Marine Biology Graduate Student Association
The Marine Biology Graduate Student Association (MBGSA) is a student government organization dedicated to the welfare of graduate students in the Graduate Program in Marine Biology (GPMB). Each year officers are elected by the student population to serve on the MBGSA Executive Council, but the entire student body of the GPMB can be members of the MBGSA. General assembly meetings are held throughout the year to get feedback from the students about what is needed in the program.
The MBGSA has two main functions. First, it provides an organized unit for graduate student communication and involvement within the GPMB (e.g., placing representatives on the Curriculum and Academic Planning, Faculty-Student Relations, Colloquium, and Funding and Cooperative Research Committees) and between the GPMB and other organizations (e.g., the greater Fort Johnson Science Center community, the College of Charleston Biology Department, and the Graduate Studies Office. Each year two students from the MBGSA are selected to serve as reps to the Graduate Student Association of the College of Charleston, which oversees all graduate student programs. These representatives facilitate the representation of the GPMB, as well as the transfer of information between the two student government organizations.
The MBGSA also plans social and service events each month to involve the student body in the community around Fort Johnson. Examples include the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Clean-up (Beach Sweep) and the Adopt-A-Highway clean-up of a sponsored part of Fort Johnson Road. The MBGSA also assists with events such as the TGIF social after each weekly Fort Johnson Marine Science Seminar.
The MBGSA is supported mainly through student dues and the sale of Grice Marine Laboratory merchandise.