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Face time with COGS President Emily Bank

March 30, 2014

M SU’s Council of Graduate Students, or COGS, recently elected Emily Bank to serve as president when Stefan Fletcher decided to step down after four terms in the position.? Bank, who is a graduate student in higher, adult and lifelong education , said she hopes to maintain a positive image for the council as well as continue to make connections and provide more resources for graduate and professional students. ?

? ? The State News: How did you feel when you found out you were elected as the new president of COGS?

Emily Bank: I was very excited and honored to be elected into the position. I think it’s a great opportunity and I’m very excited to represent graduate and professional students at MSU.

SN: What are your plans as the new president of COGS?

EB: ... One of my plans is to continue to promote those services and opportunities that graduate and professional students have. ... I also hope to create new services like possibly the feasibility of having a centralized database of graduate assistantship opportunities and ... foster a stronger sense of community and Spartan pride among graduate and professional students.

SN: What are your ultimate hopes for your work as a graduate student and your involvement with COGS?

EB : Personally just as a graduate student I think I have the same hopes as any other graduate student: To graduate and participate in professional development opportunities and different conferences. ... For the organization, we have a lot of new members on our executive board ... there’s a very high turnover rate. We haven’t had a retreat yet, but it’ll be very interesting to see what types of new ideas are brought from our new executive board and the full council for that matter. We get most of our ideas from the full council.

SN: Do you think students’ perception of COGS has or will change now that you are the president when Stefan Fletcher was the president for so long?

EB: Stefan was president for a very long time and he did such a wonderful job and I hope that the graduate and professional students will accept this new leadership style and this new face in the position.

SN: How much of a change was it going from your position as vice president of internal affairs to president?

EB: Because of my experience with undergraduate student government, it made the transition a lot easier. I also had a very supportive executive board to help me if I needed any assistance and guidance in that transition.

SN: How did you come to be involved with student government?

EB: Going back to my undergrad education at MSU I got involved with ASMSU I was a representative for my college.

I knew that I wanted to continue with student government into my graduate degree so I reached out to the College of Educational Administration representative.

SN: What is the main difference between being a part of COGS and when you were involved with ASMSU?

EB : It’s probably that you’re representing and you’re connecting with two completely different constituents. Yes, everyone is a student, but it’s a difference between working with undergraduate students and working with graduate students.

SN: What would you say is the main difference between being a graduate student and being an undergraduate student?

EB: (It) probably would be my personal and professional roles are more developed now than I was as an undergraduate student.

SN: What has been the most rewarding part of being involved with COGS so far?

EB: Just getting to know more graduate and professional students on campus because they’re such a diverse group of students. It’s rewarding knowing that I have the ability to start and induce positive change for those students.

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