Graduate Student Senate

Common Questions and Useful Resources

  • Are you a new graduate student looking for information on how to settle in to campus and Iowa City? Grad Guide is for you! Learn what coffee shops to study in, how to set up your U Iowa email account, housing and utilities information, about festivals in Iowa City, and much more!
  • Are you a graduate student? Contact your representative senator(s) with any questions or concerns.
  • Want to see what we're doing? View our previous meeting notes and minutes.
  • Want to keep up with what we're doing? Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, or view the GSS Listserv.
  • GSS conducted a survey in 2015 to find how out more about how the university can serve graduate students. See the survey results here.

Funding

Graduate Student Senate offers Travel Funding.

Click here to find internal fellowship opportunities offered by the Graduate College.

Looking for a quiet space to work?

With help from GSS, the Main Library has created a dedicated study room for Graduate Students. The Graduate Study Room (3132) is on the north end of the third floor corridor. Any current graduate student with a valid UIowa ID card can access the room.

Graduate Student Organizations

The Campaign to Organize Graduate Students (COGS): UE Local 896/COGS, the Campaign to Organize Graduate Students is the graduate student union at the University of Iowa.  COGS represents graduate students on issues related to employment. They work to defend the right of all graduate employees to fair working conditions, including but not limited to a living wage, comprehensive health care, child care, an effective grievance procedure, tuition waivers, and freedom from discrimination and harassment.

Graduate and Professional Student Government (GPSG): GPSG is the Graduate and Professional Student Government at the University of Iowa. GPSG represents UI's nearly 10,000 graduate and professional students and advocate on their behalf to university administrators, the Board of Regents, and state and federal legislators. Their mission is improve the experience of graduate and professional students at the University of Iowa. GPSG is a representative democracy, with delegates elected from all graduate and professional students at the University of Iowa. GPSG acts like an umbrella organization to GSS. GSS sends five delegates to GPSG. 

Graduate Student Employment Committee (GSEC): GSEC was formed in 2017 to provide recommendations to institutional leadership in matters related to graduate student employment benefits. The committee is comprised of nine graduate student seats confirmed by the Graduate and Professional Student Government (GPSG) and Graduate Student Senate (GSS) bodies, two faculty members appointed by Faculty Senate, and one administrator.This committee represents graduate students' interests in matters pertaining to employment benefits. This link includes information about their upcoming meetings, past minutes, contact information for the committee members, the GSEC bylaws, and other helpful resources.