Dear Professor [INSERT NAME]

On behalf of the Engineering Graduate Student Association, we would like to take this opportunity to tell you about our organization and its activities. The EGSA was formed in October of 1998 partially in response to the climate assessment findings of the previous spring. The primary goals of the EGSA are (i) to enhance the climate for graduate students in the College of Engineering, (ii) to encourage and facilitate interaction between graduate students and faculty across the college and (iii) to provide a forum through which graduate student concerns can be addressed.

Since October, the EGSA has sponsored five lectures as part of an ongoing seminar series open to graduate students, researchers and faculty. Each lecture was followed by a dinner during which faculty and students could interact in an informal setting. We have asked professors from within the college to give lectures and have also invited outside speakers. We plan to continue soliciting speakers from a range of sources and are in contact with the Cornell Society of Engineers in hopes of harnessing alumni talent. Of course, we would welcome any suggestions you might have.

In addition to the lecture series, EGSA has also coordinated a number of social events, including a free skate at Lynah Rink, an interdepartmental photo scavenger hunt, a tour of the Ward nuclear reactor with SWE, and a study break. We plan to hold another study break at the end of this semester. We also intend to organize a tour of the synchrotron and a state park hike, among other things, for this summer and next fall.

We are hoping that our primary activity this summer will be coordinating with the College to create a college-wide orientation for incoming graduate students. We plan to present our ideas on this in an upcoming meeting with all of the DGSs in Engineering. While some departments sponsor individual orientations, there are no college-wide events that allow new graduate students to meet other new students outside of their specific fields. To supplement the orientation activities, we are developing a handbook that will present information on being a graduate student in engineering at Cornell. This handbook will contain a department-specific section and we will be contacting you again about what should be included therein.

Finally, as the first (and only) college-wide graduate student organization, EGSA has the responsibility to address the concerns of its constituents and to act upon those concerns whenever possible. For this reason, EGSA will occasionally issue position statements on various topics which affect graduate students. These will undoubtedly run the gamut from quality-of-life to academic issues. The first of these position statements is attached for your consideration.

For more information on EGSA, feel free to browse our web site at http://www.rso.cornell.edu:8000/egsa/. In fact, since it is frequently updated to incorporate our new activities, and we encourage you to bookmark it. Through this web site, and frequent mailings to all engineering graduate students, EGSA is in contact with a large number of graduate students on a regular basis. There are approximately a dozen graduate students actively involved in EGSA, and approximately 80 more who have subscribed to our mailing list. Please let us know if we can be of any assistance to you in your efforts with graduate students and graduate student life in Cornell's College of Engineering.

Thank you for your time, and we look forward to working with you.

Sincerely,
Susannah V. Hobbs, President EGSA
Lynette I. Millett, Vice-President EGSA