Committees and External Appointments
GSG has eight standing committees that fulfill the function of GSG and solve issues important to graduate students. These committees shall be: The Committee on Rules and Governance, The Committee on Research Advancement, The Committee on Housing, The Committee on Transportation, The Committee on Student Life, The Committee on Diversity, The Committee on Health and Wellbeing, and The Committee on Sustainability. GSG may assemble specialized committees, called ad hoc committees, to manage temporary functions for GSG and/or address topics of interest to the graduate student body that do not fall under the purview of the existing standing committees.
GSG has four executive committees that fulfill its functions and executive operations. These committees are: The Executive Council, The Executive Sub-Committee on External Affairs, The Executive Sub-Committee on Internal Affairs, and the Executive Sub-Committee on Funding Allocation.
GSG is responsible for appointing graduate students to external positions, including representatives to the Faculty Senate and the Graduate College Council.
Senate Committees
Committee on Rules and Governance
This Committee shall be charged with creating amendments to the Constitution and the Bylaws, in conjunction with the Parliamentarian. They are also charged with curating the Legislation archive and maintaining familiarity with legislation passed by GSG. The Committee on Rules and Governance shall be the deliberative body to interpret the Bylaws and Constitution. The committee shall record any interpretation of the Bylaws and inform the Executive Council and the Senate of the interpretation. An interpretation is valid if it has a majority of the votes of the Committee. The Chair of this Committee shall become familiar with legislation passed by GSG so they may advise the Parliamentarian and the President and make available previous legislation.
Previous Chairs: Taylor-Paige Guba (2024-2025)
Committee on Housing
This Committee shall be charged with maintaining the GSG housing document (Article III, Section 5, Subsection c of the Bylaws) and developing solutions, through resolutions, related to affordable housing availability. The committee is charged with holding a monthly open session to hear testimony from graduate students on a list of apartment and housing complexes, determined by the committee. The committee is then charged with updating the housing document from the testimony. At least once per year, the updated housing document must be released to the entire graduate student body.
Previous Chairs: None (Committee formed for the 2025-2026 legislative year)
Committee on Research Advancement
This Committee shall be charged with developing solutions, through resolutions, to problems related to research for Graduate Students. This involves identifying areas that are hampering Graduate Students’ ability to perform research, areas of inefficiency, and ways to increase interdisciplinary communication.
Previous Chairs: None (Committee formed for the 2025-2026 legislative year)
Committee on Transportation
This Committee shall be charged with developing solutions, through resolutions, to problems related to transportation for Graduate Students. This may involve making recommendations on changes to bus routes, infrastructure, and public transport partnerships.
Previous Chairs: Gwen Murphy (2024-2025)
Committee on Student Life
This Committee shall be charged with developing solutions, through resolutions, to problems that impact graduate student life and have not already been answered by another committee. This includes but is not limited to, advisor-student relations, graduate pay, graduate benefits, and graduate rights.
Previous Chairs: Ekaterina Novikova (2024-2026)
Committee on Diversity
This Committee shall be charged with promoting the shared values of graduate students related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in GSG and the University. This includes, but is not limited to, a yearly diversity check-in survey, in conjunction with UD, and hearing from the graduate body on the state of diversity.
Previous Chairs:
Committee on Health and Wellbeing
This Committee shall be charged with gathering data on the state of Graduate Student’s health and wellbeing and making recommendations, through resolutions, on how to improve graduate student access to health care and mental health resources.
Previous Chairs:
Committee on Sustainability
This Committee shall be charged with developing solutions, through resolutions, to improve sustainability on campus and working with the UD Office of Sustainability to implement these changes.
Previous Chairs: Monona Khare (2024-2025)
Executive Committees
Executive Council
Chair: Stephanie Kuntz (President)
Members: Maxwell Bobbin (VP of External Affairs), Narayan Kumar(Parliamentarian), Rosa Mykyta-Chomsky (Treasurer), Bernice Petit (Secretary), Krishna Thakkur (VP of Internal Affairs)
The Executive Council is the steering committee of GSG, made up of its officers. It coordinates the efforts of officers, committees, and the Senate and is responsible for approving external appointments. The council is chaired by the President.
Previous Chairs: Maxwell Bobbin (2024-2025), Alan Parkes (2023-2024)
Executive Sub-Committee on External Affairs
Chair: Maxwell Bobbin (VP of External Affairs)
Vice-Chair: Bernice Petit (Secretary)
Members: None (Senate in recess)
The Executive Sub-Committee on External Affairs is charged with aiding the Vice President of External Affairs and the Secretary in maintaining the contact list of departments, GSOs, and University officials, updating the website, maintaining GSG’s social media sites, and GSG’s archive (currently the Google Drive). They are also charged with helping plan social and external events GSG is a part or in charge of. These events include, but are not limited to New Graduate Student Orientation and Grad Night.
Previous Chairs: None
Executive Sub-Committee on Internal Affairs
Chair: Krishna Thakkar (VP of Internal Affairs)
Members: None (Senate in recess)
The Executive Sub-Committee on Internal Affairs is charged with aiding the Vice President of Internal Affairs in maintaining the list of Senators (in conjunction with the Parliamentarian), maintaining the list of external appointments (see external appointments), communicating election policy changes to departments and programs, and setting rules for running Senate, Officer, and Emergency elections. The Senate must approve any changes to rules for elections through an amendment to the Bylaws.
Previous Chairs: None
Executive Sub-Committee on Funding Allocation
Chair: Rosa Mykyta-Chomsky (Treasurer)
Members: None (Senate in recess)
The Executive Sub-committee on Funding Allocation is charged with aiding the Treasurer in allocating funding to Graduate Student Organizations in a fair, equitable, and unbiased fashion and in line with policies of the Graduate College.
Previous Chairs: None
External Appointments
Graduate College Council - Graduate Caucus
Chairs:
Members:
The Graduate College Council has eight graduate student representatives (one from each college) who are appointed by the President and approved by the Executive Council.
Previous Chairs: Alan Parkes (2024-2025)
Faculty Senate - Graduate Representatives
Members:
The president appoints up to three Senators (confirmed by the Executive Council) as representatives to the Faculty Senate.