GSAC's dual mission of advocacy and community-building is realized through our committees. This year's committees include:

• Arts & Entertainment
• Budget & Finance
• Group Recognition
• Quality of Life
• Social
• Steering Committee
• GSAC Seminar Series
• Alumni Relations & Career Services

Arts & Entertainment Committee
The purpose of the Arts and Entertainment Committee is to facilitate graduate students in taking advantage of the rich cultural life of NYC by subsidizing tickets for a variety of events throughout the year! This committee is also dedicated to promoting artistic events organized by graduate students on or off campus. To find out about our events, learn about student discount tickets in the city, organize an event, let us know about your event, or get otherwise involved, please visit our website: www.arts4grads.com. Looking forward to seeing you in one of our events! -Elina Kanellopoulou, Chair

Budget & Finance Committee
One of GSAC's primary roles is to decide how your $16 Student Activity Fee is spent. The Budget & Finance Committee works hard to ensure your student activity fee funds a diverse array of activities, such as:

• Educational Events. GSAC sponsors a variety of workshops to help students further their academic careers. To improve relations between service providers and students, GSAC also organizes focus groups with administrators from key university offices such as Library Services and Apartment Housing.
• Social Events. GSAC holds monthly mixers to create a fun, relaxed environment for inter-departmental mingling. GSAC also subsidizes off-campus events to allow students to enjoy some of the “finer” (read “more expensive”) aspects of New York City, such as opera performances and sports games.
• Student Initiative Grants. Each year, GSAC provides up to $20,000 in grants to student-organized events on and off campus. These grants are meant to encourage students to organize conferences, picnics, concerts, parties, community services events—whatever unites students across departments. Students may apply for these grants by clicking here to learn more about Funding Opportunities.

Group Recognition Committee
This newly-created committee is tasked with overseeing all groups recognized by GSAC, reviewing new group recognition applications, and determining the appropriate criteria for group recognition. For an overview of the group recognition process, a list of recognized groups, or a group recognition application, click here to learn more about Group Recognition.

Quality of Life Committee
The Quality of Life Committee was formed to address a core group of graduate issues studenthousing, healthcare, child care, facilities, transportationthat affect our ability to teach, do research, and complete our degrees. In the spring of 2011, the committee conducted an extensive survey of GSAC's constituency, eliciting over 1,800 responses to questions about housing, stipends, and working conditions at Columbia. GSAC has been presenting these results to administrators around campus to help them better understand our concerns. A number of small action groups, each tasked with a single issue, will continue to work with the administration to improve student services. Results of our 2011 survey are coming soon!

Social Committee
GSAC's social committee is responsible for arranging the various social events, outings and mixers throughout the school year. Previous events include trivia, karaoke and poker nights at local bars or in our very own Philosophy 301, cruises, hiking/skiing trips and clubbing mixers. Our yearly events always vary, during the 2011-2012 school year we will be launching our first ever weekday socials to provide a place for the busy GSAS student to relax and socialize in 301. Set to take place every other Thursday during the academic year, we will provide beer, wine, refreshments and food during the event. Without volunteers, the Thursday socials can't happen - so sign up with the Social Chair today! More hands make social work.

For a complete schedule of this semester's social events, click here to see the GSAC calendar.

Steering Committee
The Steering Committee helps set the agenda for GSAC, supervising the work of GSAC's committees and reviewing all applications for funding and group recognition. Its members serve on numerous university committees, including the Executive Committee of the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. Click here for a list of Steering Committee Members.

GSAC Seminar Series
This is a brand new committee! The GSAC Seminar Series will be dedicated to exhibit fascinating thinkers amongst GSAS students and engage curious minds of our colleagues. Scheduled to commence in Fall 2012, there will be one seminar per month, a total of six seminars in an academic year. There will be one theme per semester, a total of three seminars per theme. The theme will be posted one semester ahead of time (i.e. themes for Fall 2012 will be posted in Spring 2012). Students submit an abstract of their talk, and speakers will be selected one semester prior to.

Each seminar consists of four speakers, presenting their views on the same theme using different approaches in concordance to their research. Each presentation is 15 minutes in length. Following the seminar will be a panel question & answer period and a reception with light refreshments, allowing for continued discussion between colleagues on the topics presented. This is an excellent opportunity for graduate students to practice public speaking.

This committee will be responsible for the logistics and execution of these seminar series.

Alumni Relations & Career Services
We are receiving a great education here at Columbia, the next step is to focus on graduate student career development. What better way to explore career options than to consult someone who has been in your shoes? The purpose of this committee is to communicate the needs of graduate students to the Alumni Board and the Center for Career Services, including but not limited to: non-academic careers; industry-based sessions on science, media, and consulting; meeting with corporate recruiters and headhunters to gain a better understanding of the job market; career agenda (developing a timeline to of job-hunting process; facilitating improved access for students to alumni database information.