GSS Officers & Executives

The Executive Committee consists of

• Five GSS Officers (President, Vice President, Information Officer, Secretary, and Treasurer),
• Four GSS School Executives (one each from the School of Medicine, School of Engineering, College of Arts and Sciences, and one representing all of CWRU's professional programs),
• Four Standing GSS Committee Chairpersons (Activities Committee, Professional Development Committee, Mentoring Committee, and Student Organizations & Allocations Committee) and any Ad-Hoc GSS Committee Chairpersons (currently the Health Care Committee).
• One Inter-school liason between the Graduate Student Senate (GSS) and Graduate Professional Council (GPC)
  
  

GSS Officers

President Samantha Schartman

Samantha Schartman

Duties and Responsibilites: The GSS President is the spokesperson and chair of the GSS Executive Committee. The President also sits on many of the important University committees, and meets regularly with the deans. Biographical Sketch: I was born and raised in the Cleveland area and have come to Case to study Cognitive Linguistics.  My previous education was focused on English Composition, Business and Art; and culminated in my attaining a BFA in interdisciplinary study and Critical Theory from our neighbors - The Cleveland Institute of Art.  During the last 12 years, I have managed the marketing efforts for WMMS, produced musical events, coordinated (a few) theoretical lecture series, produced films, commercials, and music videos, worked as the media coordinator for WKYC Channel 3, and have held the position of Technology Director for the Ingenuity Festival here in Cleveland. As a non-traditional student (yes - I'm a bit older than many) I have worked to support myself and my education on my own.  This charge has provided me the viewpoint that - education should be a defining experience, and that anything less is not acceptable.  I have strived to cultivate relationships with not only my peers but my mentors as well and have had the good fortune and privilege to call many "friend". Through being forward with my expectations and acting with respect I have had influence on creating programs of study, have worked with faculty on research, and have programmed events for and with many area universities. My varied experience has also provided me with the experience and organizational skills to tackle difficult and complex tasks. Some of which have had me working with heads of companies, and state officials to program events for an audience in access of 250,000 people.  I have held concert with the Mayor's staff, sat with Deans, discussed policy with congressmen and have aided many area non-profits. Committee Memberships: GSS Executive Committee, Academic Affairs and Student Life Commmittee, President's Advisory Council on Women, Diversity Leadership Council

Vice President Tim Franke

Duties and Responsibilites: Oversees graduate student representation on University committees and is the official parliamentarian of the GSS. The Vice-President also acts as a liaison between the Activities Committee and the Executive Committee. Biographical Sketch: My name is Timothy Franke and I am pursuing a PhD in Systems and Control Engineering. This is my first year in graduate school and I'm proud to say that GSS has already become an integral part of my experience here. I have stepped up to the role of primary senator for the EECS department and am motivated to do more. The reason why I want to get more involved is to help the GSS expand upon its activities by reaching out and involving more of the graduate students with our undertakings. Committee Memberships: GSS Executive Committee, Faculty Senate Committee on Graduate Studies, Faculty Senate Committee on Research, Plan Action Committee

Tim Franke

Information Officer Quentin Jamieson

Quentin Jamieson

Duties and Responsibilites: The GSS Information Officer is the chief correspondent between the Senate and the graduate student body, serving as the GSS website administrator and regularly informing graduate students about relevant events and forums. The Information Officer facilitates communication and the exchange of information both within the Executive Committee and the Senate's standing and ad-hoc committees. Biographical Sketch: Since early 2008, I have served as a senator for the Department of Physiology and Biophysics. I am currently pursuing my Ph.D. in Cellular & Molecular Biophysics from that department as a 3rd year student. I earned my bachelor's degree from New Mexico Tech in 2005 in Physics with an emphasis on Astrophysics. The transition to biology was interesting. I have over 13 years of experience as a web developer and manage websites for 2 regional 501(c)(3) organizations for which I have developed dymanic PHP/MySQL content management systems and manage my own website. I am a passionate advocate for graduate student rights, working with graduate students in the School of Medicine to secure school-level representation similar to what is given in the School of Engineering and the College of Arts & Sciences. A gay man, I am also actively engaged in human rights advocacy, specifically LGBT civil rights, and I serve as a member of the advisory board of PFLAG Cleveland—part of a national support/education/advocacy group for parents, families, and friends of lesbian, gay, and transgendered people. In May 2009, I had the opportunity to attend Equality Ohio's Lobby Day, travelling to Columbus to lobby Ohio senators and representives to encourage them to support the Equal Housing and Employment Act (HB 176) which if passed would provide state-wide protections against discrimination of employees due to their sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. Currently, in the State of Ohio, it is legal to fire people based on these qualities alone. We are very lucky at CWRU to have a university-wide LGBT anti-discrimination policy and receive domestic partner benefits on par with those afforded to heterosexual unions. While not working, I am an avid outdoorsman, photographer, and tech geek. Committee Memberships: GSS Executive Committee, Faculty Senate Committee on Information Resources, Information Technology Services Planning and Advisory Committee (ITSPAC) Student Impact Subcommittee, Diversity Leadership Council

Secretary Feng Li Laughlin

Duties and Responsibilites: Maintains accurate records of business conducted by the GSS and its committees, as well as records of the GSS membership. Biographical Sketch: Feng Li Laughlin (or "Phoenix" ) is a Ph.D. candidate in the chemistry department, is also president of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association. Before coming to Case she taught high school for 3 years in China and later received her Master's in Chemistry from Northeast Normal University. She is a person who works hard, plays hard, and likes to share her happiness with everyone. Committee Memberships: GSS Executive Committee, Faculty Senate Committee on Minority Affairs

Feng Li Laughlin

Treasurer Patrick Laughlin

Patrick Laughlin

Duties and Responsibilites: Administers the GSS budget, maintains the Senates financial records and handles all funding and disbursement orders. Biographical Sketch: I am in the history of science, technology, environment, and medicine Ph.D. program in the history department and have for the past two years been the senator for my department, this year also serving as the GSS executive committee arts and humanities representative. I have been a GSS representative on university committees and active in trying to make the GSS participants more representative of the Case graduate student body. I will continue this work as Treasurer and help to produce a budget which allows all grad students to maximize their experience here at Case. Committee Memberships: GSS Executive Committee, Faculty Senate Committee on Libraries, University Budget Committee

GSS School Executives and Inter-School Liason

School Executives represent the culture and identity of their school. Their role is vital in helping shape the goals of the Senate as liasons to all the graduate students they represent. School executives therefore encourage constant communication and feedback between the Executive Committee and their school and are active advocates for student rights and representation within the highest administrative levels of the school.

School Executive, College of Arts & Sciences: Amanda Yoho

Biographical Sketch: My name is Amanda Yoho, and I have just finished my second year as a graduate student in the Physics program, where in addition to my studies I have acted as the Physics Graduate Student Association's Secretary and Treasurer. For the last year I have served on the GSS Activities committee, as well as attended nearly every general assembly meeting. After participating in the GSS to this extent, I'd like to become a more active member as the Arts & Sciences Executive. Committee Memberships: GSS Executive Committee, College of Arts and Sciences Educational Programs Committee

Amanda Yoho

School Executive, School of Engineering: Eric Hudak

Eric Hudak

Biographical Sketch: I am a 5th year PhD student in the deparment of Chemical Engineering. My research focuses on the development of diamond electrodes for neural stimulation. Previously, I earned a BS in Chemical Engineering from The University of Toledo. Over the past year, I served as founding president of the Chemical Engineering Graduate Student Organization (ChEGSO). To fulfill my duties as the School of Engineering Executive, I plan to attain full representation from every Engineering department and to effectively relay the specific needs of Engineering students to the GSS. I will also serve on the School of Engineering Graduate Studies Committee and assist it in this year's Doctoral Program Review. Committee Memberships: GSS Executive Committee, Case School of Engineering Graduate Studies Committee

School Executive, School of Medicine: Cara Henry-Halldin

Biographical Sketch: I'm going into my 4th year here at Case, pursuing my PhD in Biology. I entered CWRU through the Biomedical Science Training Program where I eventually settled on researching malaria and the mosquitoes that transmit the disease in the Center for Global Health and Diseases. Even though my degree-granting department is in the College of Arts and Sciences, I remain very active in activities and organizations with in the Medical Sciences, such as BGSO (Biomed. Graduate Student Organization) and BGSS (Biomed. Graduate Student Symposium). As the Medical Sciences GSS Executive, my goal is to ensure 100% GSS representation from all the departments encompassed by the Med Science cost center and to improve crosstalk between the School of Graduate Studies and the School of Medicine (and between individual departments within the SOM); we have a lot to gain from one another and I hope that I can use my experience with both schools to foster this communication. Thank you for electing me to this position! If you have any suggestions, questions or concerns please feel free to drop me an email. Committee Memberships: GSS Executive Committee, Faculate Senate Committee on Graduate Studies, Alternate: President's Advisory Council on Women

Cara Henry-Halldin

School Executive, Professional Schools: Caitlin Brennan

Caitlin Brennan

Biographical Sketch: My name is Caitlin Brennan and I am a PhD candidate in the School of Nursing. I am an oncology nurse and have worked in a variety of clinical and research positions throughout my career so far. My research interest is health services research, which focuses on building more efficient, cost-effective, safe systems of care, in order to improve health care quality and make it more accessible and equitable. I became involved in GSS during the 2008-2009 school year as the School of Nursing Senator. There are many enriching opportunities available through GSS and I have been very impressed with the motivation and leadership that members of GSS have demonstrated thus far. Great things are happening at CWRU and GSS is one conduit through which graduate students can learn about and participate in various activities and programs to enhance their graduate school experience. As the Professional Programs Executive, I hope to serve as the go to person for students and Senators from Nursing, Dentistry, Mandel School of Applied Social Science (MSASS), Law, and Weatherhead so that I can bring questions, concerns, and ideas back to GSS and serve as the "connector" between these students and GSS. Committee Memberships: GSS Executive Committee, Faculty Senate Committee on Research, Women in Science and Engineering Roundtable

Inter-School Liason Executive Jimmy Harris

Duties and Responsibilites: The Inter-School Liason serves as the primary representative on the Graduate Professional Council for the School of Graduate Studies. Biographical Sketch: The main role for this position is to serve on the Graduate Professional Council, a collection of graduate and professional students to collaborate and communicate about common events and issues regarding our population, which is the majority of students at CWRU. I have been leading this effort over the last year, and I look forward to continuing to grow the value of such of an organization while acting as a conduit between graduate students and professional students to build better bridges between our communities and our efforts. Committee Memberships: GSS Executive Committee, Parking Advisory Committee, Graduate and Professional Student Experience Committee

Jimmy Harris

GSS Standing/Ad-Hoc Committee Chairpersons

Activities Committee Chair: Christa Wheeler

Christa Wheeler

Duties and Responsibilites: The activities committee chair organizes activities to encourage interschool social interaction among graduate students. Biographical Sketch: My name is Christa Wheeler and I'm a graduate student in Biomedical Engineering. During my first couple years at Case I was very active in the Biomedical Engineering Graduate Student Association. I served as both Social Chair and President. Over the past year or so though I've gotten more involved with the GSS and it has been great to meet students from different departments. I served on the activities committee this year and planned the after parties for the two sporting events and coordinated GSS participation in Springfest. I also co-chaired the Relay For Life event Case hosted last month. Relay is something I've been active in since it started at Case in 2008 and this year we raised over $88,000 for the American Cancer Society! I've always enjoyed planning things whether it was parties, BBQ's, weekend trips/activities with friends or huge scale fundraisers. :) As Chair of the Activities Committee I look forward to planning a variety of events for students and I really hope that we can get even more people involved in GSS and the many activities it supports throughout the year. Committee Memberships: GSS Executive Committee, GSS Activities Committee, Share the Vision Committee, Graduate and Professional Student Experience Committee

Professional Development Committee Chair: Thomas Bulea

Duties and Responsibilites: The Professional Development Committee Chair is responsible for providing opportunities for career development to graduate students that they wouldn't ordinarily receive in their planned programs of studies, organizing regular professional development events for graduate students to attend. Biographical Sketch: I am a 4th year PhD student in the biomedical engineering department, having received my master's degree in 2008. My research focuses on development of lower extremity systems to restore walking function to paralyzed individuals. I have been involved with the GSS for the past year, serving on the professional development committee. I believe professional development is a crucial component of graduate education and that the GSS is well positioned to impact graduate students at this university. I would like to see the GSS take a more active role in providing development opportunities to students, and look forward to working towards this goal. Committee Memberships: GSS Executive Committee, GSS Professional Development Committee, Faculate Senate Committee on Research, Provost's Research Council

Thomas Bulea

Mentoring Committee Chair: Vicki Nelson

Vicki Nelson

Duties and Responsibilites: The mentoring committee helps develop the graduate student's transition from a junior student to a future colleague. Emphasis is on infrastructure and support, graduate student training, conflict resolution, and reengineering of the importance of graduate student education. Biographical Sketch: TBA Committee Memberships: GSS Executive Committee, GSS Mentoring Committee, Martin Luther King Advisory Board

Interim Student Organizations / Allocations Chair: Cassie Freudenrich

Duties and Responsibilites: Serves as a liaison to those graduate students and organizations wishing to receive GSS recognition and/or funding. Biographical Sketch: My name is Cassie Freudenrich, and I am a second-year M.A. candidate in the English department. My research involves a little of literature, theory and composition/rhetoric studies all mixed into one, and I currently enjoy this lack of focus. I got involved with the GSS last year through the Mentoring Committee and am excited to be increasing that involvement this year as I tackle the Organizations/Allocations Committee. I look forward to working with the GSS, representing the English department and the Humanities, and serving the graduate student population. Committee Memberships: GSS Executive Committee, GSS Student Organizations and Allocations Committee, Mentoring & Diekhoff Committee

Cassie Freudenrich

Health Care Committee (Ad-Hoc) Chair: Emily Hornack

Emily Hornack

Duties and Responsibilites: The Chair of the Health Care Committee is responsible for representing student interests as decisions are made regarding health benefits for students and their dependents.  This year, that includes addressing the need for increased choice amongst dental care providers, gathering information that will allow students to use health care in a more cost-effective way, and taking a comprehensive look at how health benefits and other financial aid and compensation relate to each other for graduate and professional students at Case. Biographical Sketch: I am second year Master's student in Communication Sciences. Even though my time at Case is relatively short compared to a lot of graduate and professional students, I decided to get involved with the GSS early on because I like to be involved and saw it as an opportunity to get to know people outside my department and enrich my experience at Case. I've been the senator for the Communication Sciences department for a year, and the Chair of the Health Care Committee since March. I'm excited to be working on health care on behalf of students because I believe health care has far reaching implications for our experiences at Case, and I hope to be able to take steps toward improving the physical, mental, and financial health of students at the University. I was born and raised in Cleveland, but bounced around for most of my very young adult life. I have my Master's in Public Policy, and worked in health policy for about 5 years. Most of my work focused on aging and disability policy, but that experience has proven to be very valuable in my work with the GSS. Outside of school and the GSS, my interests include music, sailing, skiing, travel, public policy, and reading just about anything I can get my hands on. Committee Memberships: GSS Executive Committee, GSS Health Care Committee, University Health Services Committee