who recognized the need and potential of the program. There was overwhelming support from all corners.

The program is designed to be self-sustaining. Undergrads are given access to a list of graduate students interested in being mentors, including their contact information and a short description of their graduate work and other expertise. The graduate students are available for questions over email and/or coffee, or to be shadowed, giving some flexibility to all concerned.

In the future, there are plans to receive quarterly mentor feedback and to set up a yearly mentor training session to provide support to the graduate mentors and help them be better mentors, as well as to re-assess the success of the program. Overall, the Mentoring Program is providing a direct way for undergraduates to learn more about graduate school, and has in the same turn provided a mentoring opportunity for Dartmouth graduate students.

The Mentoring Program is always recruiting new mentors. Graduate students interested in being mentors can e-mail either Mehlman or Onakomaiya. Undergraduate students interested in learning more about grad school can visit the Graduate-Undergraduate Mentoring Program website to connect with a mentor.

by Marie Onakomaiya

Graduate Student Appreciation Week, commencing April 6, is an annual celebration of the contributions that graduate students bring to Dartmouth. The week combines a wide range of scholarly and social activities.

Graduate students work hard.  Each one knows late nights and early mornings. However, all being said, you will have to look hard to find the graduate student who does not think this is all worthwhile. Graduate students’ dedication to their research and to the education of undergraduates is an invaluable contribution to Dartmouth. The research undertaken in both our PhD and Master’s programs, in both arts and sciences, reinforces Dartmouth as a world-class educational institution. TA-ships see graduate students burning the midnight oil, grading papers and then taking time away from their own work to spend time with students. Those who have done it know how much students benefit from the support of a TA, as a mentor and a role model. Despite the heavy workload and stressful life, graduate student’s community outreach and volunteer work is award-renowned, both in the local community and abroad.

Preparations for the poster session in Alumni Hall on Wednesday 10th April, 5pm-7:30pm.

So every year by the time it gets to spring term, some appreciation is due.

The idea for Graduate Appreciation Week came from the National Association of Graduate-Professional Students (NAGPS). In 1993, NAGPS established Graduate-Professional Student Appreciation Week (GPSAW) as a mechanism to support and appreciate graduate and professional students. Dartmouth proudly sponsors this decade-long tradition.

F. Jon Kull, dean of Graduate Studies, commented on Graduate Appreciation Week:

“I really think it is crucial for the work of graduate students at Dartmouth to be highlighted and appreciated. Being a graduate student is a fantastic thing; it shows a true dedication to learning and advancing in a field or discipline. Dartmouth as an institution is fortunate to have so many enthusiastic and talented graduate students. Their contribution is felt everyday.”

The full range of events can be found here. Keep an eye out for the Graduate Poster Session. The Poster Session displays the best of graduate student talent. There you will see the range of research undertaken and all the hard work paying off. President Carol L. Folt will announce the winners of the Graduate Faculty Mentoring Award at the session. In short, the poster session really brings together many aspects of the graduate student experience.

“Graduate Appreciation Week gives the wider community the opportunity to take stock of their valuable contributions,” says Kull, “The schedule of events shows students they are valued, and the poster session allows their work to be displayed. The poster session is a great opportunity to learn more about Dartmouth Graduate Studies and some of the fantastic things achieved here.”

After the poster session is Pub Night at Molly’s Restaurant and Bar—we all need a break once in a while.

For more information about some of the achievements of Dartmouth’s graduate students, keep posted to the Grad News Forum and our Facebook and Twitter streams.

by Dan Durcan

Every term, the Graduate Studies Office organizes an event for all graduate student leaders that helps develop team and leadership skills. On March 6, graduate student leaders from various groups, including the Graduate Student Council (GSC), the Dartmouth Graduate Outing Club (DGOC), the Dartmouth Argentine Tango Society (DATS), the International Graduate Mentoring Program (IGMP), and the Graduate Women in Science and Engineering (GWISE), participated in a rock-climbing event at the Green Mountain Rock Climbing Center (GMRCC) at Quechee, Vermont. The GMRCC is the tallest and largest indoor climbing gym in the area with 24 top ropes.

In the past, the Graduate Studies Office has organized several ropes courses for graduate student leaders, as well as Strengths Quest team-building activities. Both of these types of activities have helped graduate students in identifying strengths and developing group work and management skills. This is the first time that rock climbing has been offered.

During the climb, each climber was supported by a belayer, who holds the end of a rope attached to the climber and uses a belay device designed to apply friction as needed to prevent falls. The climber must trust the belayer to provide the necessary friction. However, in addition to providing support, it is the belayer’s job to allow enough slack for the climber to continue climbing. Climbing pairs learn to work together to coordinate climbing course and pace and trust each other.

Most of the graduate participants had never climbed before, so there was a lot to learn. After around two hours of climbing, most of the students were sore, but they learned a key aspect of being a leader: gaining and giving trust. Aarathi Prasad, a graduate student in computer science, commented on the event: “I was pretty terrified since I had never done rock climbing before and almost wanted to back out at the last moment. However, I am glad I went, because the event was simply so much fun, very safe, and I think I returned a little more confident about myself than earlier.”

Overall the event was fantastic, free of injury and simply awesome. Thanks again to Graduate Studies for organizing such wonderful, skill-developing events.

by Gilbert Rahme

On March 1^st, the Graduate Student Council (GSC) Web Team released a brand new GSC website. But releasing the new site, even with content originating from the original GSC site, was not an overnight assignment. In fact, the Web Team began developing the project way back in October of 2012.

The website project was divided into three steps, or “milestones.” The first was philosophy. Nothing is worse than a website that is poorly planned, where each page seems to be living in its own universe of color and structure. In order to really nail down a clear design philosophy, the Web Team did a group activity called “Sails and Anchors.” The idea is simple: one considers a collection of one’s favorite and most-detested websites, and makes a list of concepts/features that make those sites so great or poor. Features (or rather, “blights”) that detract from a site are called “anchors,” and those which make a site wonderful are “sails.”

“Sails and Anchors” board created by the Web Team as it brainstormed concepts for the new GSC site. Anchors are at the bottom, and sails are on top.

Key themes emerged from the collection of thoughts; the team now had a lucid sense of features we desired in the new site, and those we wished to avoid at all costs.

The next milestone was creation: that is, finding a site theme that satisfied the most sails and the least anchors from the first milestone. Fortunately the underlying web engine for the new site, called WordPress, has a plethora of themes created by contributors worldwide that can be used for free. The team ultimately chose the “Graphene” theme—what you see on the site today—as it satisfied three of our key sails: a high degree of backend customization, a spacious “well-furnished room” appearance, and a home-page “slideshow” where upcoming events can be showcased.

The last milestone was implementation: it was time to port over all content from the existing GSC site, revise it according to the design principles of the new site, and ensure that all the nitty-gritty things like links and attachments were working as they should. We also parsed through each section of the site and looked for where content or organisation could be simplified. After all, a simple site is pleasing to the user, and the least schizophrenic to manage in the back office.

The website has been well received. Former GSC President Wesley Whittaker noted: “The new site has much improved access, I really like it. The student organization section is a lot easier to navigate—this will make participation so much easier for both incoming students and those who have been around for longer.” He continued “I also like how, under the event section, there’s the links to facebook and doodles so that everything’s in one place and there’s a connected social media stream.”

The process of designing a website is never complete: there are still a few stray links, and a couple fonts that could use some polishing up. As well, the space for additional creativity, such as new extensions or enhancements to an existing site, is endless.

Stay tuned as the GSC Web Team works on new refinements and features for the site in the coming months. In the meantime, we hope our hard work through the past several months has resulted in a powerful new website that you enjoy using.

The website address is: http://sites.dartmouth.edu/gsc/

Web Team Members: Amanda Balboni, Julia Bradley-Cook, Rishika De, Lisa Jackson, Marie Onakomaiya, Justin Richardson, Nicholas Tito, Christine Urbanowicz

by Nicholas Tito, GSC Web Team Leader

Few Dartmouth students will have escaped noticing we are in V-Week. From February 14^th to February 26^th, a slew of events have been organized drawing attention to ending violence against women and girls. This year’s focus, One Billion Rising, seeks to draw attention to the long overlooked issue of sexual abuse. The number one billion comes from the sobering statistic of the number of women, globally who have been or will be victims of sexual abuse or assault in their lifetimes. V-Week seeks to draw attention to the prevalence of these crimes and to provide support for organizations that help those affected. For the fourth year now, the Graduate Student Council (GSC) is a proud sponsor.

Photo by Rebel Roberts

The history of V-Week and V-Day goes back fifteen years. It was started by Vagina Monologues author Eve Ensler as a way of using art to start conversations and raise awareness. The goal: to end violence against women and girls.  The movement is a grassroots one. It seeks to mobilize women of all classes and generations with the unified purpose of raising funds and drawing attention to violence against women and girls. The grassroots nature gives local networks control of ninety percent of funds raised. These funds will go to Wise, a nonprofit organization based in Lebanon, New Hampshire, that helps those affected by sexual and domestic violence in the Upper Valley. The other ten percent goes to a preselected international campaign. This year’s campaign is One Billion Rising, an internationally coordinated day of dancing, striking, and rising.

Dartmouth’s role in V-Day goes back to 1999. Initially an undergraduate-led initiative, the movement quickly spread to the local community; it began involving staff, faculty, alumni, and of course, the graduate community.

Active and passionate people led the way to graduate involvement. Megan Fallon, the former assistant director of the Center for Gender & Student Engagement at Dartmouth and a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies (MALS) student, took a pivotal role. Fallon’s position and her dedication allowed her to be active in making V-Day and V-Week an important time at Dartmouth.

Katie Kinnaird, a math PhD candidate, has continued Fallon’s work. Kinnaird had taken part in the Vagina Monologues as an undergraduate and wanted an opportunity to continue her activism. V-Week provided this opportunity. Through her hard work, graduates and undergraduates have been able to come together to make a difference for women in the community and beyond.

“It was a great way to meet really passionate women, real unabashed feminists” says Kinnaird, “I will be sad to leave the community and hope that someone in the graduate school takes my place.”

Kinnaird swiftly took control of making v-pops. V-pops are vagina-shaped lollipops. Their purpose is twofold. Firstly, they act as a way in which woman can create a cultural shift in the way in which vaginas are viewed. Secondly, making and selling v-pops is a great way to raise money, allowing people to socialize in the process. In taking on the role of making v-pops, Kinnaird has carved out a unique space for the graduate community.

The graduate community also takes on the role of organizing the Venefit for V-Day. Hosted with a local business, this event raises money for V-Day. Anyone who wants more information about the Venefit, the V-Pop­ Parties, or wants to get involved, can email Kinnaird at: Katherine.M.Kinnaird.GR@dartmouth.edu. For the full schedule of events go to the V-Week Website.

Speaking of her activism, Kinnaird said “I hope to be involved when I’m in a retirement community in my nineties.” She continued, “what could be more fabulous?!”

by Dan Durcan

This video highlights just a few of the academic achievements and social happenings from the fall term at Dartmouth Graduate Studies.

Special thanks to:

Ron Bucca, Idan Ginsburg, Sam Beal, Laura Levy, Gifford Wong, John Gartner, Julia Bradley-Cook, Lisa Jackson, Geneva Trotter, and Dean F. Jon Kull. Dartmouth Graduate Studies: Highlights of Fall Term