Dean's Council
The Dean’s Council is a graduate student-oriented organization run by student representatives from each graduate program in the BSD. DC advocates for BSD graduate students to the BSD administration and organizes or funds social and academic events for BSD graduate students.
The DC has two main purposes:
- to organize and fund social and academic events for BSD graduate students
- to advocate for BSD graduate students to the BSD administration.
Social events occur throughout the year and include movie nights, discounted tickets to sporting and cultural events around Chicago, pub nights on campus, etc, which are posted on the Dean's Council calendar. The DC also sponsors travel awards for students attending academic conferences as well as equipment rental ranging from camping equipment to games through the BSD Equipment Library.
In addition to deciding how funds should be distributed for events sponsored at the divisional level, DC members are accorded discretionary funds that may be used for events on a programmatic level (for example, a Thanksgiving party for the immunology program). Suggestions as to how to spend this money should come from both the DC member and the students he or she represents. This is the Dean's Council reimbursement form.
The Dean's Council has also designed a guide to help you think through choosing an advisor with the BSD Student Mentor Guide.
Feel free to contact your DC representative if you have concerns you would like to be addressed, if you have questions or comments about the BSD/Dean’s Council, and if you have suggestions for social activities. Ideas and feedback are always welcome!
BSD Diversity Committee
The BSD Diversity Committee works to enhance diversity in UChicago Biosciences by providing a central office that coordinates and promotes social, cultural, and scientific interactions, raises awareness of minority issues, provides support for diversity programs, and establishes relationships with regional and national URM-serving organizations. The committee is led by co-chairs Eileen Dolan, Medicine and Cancer Biology, and Adam Hammond, Biophysical Sciences, and is composed of faculty, administrators, and students who represent the breadth of our graduate programs.
Graduate Recruitment Initiative Team (GRIT)
The Graduate Recruitment Initiative Team (GRIT), which was initiated as a grassroots student organization, is now in the process of formalizing with the support of administrators and faculty. GRIT’s main goal is enhancing diversity and inclusion across BSD graduate programs. To achieve this goal, the team focuses on three central components: recruitment, retention, and sustainability.
SACNAS
SACNAS describes itself as a society of scientists dedicated to fostering the success of Chicano/Hispanic and Native American scientists—from college students to professionals—to attain advanced degrees, careers, and positions of leadership in science.
The full acronym stands for Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science. The UChicago SACNAS Chapter as founded in 2013.