About the GPSA

The Graduate & Professional Student Association is the student government for all currently enrolled graduate and professional students at UNLV. The GPSA is managed by the GPSA Council consisting of four elected officers, department-appointed council members, and the GPSA manager (administrative faculty). The four elected officers make the Executive Board which consists of the President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary.

Voting begins Thursday, April 3, 2025, at 7:00 p.m. and concludes Wednesday, April 9, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. Cast your ballots online through the UNLV Involvement Center. Voters will be asked to login using their ACE account. Additionally, electronic voting stations will be available in the Graduate Commons, LLB 2141, until 5 p.m. on April 9, 2025.

Eligibility

Anyone serving on the Elections Commission cannot run for GPSA Executive Board. Elections Commission members who decide to run for Executive Board must resign at least 30 calendar days before the filing period begins.

Candidates for the GPSA Executive Board election must meet the following criteria:

  • Enrolled and admitted into a graduate or professional program or graduate-level certificate program at UNLV
  • In good academic standing with the university
  • Cannot have any open student conduct investigations
  • Cannot be on academic probation
  • Must have a minimum 3.0 GPA

Position Descriptions

President: is the chairperson of the GPSA Council and Executive Board. This position is responsible for guiding the organization's vision and works closely with the GPSA Council to set goals for the year to achieve it. The President also represents the GPSA at the Board of Regents meetings and travels to other locations when the meetings are held outside Las Vegas (travel expenses paid by GPSA).  The President sits on a number of campus-wide committees, including the Graduate Council and the Executive Council, and speaks at various student orientations and other engagements. Due to impromptu requests (speaking, serving on committees, etc.) from different entities on campus throughout the year, it is highly recommended that candidates for this position have a flexible schedule. If all duties are fulfilled this position will receive a graduate student tuition wavier of up to 9 credits a semester, a monthly stipend equal to that of a graduate assistant, a GPSA Leadership Scholarship (academic year breakdown: Summer - $4,500; Fall - $2,500; Spring - $2,500) and a GPSA $550.00 stipend for each semester. 

Eligibility:  Enrolled and admitted into a graduate or professional program or graduate-level certificate program at UNLV, in good academic standing, cannot have any open student conduct investigations, cannot be on academic probation, and must have previous experience on the GPSA Council or a GPSA Committee or as a previous executive board member.

Vice President: chairs the Sponsorship Committee which evaluates applications for GPSA sponsored funding. Sponsorship funding is allocated annually through the Ways and Means Committee and is intended to support student academic endeavors including research and conference travel, publications, and professional development. The Vice President serves on several campus-wide committees. The Vice President establishes priorities for sponsorship funding in conjunction with the Committee, the Executive Board, and the GPSA Advisor. This position also conducts a Sponsorship Funding workshop(s) to assist students with successfully applying for GPSA funding. The Vice President attends the Board of Regents meeting in the President’s absence and acts as President if the office becomes vacant. The Vice President also serves on a Graduate College Committee and other campus-wide committees. If all duties are fulfilled this position will receive a GPSA Leadership Scholarship (academic year breakdown: Summer - $3500; Fall - $1500; Spring - $1500) and a GPSA $550.00 stipend for attending Council meetings. In the absence of the President, the Vice President shall chair the Council.

Eligibility: Enrolled and admitted into a graduate or professional program or graduate-level certificate program at UNLV, in good academic standing, cannot have any open student conduct investigations, cannot be on academic probation, and must have previous experience on the GPSA Council or a GPSA Committee or as a previous executive board member.

Treasurer: The Treasurer absorbs the fiscal responsibility of the GPSA. This position works closely with the GPSA Manager and Advisor for the organization's budget transparency. The Treasurer chairs the Ways and Means Committee which are responsible for approving budget appropriations and allocations recommended by the President, reviewing new programming budgets, and oversees the funding process for Graduate Registered Student Organizations (GRSOs). The Treasurer is also required to report on the organization's expenditures and revenues at each Council meeting. This is done through the Statement of Accounts report. The Treasurer serves on a Graduate College Committee and other campus-wide committees. During a Legislative year, it is expected that the Treasurer travel to Carson City to meet with governor and state legislators. If all duties are fulfilled this position will receive a GPSA Leadership Scholarship (academic year breakdown: Summer - $3,000; Fall - $1,500; Spring - $1,500) and a GPSA $350.00 stipend for attending Council meetings. The Treasurer will fill the Vice President’s office in the event of its vacancy.

Eligibility: Enrolled and admitted into a graduate or professional program or graduate-level certificate program at UNLV, in good academic standing, cannot have any open student conduct investigations, cannot be on academic probation.

Secretary: is responsible for preparing and posting the agenda for each Council meeting within three (3) business days prior to the meeting, which is set by the GPSA President. The Secretary records minutes during GPSA Council meetings (and any relevant GPSA Committee meetings) and distributes the minutes to members for approval and public posting. The Secretary also maintains GPSA records and operationally works closely with the GPSA Manager and Advisor. This position is responsible for keeping roll call at the GPSA Council meetings, which determines the representative’s eligibility for their semester scholarship, and should have a strong grasp of parliamentary procedure. The Secretary is expected to have experience with Robert's Rules of Order and Nevada Open Meeting Law (NOML). Additionally, the Secretary is responsible for organizing GPSA events, activities, and communications, including social media, throughout the year. Major GPSA events include Rebel Homecoming (fall) and the Research Forum (spring). The Secretary serves on a Graduate College Committee and several campus-wide committees. If all duties are fulfilled this position will receive a GPSA Leadership Scholarship (academic year breakdown: Summer - $2,000; Fall - $1,000; Spring - $1,000) and a GPSA $350.00 stipend for each semester. The Secretary will fill the Treasurer’s office in the event of its vacancy.

Eligibility: Enrolled and admitted into a graduate or professional program or graduate-level certificate program at UNLV, in good academic standing, cannot have any open student conduct investigations, cannot be on academic probation.

Required Materials to File for Candidacy

The Declaration of Candidacy (application) and letter of support from a qualified advisor or faculty member stating your good academic standing and enrollment status must be submitted using the Candidacy Application link by March 3, 2025.

Applicant's resumes/CVs are encouraged, but not required, and will be included in the applicant's application packet.

Deadline to apply with all supporting materials is Monday, March 3, 2025 at 11:59 p.m.

Faculty letters of support/recommendation are due the same day, Monday, March 3, 2025. The application packet and any supporting materials should be submitted via the online application, by the deadline. This application and all supporting materials will be posted on the GPSA website and in the Graduate Student Commons.

Campaigning

March 10, 2025 - April 9, 2025 is the designated campaigning period for the Spring 2025 GPSA Executive Board Elections.

Each candidate will make a campaign speech (three-minute limit) to the GPSA Council on Thursday, April 3, 2025, at 5:30 p.m. The GPSA Council meets in a hybrid format via the GPSA’s Personal Zoom Meeting Room and in GTW, 2nd Floor, Gather Meeting Room. Candidates are strongly encouraged to attend in person. Candidates unable to attend this meeting may pre-record their speech and submit it to the GPSA Council via gpsaelections@unlv.edu. Candidates unable to attend will forfeit their Q&A session post-speech from the GPSA Council and the public. Only candidates unable to attend the GPSA Council meeting on April 4th may submit a pre-recorded speech. Additionally, candidates may submit a brief statement to be linked to their name on the ballot; send ballot information to gpsaelections@unlv.edu. The GPSA Elections Commission will add all information included in the Declaration of Candidacy application to the Voter's Guide and post it on the GPSA website and in the Graduate Student Commons, Lied Library room 2141, for the electorate to use when deciding to cast their vote. This includes faculty letters of support/recommendation and any other submitted supporting materials.

NOTE: Personal information, including NSHE, address, phone number, email, and any questionable misconduct will not appear on the public posting nor in the Voter's Guide. All potential candidates must review and acknowledge receipt of the GPSA Election Rules, found in the Candidacy Application.

Report Campaign Expenditure

2024-2025 GPSA Executive Board Officer Candidates

Teresa Marie

I am a first-generation college student, an attorney, a caregiver, and a PhD student. I am an advocate by trade and by nature. I am a UNLV undergrad alumni and my experiences at UNLV led me to pursue my JD and my Masters in Public Policy from the UMass School System. I returned to Las Vegas after completing my degrees and applied for my PhD in Criminal Justice. I have been the GPSA treasurer for the past year (2023-2024). I am active on campus not only in my leadership role with GPSA but also with UNLV athletics. You can catch me at most of the UNLV football and basketball games wearing a big red hat. UNLV gave me the foundation I needed to succeed in college, and I have enjoyed being able to give back to the UNLV community.  I am interested in serving in the position of President because I believe in the power of collective action and the importance of representation. Over the past two years at UNLV, I have seen what we can accomplish as a community when we come together to work on initiatives. I have had the privilege of working closely with President Nicole Thomas to grow and understand how UNLV and NSHE Board of Regents work. In my current position I have had the opportunity to grow as a leader. With that growth I am committed to amplifying the voice of our students, advocating for our needs, and fostering a sense of community. Some of the goals that I have in this position are to continue the initiatives that have been started by the current administration, such as the graduate housing survey, increasing graduate student stipends, and encouraging campus engagement at athletic events. New goals include but are not limited to finding new avenues for engagement, I realize not all students are sports fans so expanding these community events with the arts programs on campus. I intend on making sure the initiatives that we have established on campus are sustainable within our budget. I hope to work with the executive board and the council to encourage student involvement with on campus committees and transparency of those committee initiatives. I realize that if students are involved on campus they know what GPSA is; however, I know that many of our graduate and professional students are still unsure of what our program does. This is something I hope to work on in my tenure to help better develop a campus wide understanding of our presence and our initiatives. Another goal I have is to open up more direct lines of communications to understand the needs of our graduate student body and hope to create a fostering environment for support. 

Aliciah Carr

I grew up in central California and received my B.A. and M.A. from California State University, Bakersfield. During that time, I worked a variety of jobs, including as a climbing guide and instructor and as a substitute teacher. After teaching at a community College in Bishop, CA for four years, I came to UNLV for my Ph. D. in Literature. I have published academic and creative work, and, when not in school, I can usually be found rock climbing. 

I am interested in serving in this position because it aligns with my own, personal motto: be useful. I believe the sponsorships available to graduate students, through the GPSA, are fundamental to their current and future successes as both students and professionals. While the education itself is necessary, the kinds of activities the GPSA is able to fund through sponsorship are invaluable to the students that participate and, I believe, help recipients transition from being students to professionals and experts in their fields. An education is the gate between who a student is and who they wish to be in the world. As such, and this is especially true of graduate students, education is necessarily future-oriented. The activities students are able to accomplish with the help of GPSA sponsorship helps students in their path to their own futures and, I believe, improves their lives and the lives of those in their communities along the way. 

Along these lines, as VP I hope to be able to continue the work the previous VP began: streamlining the process and making it as fair as possible so as to help as many students as possible. Another mission the previous VP began that I hope to continue is the expansion of the kinds of activities GPSA sponsorship helps to fund. I believe that the problems of the world, the problems many of our graduate students will spend their careers working to solve, will require creative and new ways of thinking. I believe that process begins at universities and hope to encourage graduate students, through sponsorship, to explore those possibilities. Another goal that is important to me is to find ways to make the work for reviewers simpler and less time-intensive, if possible. So many of the good things in the world rely on the hard work of invisible and undercompensated hands, and sponsorship reviewers are no exception. If it is possible to ease their work and/or find additional compensation for them, I think that should be a priority, given the amount of good they do for the student body. 

 

Devin Lopez

My name is Devin Lopez and I am running to be your next GPSA Treasurer. I have served as the political science representative in GPSA since Fall 2022, and have been the Chair of the Ways and Means committee throughout the ‘23-‘24 academic year. After graduating from the Clark County school system, and receiving my BA in political science from Chapman University in 2021, I have returned to Las Vegas to further my education through the political science Ph.D. program with a concentration in American Politics.  Since joining the UNLV community, I have been a graduate research and teaching assistant and have advocated for graduate assistants through the Nevada Graduate Student Workers. I will continue to prioritize graduate and professional students’ voices and look forward to the next legislative session in Nevada to further our interests. My name is Devin Lopez and I am running to be your next GPSA Treasurer. I have served as the political science representative in GPSA since Fall 2022, and have been the Chair of the Ways and Means committee throughout the ‘23-‘24 academic year. After graduating from the Clark County school system, and receiving my BA in political science from Chapman University in 2021, I have returned to Las Vegas to further my education through the political science Ph.D. program with a concentration in American Politics.  Since joining the UNLV community, I have been a graduate research and teaching assistant and have advocated for graduate assistants through the Nevada Graduate Student Workers. I will continue to prioritize graduate and professional students’ voices and look forward to the next legislative session in Nevada to further our interests.

Vacant

No declarations of candidacy were received for the position of Secretary. An application for this position will be opened at the conclusion of the Executive Board general election. The position will be by appointment. Applicants for Secretary shall be interviewed by the incoming 2024-2025 GPSA Executive Board and confirmed by the GPSA Council.

Apply for Secretary

More About GPSA

The GPSA supports graduate and professional students’ academic endeavors. Providing an environment conducive to student scholarship and research is our primary goal. The GPSA strives to engender a sense of community among the graduate and professional students by offering financial support and fellowship.

Programming is provided throughout the year which offers funding, scholarships, various awards, and networking to students. The GPSA represents UNLV graduate and professional students at meetings of the Board of Regents, Nevada Student Alliance, and on campus-wide committees.

The GPSA maintains offices in the Student Union, the Gateway Commons, CHB, as well as a computer lab in the Lied Library known as the Graduate Student Commons.