2024-2025 Executive Board Candidates

Voting is now closed. Meet your the 2024-2025 Executive Board at the next GSA General Assembly meeting on Thursday, April 2, 2024.


Bios and Purpose Statements

PRESIDENT

Terry Chavis

Email: tochavis@uncg.edu

Biosketch

My name is Terry Chavis (He|Him), and I am an enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. I am a second-year Ph.D. Educational Studies: Higher Education student in the Teacher Education-Higher Education department. My research looks to work alongside ethnically marginalized students in STEM microsystems (classrooms) and take a critical approach to understand their experiences with the curriculum, instructors, and peers. As an Indigenous researcher, I aim to work closely with Indigenous students in STEM using decolonial methodologies to center their stories and experiences. I grew up in my tribal homeland of Pembroke, NC, and was the first in my family to pursue a higher education. I went to undergraduate and graduate school in Western NC and took five years afterward to work as a student affairs professional in Kentucky and North Carolina, respectively. In my free time, I enjoy hanging out with my cats, Ayasha & Tod, and maintaining my educational consulting business.

Purpose Statement

I serve as a Senator for the TEHE department and as an appointed member of the Graduate Council. These two positions allow me to represent my department in GSA and to represent graduate students on a governing board for the graduate school. As a collective-based practitioner, I seek to continue to keep the stories and experiences of graduate students centered in my approach to this position. I have years of professional experience as a higher education practitioner and leader and have also served as the VP of Public Relations as a graduate student at Western Carolina University. I bring a unique perspective to this position and contribute positively to the progression of our organization. I understand the skills needed to serve as a liaison to the administrative offices on campus. Goals: 1. Advocacy- I will maintain and further progress the level of advocacy our current and past GSA leaders have sustained for all graduate students. 2. Student Support- Graduate students given the opportunity to share their feedback and provide their experiences to governing bodies. I hope to provide opportunities for graduate students to voice their opinions, concerns, and/or feedback outside of the GSA meetings. 3. Community Building- Graduate students often feel siloed to only their departments due to the high levels of independent research needed for our degrees. I will work closely with my colleagues to bring relation-building opportunities for graduate students from across our campus.


VICE PRESIDENT

Tiana Jurisic

Email: t_jurisic@uncg.edu

Biosketch

My name is Tiana Jurisic. I am a PhD Public Health Student. I have been involved in student government since high school all the way through my masters degree. I have work experience in 5 countries and I enjoy working with refugee communities. I want to join SGA to be a voice for our graduate students who give so much to the university. I really want to host more graduate student events because we don’t get a chance to socialize as graduate students and we are in a unique position as students but as well as many of us holding teaching roles at the university. I want to use SGA to support ourselves and grow interdisciplinary connections. 

Purpose Statement


TREASURER

There are currently no candidates at this time. If you are interested in running for the treasurer positions, please send an email to gsavppub@uncg.edu

Biosketch

Purpose Statement


STUDENT RELATIONS CHAIR

Alexander Grindstaff

Email: gagrinds@uncg.edu

Biosketch

My name is Alexander Grindstaff and I’m getting my PhD in Nanoscience, currently serving as the GSA President. I grew up in western North Carolina and became the first person in my family to pursue higher education. I love languages and grew up hearing Cherokee as a child and studied Arabic and French during my undergrad; currently working on ASL and Spanish. My research interests center around how pathogens (viruses and fungi) survive outside hosts and what genetic pathways are activated. Outside of the lab I enjoy traveling, going to the Farmers’ Market and cooking with friends. I love being outdoors and one of my goals while at UNCG is to visit all 41 of NC’s State Parks (Currently 18).

Purpose Statement

Experience: I started coming to GSA meetings four years ago and during my second year I volunteered to be a senator for my department to serve on the Programming Committee and the Faculty Senate as a graduate representative. In that time I learned the value of having graduate students speak up and work with administrators as well as the effort it takes to keep GSA running. After my term ended, I was elected to the Executive Board first as the Student Relations Chair, and now President and have spent the past year with the Board to make sure graduate students are represented across campus.
Why I’m Running: I have four years of experience with GSA as a student, a Senator, and an Executive Board Member; and now I want to take those lessons and lead GSA with your help. These past few years have taught me the importance of institutional memory and how effective we can be when students and student leaders work together. This organization has a wealth of opportunities for advocacy and I see so much potential in what we can do together. I’ve enjoyed working on the Executive Board this year and I want to continue that service to build a supportive community for graduate students as your president.
Goals for GSA 2022-2023: Advocacy, Funding, & Support
Short-term:

  • I have spent two years with the Faculty Senate and want to maintain that bond with them so that graduate students have a voice among the faculty.
  • Coordinate with university departments and community partners to provide graduate students with the resources they need.
  • GSA bylaws say that we must spend more than half of our budget on students and I want to work with senators to see if we can maximize our direct support of graduate students.
  • Create a committee for university-wide delegates and online/international students.
  • Continue to showcase the strengths and diversity of our graduate students.

Long-term: GSA is one of the few organizations on campus where graduate students of all departments can come together with one voice. Our current and past Executive Boards have done a lot of work to keep in touch with students during a pandemic and make sure that their concerns are heard. I want to build on that successful outreach to create an atmosphere of advocacy among senators so that we can be more effective in representing graduate students.


Qualifications for GSA Executive Board Officer:

  1. UNCG graduate student that is enrolled in the 2022-2023 academic year
  2. Minimum 3.0 cumulative graduate GPA
  3. Maintains academic good standing within their department
  4. Experience as a GSA senator or other student government/leadership experience

You can find the E-Board position descriptions and a full list of qualification requirements in our constitution.


Short go.link for this page: go.uncg.edu/GSAElectionInfo

Page last updated: 14 March 2024