Graduate and professional students will have the opportunity to enjoy food, family and fun during their annual student appreciation week.
The Graduate and Professional Student Appreciation Week, hosted by the Graduate and Professional Student Council, celebrates the diversity and accomplishments of these types of students while at the UA or beyond, said Chris Cornelison, the council’s events director and a master’s student in public administration. The week kicked off with a “Family Fun Day” on Sunday, and will conclude Friday with an awards ceremony.
Graduate and professional students can eat a free breakfast of pastries, fruit, coffee and juice on Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the courtyard south of the College of Medicine. This helps incorporate those in the health sciences, said Edward Beck, the council’s chief of staff and a public health graduate student.
“The presence of them (those in the health sciences) in GPSC has been overwhelming in most years,” he said. “It’s a nice way to get some exposure on that side of campus.”
On Thursday, the council will give away 1,000 free burgers, hot dogs and veggie burgers to graduate and professional students who come to the UA Mall from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Free T-shirts, gift cards to the UofA Bookstore and UA sporting tickets will also be given to a few lucky winners.
And for the first time in Graduate and Professional Student Appreciation Week history, the council will screen a movie, “The Ph.D. Movie,” in Gallagher Theater on Friday at 4 p.m. The 65-minute comedy shows how four graduate students try to balance research, teaching and their personal lives. A group of graduate students from the California Institute of Technology made the film, Cornelison said.
The appreciation week will conclude with the Graduate and Professional Student Council Awards on Friday at 6 p.m. The ceremony will recognize graduate and professional students in addition to faculty and staff members who have made significant contributions to the university, especially in the field of graduate and professional studies. Any UA community member can nominate someone, including undergraduate students, as long as they have graduate student support, Cornelison said.
“Award winners are people going above and beyond their job description,” he said. “They are meeting with students, giving advice and trying to help constituents with pressing career choices.”
