You can both nominate yourself or get nominated for a position on the DaGSA board.  Sometimes, outgoing members might ask you to consider running!  The board consists of dance grad student elected positions. Elections usually happen in the Spring quarter.

-President:  organizes and hosts events catering to needs of the graduate students in the department

-Labor representative:  reports to students about issues concerning the labor union and their rights as teacher’s assistants and graduate students.  

-GSA rep:  attends regular meetings concerning the support which graduate student organizations receive from UCR.  

Funding for DaGSA is through the dance department and CHASS services.  For additional resources, the department chair and graduate advisor meet with the presidents to aid us in securing funds for conferences and other events.  

We are also grateful for the help of Lily Szeto for event organization and updating our website.

The kinds of events that DaGSA hosts vary depending on the requests and needs of graduate students. We currently host three regular series of events in addition to aiding the organization of Dance Under Construction (see below):  

-Ask Us Anything- This series uses each individual session to focus on one part of the dance graduate student process in creating your dissertation or thesis. These include: all things related to forming your committee, how to make your reading lists, how to navigate each step of the dissertation and MFA final project  process, as well as careers after graduate school.

-Faculty Hot Seat- This wildly popular series focuses on our brilliant faculty. This started as a way for grads to get to know the faculty and to ask them a little more about who they are and how they got where they are. The session is usually run by a graduate student interviewer with prepared questions.  Towards the end, the attendees are always given time to ask any questions they have as well. 

-Writing and Accountability Group- This is a weekly writing and accountability meeting hosted by a graduate student. This is usually run in two hour increments and chosen at a time that is optimal for the most grads. Hosted via Zoom, this space provides two hours of focused work time for attendees to work on whatever they see fit for their schedule. 

Dance Under Construction or DUC is a dance grad student led, organized and executed conference that focuses on the current and unfurling work of not only UCR dance department graduate students but also scholars across the country. UCR has a long history of hosting and organizing the event and many graduate students agree that we are looking to move it to a permanent fixture within the department.