Quality of Life

The GSG is committed to improving the quality of life for graduate students at the University.  Follow the links below for helpful information that may be relevant to you.

• International Students
• Students with Disabilities
• Women Faculty & Students
• Students with Families
• LGBTQ+ Students

As the Quality of Life committee, we are interested in the well-being and enhancement of the quality of life of graduate students of our university, including their families and dependents. We also act as middlemen to help them air their concerns to the university. The quality of life committee is divided into two divisions:

• Health and Wellness

• Families and Dependents

Our committee objective is to listen to graduate student’s problems related to health, wellness, and other issues that hinder their quality of life and offer resources and support to improve their overall quality of life. Additionally, as the Quality of Life committee we review student health insurance and related policies and suggest changes whenever necessary. Below are the listed goals and activities we hope to achieve this academic year:

• Continue to work towards including a dental plan as part of student’s health insurance by exploring dental plan options. Continue to actively participate in university-wide committees related to health and wellness

• Based on last year’s poll data we plan to reinstate tax assistance to help graduate students with tax filing.

• Organizing a get-together/picnic for students with families: This will be open to both incoming and current grad students where they can get to know each other, their families, and share their experiences.

• Continue to negotiate subsidies for children’s daycare fees and other childcare support e.g dental insurance. This will go a long way in assisting graduate students with children that are not of school age

• Advocate for mental health support: Identify barriers preventing the access to mental health resources on campus for graduate students.

• Creating awareness for graduate students and those with families and dependents for what resources are available to them and conducting a survey to get information on what issues need to be addressed.

• Continue to expand the 24/7 food places on campus for graduate students and work towards increasing the hours of access. (Team up with GRAD21, food assistance program).

• Health & Wellness Activities: Organize self-defense classes, health insurance information session, CPR training, posture correction workshop, and Koru mindfulness sessions.

Committee Chairs

• Arpitha Mysore Rajashekara (amysorer@nd.edu)
• Latifat Ibrahim (librahi2@nd.edu)
• Wesley Hedden (whedden@nd.edu)