Become a Delegate

According to the GA Charter, every academic unit (department, group, or program) is allowed one Delegate per every hundred graduate students or fraction thereof in the academic unit. 

• View the updated Delegate Directory to see how many Delegates your academic unit can have.
• If you do not see your academic unit listed, please email the Internal Vice President.

For the 2020-2021 Academic School year, please complete these steps to become a Delegate:

1. Fill out the department approval form and have your head departmental graduate student registered organization (GRSO) or GSAO, department chair sign-it
   • Note: there will be two ways to submit this form. 1) Attach it to the Delegate Certification form (below) or 2) Email it to icos-ga@berkeley.edu with the subject [Department Delegate Approval From – YOUR DEPARTMENT]
2. Please fill out the 2020-2021 Delegate Certification Form. You will be notified of your application’s status within two weeks of its submission. 
3. Send an Email Announcement to students in your department (ask your GSAO for help if you don’t have a departmental student email list)
   1. If your department has multiple delegates, you can coordinate together to send one email.
4. Read the GA Zoom Guide [Updated August 2020]
5. Join the GA Delegate Slack Workspace
   • REQUIRED: please set your slack name as follows: First name, Last name, Department, Position, Preferred Pronouns
   • Example: Liz Lawler, Vision Science delegate, (she/her/hers)
6. [Optional] Sign up for the Delegate Mentorship Program Pilot! 
   • This year we’ll be piloting out a GA delegate buddy system to match new delegates with returning delegates to show them the ropes and be a resource. Mentor/mentee delegate matches will depend on the number of folks that sign up.
7. New Delegates are required to attend a New Delegate Training Session in August or September. The first Delegate Training will be held September 3rd, at 5:00 pm over Zoom [registration required]. Please RSVP by emailing the Internal Vice President (internal@ga.berkeley.edu)
8. The GA uses Parliamentary Procedure/ Robert’s Rules of Order for meetings.  Please check out our GA Delegates Guide to Robert’s Rules for helpful information!

Please contact internal@ga.berkeley.edu for questions about any of these steps!

Delegate Assembly meetings are the first Thursday of every month, with the exception of September. Meetings begin at 5:30pm. During the 2020-2021 Academic year, the GA meetings will be held remotely over zoom; registration ahead of time is required. Meeting dates for the 2020-2021 term are:

1. September 10th [registration link]
2. October 1st
3. November 5th
4. December 3rd
5. February 4th
6. March 4th
7. April 1st
8. May 6th

Additionally, each Delegate or their Alternate are encouraged to attend our Pre-Session Training, September 3rd at 5:00 pm.  This will be online over Zoom (register here). This will be recorded and put online after the session.  The purpose of this meeting is to offer an overview of essential skills to all delegates regardless of level of GA experience.  We will go over changes to the format of delegate  meetings including the introduction of consent calendars, the basics of Robert’s Rules, how to write a resolution, and we will determine the year’s advocacy agenda.  This meeting will also act as an opportunity for those who are not sure whether or not they would like to be a delegate to learn about other ways to participate in the GA.  

For more information about the structure of the Graduate Assembly or the responsibilities of a GA Delegate, please look through our New Delegate Training Presentation or email execassist@ga.berkeley.edu if you have any questions.