GGSA The Genetics Graduate Student Association meets monthly to discuss activities and concerns in our graduate program, and a member of the Graduate Affairs Committee attends these meetings to act as liaison between GGSA and the Faculty. The GGSA representatives also attend monthly faculty meetings, again to communicate between students and faculty. One student representative is included on all faculty hire search committees. This representative gets a vote in the process equal to a faculty member. Promoting Access and Equality The Disability Resource Center (DRC) coordinates and provides a variety of academic and support services to students with disabilities. The LGBT Resource Center provides LGBTQA-identified students and their allies a place to find community, support, and developmental resources at UGA. The LGBT Resource Center provides programming and engagement that meet the needs of the LGBTQA and ally communities by creating an environment of advocacy, education, and support. They also organize the Safe Space program. For women's issues, check out women.uga.edu. This web resource highlights women’s services, organizations, programs, and events across campus. It provides a hub for safety information, community support, and advocacy for women. Our students participate in several campus organizations that promote diversity and inclusiveness and offer opportunities in mentoring, career development, and networking. Some of these include WiSci, GRADS, and GLOBES. Transportation Although it has some of the limitations you might expect in a small city, the public transit options are good in Athens. For getting around town, Athens Transit provides bus routes all over Athens-Clarke County. The UGA bus service has one of the highest riderships of any university-based transit system and can be an effective way of getting around town. Unfortunately, neither service runs late into the evenings. You will also find that Athens is very bike-able. BikeAthens is the local transportation advocacy group, and city maps with bike lanes and bike route suggestions are available from them or at one of the four local bike shops. Sustainability The University of Georgia actually has an Office of Sustainability, a resource you may find useful as you figure out where things can be recycled and how you can help science be a 'greener' enterprise. In the Life Sciences building we have campus recycling for cans and bottles, a cardboard dumpster behind the building, and a styrofoam peanut recycling location between the A and B towers on 3rd floor. We encourage everybody to find ways to save on water and electricity use in the lab! Life in Athens It is worth noting that probably at least one factor that brought you to grad school at UGA is Athens, and northern Georgia in general. We have a great climate for outdoor life, and from Athens it is only 45 minutes up Highway 441 until you see Mount Yonah and the rest of the southern Appalachians, and only about 4-5 hours from here to the ocean. There is good boating, biking, hiking, camping - for more good insights to these activities check out Move magazine and Blue Ridge Outdoors magazine. There is great arts, entertainment, and culture in Athens and surrounding areas, and your best bet to find out what is going on is the weekly Flagpole. But the point is, you expect to LIVE here. That means you take care of yourself, and find a good balance between your professional and personal goals. We recognize that graduate school is going to be very hard, and very stressful. So you can be most effective at the intellectual and physical effort if you take care of yourself. The University Health Center is top rated because of its comprehensive approach to taking care of mind and body. And Athens is the kind of town that supports a plethora of yoga studios, sources of alternative medicine, and other ways to maintain your balance - on the way to getting the kind of research done that will help us understand the world better! back to main page
