Sep 14, 2022

Huck graduate students elect co-chairs for new academic year

This year, HGSAC members elected two students to serve as the graduate co-advisers for the Huck Institutes for 2022-23; Plant Biology student Alenka Hafner and Bioinformatics and Genomics student Corrine Smolen.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The 2022-23 academic year has arrived, bringing with it a new set of student leaders to head up the Huck Graduate Student Advisory Committee (HGSAC). The HGSAC is a dynamic group of graduate students in the life sciences, dedicated to providing valuable resources and leadership opportunities for their fellow students across all six Inter-college Graduate Degree Programs (IGDPs) at the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences.

This year, HGSAC members elected two students to serve as the graduate co-advisers for the Huck Institutes for 2022-23; Plant Biology student Alenka Hafner and Bioinformatics and Genomics student Corrine Smolen.

Exiting the HGSAC leadership role from the 2021-22 academic year is MCIBS student Maria Solares. During her tenure, Solares managed the student group’s transition from virtual gatherings back to on-campus events, when Covid protocols made them viable again. 

“We are so excited to start our term as co-chairs of HGSAC and very grateful to be doing so after Maria’s presidency,” said the new co-chairs in a shared statement. “We have both been working closely with Maria on the committee for two years now and it has been so impressive to watch her fearlessly lead our transition to in-person events, including the return of the Life Sciences Symposium.”

Hafner and Smolen continued, “Maria is incredibly passionate about HGSAC’s role in representing our community and we hope to follow her example and match her commitment to providing opportunities to graduate students in the Huck.”

Together, the new co-chairs will focus on bringing diverse speakers to the Career Seminar and Workshop event series. “Our goals are to provide support for those who have experienced pushback because of who they are, learn as a community about the experiences of underrepresented voices, and serve as a catalyst for change to help make the life sciences more inclusive,” explained Hafner and Smolen. “We are launching a Towards a More Inclusive Science initiative, a new addition to HGSAC’s event repertoire.”

Additionally, the two hope to foster networking opportunities and collaborations with other student organizations, aiming to help Huck students develop communication, leadership, and mentoring skills. 

“Our Life Sciences - wide discussion group will be a collaboration with existing Biology and BMB groups and is built on the success of the Astronomy initiative (TaMIA),” noted the co-chairs.

“As we adjust to the new normal, we want HGSAC to become more approachable and continue being a representative voice of graduate students at the Huck. With two of us heading HGSAC this year, we are even more energized to make HGSAC a great resource for Huck students and we can’t wait to get to work!” To learn more about the Huck Graduate Student Advisory Committee, visit https://sites.psu.edu/hgsac