Dartmouth grad students always look forward to spending a get-away weekend in a nearby city to recharge from their rural reality. Yet, it was for work purposes that five of them headed to Cambridge, MA on the weekend of October 24-26th to attend the 6th annual Ivy Summit, hosted by Harvard University.
The Ivy Summit is an occasion for representatives of the graduate student councils (GSC) of the eight Ivy League institutions, along with "Ivy-plus" member MIT, to explore how graduate student life and advocacy at each institution could be improved.
This year, Dartmouth GSC executive board members Bradley DeMay, Samuel Bakhoum, Kristen Garner, James M. Hughes and David Lukofsky, accompanied by Assistant Dean of Graduate Student Affairs Kerry Landers, attended the conference as Dartmouth representatives.
The three-day conference began with a reception and dinner showcasing Harvard's Dudley House, the graduate student space equipped with a complete dining hall, game room and library. It was over a casual reception and dinner that the six Dartmouth representatives mingled with the 43 other attendees to share their perspectives on general graduate student issues.
These conversations were a prelude to the next morning's "state of the nine," a session where graduate council presidents delivered an address on the progress and challenges relating to their constituencies.
Bradley DeMay, Dartmouth's GSC president, spoke about the GSC's incredible growth in meeting attendance over the past four years, a testament to the organization's growing momentum and leverage. He also pointed out that the relatively small number of grad students at Dartmouth has shaped the GSC's ability to cooperate with other graduate and professional school organizations to convey grad student interests to the College Administration.
Nine breakout sessions followed, where the Summit's attendees rolled up their sleeves to tackle questions relating to housing, health insurance, programming, and mentoring.
Several new initiatives stemming from these discussions will be examined over the next few months at Dartmouth. For instance, the GSC is investigating how it could offer a number of travel grants for graduate students that do not have enough funding to travel to a conference and present a paper. In addition, a committee has been formed to institute a Dartmouth wide community-service day.
Two new positions will also be added to the GSC executive board. An Academics Chair will oversee new academic initiatives such as the PhD-MBA combined program. The Student Life chair will lead taskforces advocating for, namely, an increase in Advanced Transit hours reflecting grad student work hours and a dental insurance plan.
Overall, it is apparent that the Ivy Summit nurtured discussions that will bring about fruitful changes to the experience of all graduate students at Dartmouth. If you are interested in participating in one of the initiatives mentioned in this text, please contact: <GSC@Dartmouth.EDU>.
