My Platform

My name is Geneviève Pagé, but most people call me Gen. I am a second year PhD student in the department of Women’s Studies. I am running for the position of Vice-president Student Affairs on the executive committee of the Graduate Student Government.

Graduate Students are crucial to the functioning of the University of Maryland and hence it is crucial that our quality of life issues be addressed so that we can focus on our academics. I plan to work on continuing to raise the visibility of graduate issues as our increased visibility in the recent past has lead to positive changes.

In my two years here, I have become increasingly concerned about the difficulties that students encounter simply to survive financially and to have a decent quality of living. I firmly believe that students should have most of their energy going towards their academic endeavors, but the reality is that financial considerations can often be paramount.

My priorities for next year can be summarized in a twofold platform: Accessibility and retention. First, accessibility. Students should have the opportunity to study regardless of their situation -- family, previous job, international status. The second – retention – speaks to the importance of providing graduate students every chance to succeed. My top priorities are improving financial aid, affordable housing, transportation, smooth relationships with departments, health and security and other student services. In terms of financial aid, I want to work on lowering tuition fees, finding cheaper health insurance, and improving the availability of sufficient and well paid assistantship. The issues around affordable housing include not only improving current graduate housing (Graduate Gardens and Graduate Hills), but also taking a stance on the development of future graduate housing (East campus development) to ensure that it is affordable. Transportation issues include parking for commuters, safer and more accessible bike route and bike racks, as well as the development of more public transportation, including the Purple line project.

Because I believe students should get involved in their environment, I have accumulated over the years a lot of experiences in student government. I have been a vocal and effective GSG representative for my department in the last year and hence I am very aware of the current issues on the table for grad students. I am also very knowledgeable about the university structures. For those of you who know a little bit about the GSG structure, I have also been a member of the Legislative action Committee and the Student Affairs Committee. During my Master’s at Carleton University (Ottawa, Canada), I was a representative for my department on the Graduate Student Council. In addition, I learned the complicated task of representing student issues and dealing with the administration of the University during my time at Concordia University (Montreal, Canada) where I served on the executive committee of the Student Union.

Student involvement is very important, but of course academics are the reason we are here. I was the recipient of the Canadian Social Science and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Fellowship and Rudelle Hall Memorial Scholarship, among others. I have been published in leading journals and have been awarded competitive grants. Details are you can also look at all the awards and grants I have earned and my publications so far, also in my vitae.

I am dedicated to helping create the best environment for graduate student success by ensuring that conditions are such that we can focus on the reason we are here: completing a degree. I am an experienced and knowledgeable student leader. I promise to listen to everyone’s concerns and try my best to address them.