Hats off to the many wonderful graduate students who volunteer with the Graduate Researchers in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (GREEBs) and in the working groups formed for the first time last year. These dedicated students help to make the department run more smoothly in myriad ways. GREEBs is the student organization in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology that supports students, communicates about issues, and organizes and plans activities.

“The working group point people were self-appointed and are separate entity from GREEBs,” explained Walsh, “They deserve a great big thank you for their continued efforts to improve our department. Many of the point people are also GREEBs members, which really speaks to their dedication to our department.”  

“I think there are so many different aspects to what GREEBs members pursue and accomplish,” said Lisa Walsh, GREEBs president. “I’ve received nominations for 43 different graduate students for next year, so I think we’ve found our voice and are learning how powerful it can be in changing this department for the better. We benefitted from really amazing work done last year by Teal (Harrison), Tamara (Milton), Marian (Schmidt), Gordon (Fitch) and Jill (Myers). This year’s GREEBs members have continued to lay the groundwork for change.”

The 2018 – 2019 committees are represented by the following students:

Admissions Committee: Adrian Melo Carrillo and Katie McLean

Big Sibs/Little Sibs: Peter Cerda

Community Organizers: Chatura Vaidya and Susanna Campbell

Diversity Committee: Tamara Milton and Kristel Sánchez

Early Career Scientists Symposium Planning Committee: Giorgia Auteri

Executive Committee: Gordon Fitch

Graduate Affairs Committee: Wes Bickford

GREEBs President: Lisa Walsh

Retreat Committee: Haiqing Xu and Rumaan Malhotra

Seminar Committee: Kevin Amses and Molly Hirst

Social Committee: Meagan Simons

Tuesday Lunch Committee: Chau Ho and Teresa Pegan

Undergraduate Affairs Committee: Sasha Bishop

Working groups point people:

Advisor problems: Kristel Sánchez

Community disconnect: Nikesh Dahal and Nicholas Medina

Mental health: Lisa Walsh

Protection against white supremacists: Byron Smith

Reporting: Jill Myers and Marian Schmidt

Sexual harassment: Katie McLean and Chatura Vaidya

Community building efforts were spearheaded by Big Sibs/Little Sibs, Retreat and Social Committees. Engaging and enlightening talks were organized for our department thanks to the ECSS Planning Committee, Tuesday Lunch Committee and Seminar Committee. The future of EEB is looking bright thanks to the hard work of Admissions Committee and Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Action plans to improve graduate student life were developed, and in some cases already implemented, by the Community Organizers, Diversity Committee, Executive Committee and Graduate Affairs Committee.

“Our graduate students are so willing to participate and engage – sharing their opinions and feedback is so crucial to the department,” said Walsh.

Read about the new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Library in previous EEB web news>>