Rohit Nadimpalli and Kayode Oluwasegun
As the new academic year starts at Drexel University, the executive president and vice president of the Graduate Student Association (GSA) are ready to help their fellow students level up their experience.
President Rohit Nadimpalli, a master’s student in information systems in the College of Computing & Informatics, first served as the chair of Student Life committee within the GSA before stepping into the role of president this year. He brings plenty of experience in hosting events and collaborating with vendors to help give his community memorable experiences and deals.
“GSA gives you lots of exposure to Drexel, and leadership really cares about student leadership and takes our input,” Nadimpalli said. “We work closely with the Office of Graduate Studies, and we have strong relationships with Student Life and Student Success. We have strong partners which helps us to drive this organization’s success.”
Executive Vice President Kayode Oluwasegun, a PhD candidate in mathematics in the College of Arts and Sciences, is the former vice president of GSA’s Finance committee who has helped secure the GSA’s institutional knowledge and is eager to help students’ voices be heard.
“Our programming is directed towards enhancing the graduate student experience and it’s important to know that the GSA is not just an event-planning body,” Oluwasegun said. “A lot of our programming focuses on student development. We host events, but more than that, we engage with University leadership and take students’ concerns to the highest authorities.”
Here's what they have planned for the upcoming year.
Q: What has it been like taking over as president and vice president?
A: Nadimpalli: The best part is we already worked with GSA for a year, so we got to revise a lot of things because we know where things are going wrong and where things are not working out. This summer, we spent lots of hours designing events and working on communication with the GSA-sponsored graduate student organizations. I think last academic year we were able to do 18 events altogether and so far this year, we already have six planned in the fall term.
A: Oluwasegun: Apart from the event programming aspects, we also have a bigger responsibility in terms of advocacy. Like Rohit said, we are very good partners with the Office of Graduate Studies and Student Life. At the start of this tenure, we had an executive board retreat where we talked with representatives from those offices about how we can take our advocacy to the next level. In all of these, our vision is rooted in cultivating an environment where every student feels a sense of belonging.
As graduate students, there's that tendency to just be immersed in what you're doing, like your research and your lab. We want to be the voice for graduate students. There are meetings of the Faculty Senate, Board of Trustees and University leadership, and not every graduate student can be there, so we make sure that what we’re representing in those meetings is really what graduate students want. We know the responsibility that’s placed on us and we take that seriously.
Q: What are your goals for your tenure?
A: Nadimpalli: One of the benefits of having leadership continuing in the second year is that we have projects like the Dragon Impact Grant and the GSA+ Program. Civic engagement is something we’re focusing on, because last year, most of our contributions went to social events.
We collaborated with the Lindy Center for Civic Engagement to start a program called the GSA+ Program, and we are in conversations with Drexel Business Services to try collaborating with local vendors. We’re also investing time in pop-ups with Sharing Excess for free produce for grad students and the Drexel community.
This year, we have more amazing projects coming. Undergrads have the Good Idea Fund, and graduates have never had a chance to utilize that, so we’re introducing something similar to that called the Dragon Impact Grant. An individual or organization can apply to this fund, and if they have a great idea that can impact the Drexel community, we give them the funds.
Q: Why is it important for students to keep up with GSA?
A: Oluwasegun: We’re building on how we can use surveys and general body meetings to drive people to be part of the community so we can hear their concerns, and we can take it to the highest authority so they can align Drexel’s priorities to fit that. We're really focusing on enhancing the graduate student experience, so we're calling on all graduate students to partner with us. Let's do this together.
There are a lot of resources at Drexel, but I think not everybody knows about them. In fact, being part of GSA now opens me up to a lot of things I thought we didn't have. Our goal now is to build strong partnerships and work with these different organizations and units — like the Steinbright Career Development Center, Drexel Public Safety and Drexel Business Services — and see how we can collaborate to highlight what they do so students can take advantage of those things.
Q: What advice would you give new graduate students who are just arriving at Drexel?
A: Nadimpalli: A typical master’s program is just 22 months, and six months goes to co-op, so it’s so quick. Drexel is beautiful because you have this vast number of resources, but access is sometimes difficult because you don’t get to explore everything. DragonLink [Drexel’s portal for student organizations] would be the greatest thing to use. Come to events, get to know more people and then find resources. Most of the things a grad student wants or needs are already offered by Drexel. If you need something, see if Drexel has it. If not, come to us or the Office of Graduate Studies, and they’re going to help you with figuring out everything possible. I would also invite grads to campus to have fun, because we often see undergrads hanging out more in college, but this is the last time we get to chill out and enjoy and learn things. After that, you’re busy in the real world. If you are interested in making an idea bigger, or if you have a dream, GSA will support you.
A: Oluwasegun: Graduate school can be very isolating, and you want to have a community, so you don’t do this life all by yourself. We feel like it is really going to be so beneficial if they are part of GSA, but there are also other graduate organizations, there are departmental organizations, there are social and cultural organizations they can be part of to find a community here on campus. The last thing I would say is students should be curious, ask questions, suggest things, volunteer or apply for certificate programs through the Lindy Center or Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship. You don’t have to leave Drexel with just your degree. Graduate students have strong visions, but if you’re not part of these conversations and engaging with the community, you might not be getting all this information.