The Graduate English Association (GEA)

The Graduate English Association, or GEA, is the student government of the English graduate students. Officers are elected annually fulfill a variety of duties to provide support, build community, and advocate for graduate students throughout the program. GEA leaderships liaises with the Grad Chair at regular meetings, and representatives work with SASGov (the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences' student body) and GAPSA (the university's graduate student body) to advocate for the needs of English graduate sutdents.

GEA CABINET 2025-2026

President: Lily Weeks

Treasurer: Rylee Smith

Workshop Coordinator: Mariana Akawi

Visiting Days Coordinators: Rowan Carlacci and Kathleen Tizon

SASGov Liaison: Soyoon Bae

First Year Rep: Lucie Heron

ABD Rep: George Perez

The GEA meets each month to discuss issues facing current graduate students and foster community support and socializing. The GEA convenes workshops for graduate students approaching program milestones and runs the William Patrick Day Essay Contest for graduate students. In conjunction with the English Department, the GEA organizes the yearly Prospectives Visit Colloquium in which faculty and students present talks.

The roles of individual GEA officers are as follows (NB: as of 2024-25, some of these positions remain inactive/unstaffed):

President: The GEA President convenes regular meetings of the GEA, supervises projects undertaken by GEA cabinet officers, and organizes GEA workshops. The President also delivers an address to graduate students at Collation. Working with the other GEA officers, the President coordinates academic programming, social events, and advocacy on behalf of the graduate community. They meet regularly with the Graduate Chair to ensure open communication between graduate students, faculty, and administration about opportunities, issues, and changes affecting graduate students.

Treasurer: The Treasurer keeps track of GEA spending in its current state and, in coordination with the President and Vice-President, in relation to the long-term goals of the GEA. This primarily requires reconciling the GEA accounts maintained by the English Business Coordinator with the spending reported by agents of the GEA. The treasurer also acts as the point person for information about the reimbursement process.

Prospectives Visit Coordinators: The Prospectives Visit Coordinators work with Ann Marie to help organize the visits of students admitted to our doctoral program each spring. This primarily entails setting up coffee dates between prospective students and current graduate students, organizing the annual colloquium, and making arrangements for the catered dinner in the grad lounge after said colloquium.

SASGov Liaison: SASGov representatives attend and participate in biweekly SASGov meetings, in which they represent the needs and aims of the English Department’s graduate student body within the School of Arts and Sciences. They keep the department abreast of SASGov news through email communication as well as attendance at the monthly GEA meetings. They are also responsible for submitting paperwork to receive Departmental Merit Funding (granted through SASGov) that the department typically uses to fund its annual Collation event.

First-Year Representative: The First-Year Representative addresses the GEA about matters specific to the new cohort. They are attentive to the concerns of the other first-years and speak to these concerns at GEA meetings. 

ABD Representative: The ABD Representative addresses the GEA about matters specific ABDs in the doctoral program, and speak to these concerns at GEA meetings.