This is my final letter as the Graduate Student Committee (GSC) chair for 2017-18.  First, I want to thank all of you for your engagement in SPSSI this year, whether it be via the annual SPSSI conference, Diversity/Policy Preconferences, webinar participation, SPSSI meet-ups, peer networking, and voting. Second, I would like to thank this year’s SPSSI GSC members for all of their creativity and hard work to make these events, and more, possible.  It has been such a pleasure to work with and for you all this year, and I could not be more excited to know that Angela Robinson will be serving as GSC Chair for the year to come. 

My hopes for SPSSI GSC in the future are that it can continue to push SPSSI to diversify more, engage more tangibly with policy issues, and become an even more active social network for graduate students.  Each year I have seen the GSC hone existing projects, introduce exciting and important initiatives, and expand its relevance to more and more domains.  In previous letters I have spoken about how SPSSI is an academic home to me, and my hope is that it continues to be that for those who resonate, and that more students can experience this community like I have.    

Serving on SPSSI GSC for the past three years has been an incredible and inspiring experience: I’ve made friends in the academic and social policy community who share my values and push me to do research for all the right reasons; I’ve built my network and collaborated with researchers I would have been too intimidated to approach in the past; and I’ve learned so much about how organizations like SPSSI function and flourish.  If you have not considered serving on the SPSSI GSC before, I would highly recommend it!  I am always available to chat and share any and all information about it, so please feel free to reach out at alweinb (at) gmail.com. Thank you for a great year!

Ashley Weinberg

SPSSI GSC Chair 2017-18

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