News
Spotlight on NYIT Graduate Student Association
April 19, 2016
When Will Udoh and Noor Rassoul joined forces to found the NYIT-Old Westbury chapter of the Graduate Student Association (GSA) in 2015, they seemed to have little in common. Udoh is a former forward of the men's basketball team, comes from Maryland, and studies electrical and computer engineering. Rassoul is from Iraq, speaks fluent Arabic, and studies communication arts.
However, Udoh and Rassoul share more than meets the eye. Both earned their bachelor's degrees from NYIT and later segued to graduate programs. Long before founding the GSA, the pair honed their leadership skills as undergraduate students at the Old Westbury campus. Udoh had served as a Student Government Association senator for NYIT School of Engineering and Computing Sciences and president of the National Society of Black Engineers, and received the 2015 Excellence in Community and Character Award from the East Coast Conference. Rassoul has attended national student leadership conferences and served as a resident assistant.
They met while working together as resident assistants in Marshall Hall at SUNY Old Westbury and remained friends. Based on their collective experiences as graduate students, Udoh and Rassoul saw the need for an organization to bring together graduate students like them (for example, students who hail from different academic and cultural backgrounds) so they can advocate for things important to their educational experiences on campus.
"We founded the GSA to provide a voice for people like us and begin to build our graduate student community," says Udoh.
Events are one way that GSA is building this community. In February 2016, graduate students from different programs bonded at a Knicks vs. Heat basketball game. Next up is a "Dining Etiquette" event on Thursday, April 28, 6-8 p.m. at NYIT de Seversky Mansion, where graduate students will learn the dos and don'ts of table manners for lunch-style job interviews and enjoy a business fashion show sponsored by Lord & Taylor.
To better advocate for their community, Udoh and Rassoul invite fellow graduate students to fill out a survey asking for information about their academic programs.
For the latest updates about GSA, follow club members @nyitgsa on Twitter and Instagram.
