The beginning of a new school year brought responsibilities for Kate Cobb, the president of the Graduate & Professional Student Association.
Cobb was re-elected for her second term as GPSA president in March.
“When my first term was coming to an end, I realized that there was a lot of stuff that I still wanted to get done but I hadn’t had the time to get it all done in just one year so that’s why I ran again for second term,” Cobb said.
Cobb said one of her big focuses during her new term will be on student veterans who have served in the armed forces.
“With the resources we have here, I’m looking to help them solve more specific problems because they often have more specific problems than other graduate students,” Cobb said.
Cobb has also served as a GPSA senator during her tenure as a student in the University of Idaho College of Graduate Studies.
“When I was a senator, I was a part of just about every committee that we had,” Cobb said. “I was originally going to run for senator at large but the president at the time asked me to run for president so I just did it on a whim.”
Cobb said that her biggest challenge during her first term as GPSA president was actually trying to increase GPSA popularity because she said it seemed that most people didn’t know what GPSA was.
“Now the president, the provost, and the deans know who we are so it makes my job a little bit easier now and I can focus on more specific things,” Cobb said.
Cobb said managing her time as the GPSA president can sometimes be a challenge, but is one she’s learned to deal with.
“This position is very time consuming. There are a lot of meetings that I have to attend. With that added on top of my class work, my thesis work, teaching and other responsibilities it gets very time consuming,” Cobb said. “I’ve learned how to balance my calendar so I’m not too stressed out with everything else going on.”
Cobb said the aspect she loves most about her position is working with really amazing people and meeting different kinds of people that she wouldn’t have been able to meet if not for her role as the president.
“I get to make a difference at the university instead of just being there,” Cobb said.
Cobb earned her undergraduate degree in English from Pennsylvania State University..
She is now on her last year as a graduate student where she is pursuing her master’s degree in Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction Writing.
Cobb said that she chose to attend UI for her graduate studies because of the quality of the creative writing program, the faculty and the programs national recognition.
Cobb said she hopes to pursue a career in teaching once she graduates from UI.
Iris Alatorre can be reached at arg-news.uidaho.edu