The Brown University School of Public Health Graduate Student Council is a group of public health graduate students and post-doctoral fellows who serve in an advisory and coordinator role to represent the general student body with sub-committees focused on communication, academic, social, and community service issues and events. These committees address and/or facilitate academic topics, professional development, social events, and community service opportunities for all graduate students and post-doctoral fellows at the School of Public Health.

The goals of the SPH Graduate Student Council include the following:

• Provide a forum for SPH graduate students and post-docs to express issues and concerns.
• Organize social events to bring students together and promote a sense of community within the SPH student body.
• Represent and advocate for student interests through collaboration with graduate student representatives serving on SPH committees.
• Promote and/or plan programs to facilitate the academic/professional career development of public health graduate students.
• Organize and/or promote activities to enhance the relationship between the SPH graduate student body and the greater Providence community.
• Select representatives to serve on the general Brown University Graduate Student Council.

Committee Membership: Membership of each committee is open to all public health graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. Any student or fellow may be a member of one or more of the committees, so long as they are able to actively contribute to that committee.

Meetings: All Co-chairs of the Council and the three sub-committees gather to meet for one hour on a monthly basis. The purpose of these meetings is to determine the status of each committee’s activities, determine coordination and allocation of resources, and discuss the needs of the students and fellows of the School of Public Health and how the Graduate Student Council may better address these needs. These meetings are open to all graduate and post-doctoral fellows.

Election of Leadership: All public health graduate students and post-doctoral fellows are eligible to serve in a leadership role in the SPH Graduate Student Council. If there are only two people interested in being the Co-chairs of the Council or a sub-committee, these two people are automatically elected Co-chairs. If more than two individuals are interested in being the Co-chairs of the Council or of a sub-committee, students and fellows of the School of Public Health vote for the Co-chairs through an electronic election survey. Elections are held each year during the Spring semester.

Nominations: Students may self-nominate or nominate others. Please include a short paragraph about why you would like to be considered for the position or believe the nominated person should be considered for the position. These paragraphs will be sent to the graduate students and post-doctoral fellows if there is an election. Once the number of eligible nominees is determined, an electronic election survey is to be submitted to all graduate and post-doctoral fellows. Announcements of Co-chairs for the Graduate Student Council and the three subcommittees are made by the end of the academic year.