by Gillian Ward
2000 SGSA President

August 2000 brought a large influx of new students, keen to make their first semester fun and sociable as well as hard working. They have organized pot-lucks and casual sporting events, and rekindled a sense of community within the SGSA. Perhaps this is the time to expand on that community and set up more formal links of communication within the SGSA. I would like to propose a mentoring system whereby appointed graduate students already advanced to candidacy could provide peer support for newer students looking to choose an advisor, discuss course options or trying to gain a sense of the workings of the department. The most natural structure would include one graduate student from each field of pure and applied statistics, and probability.

To the new students, but more especially those who have been around for a while now, I would like to stress a point made constantly by Professor David Brillinger. Graduate school is about having fun while striving to reach new academic goals. The most important part of life is enjoying it, which for many people involves separating the personal and academic. If we cannot balance our personal and professional lives as graduate students, it seems unlikely that we will develop these skills as future professors or in the workplace. If we cannot relax and have fun at this point in our lives, will we be able to once we are trying to gain tenure or a promotion? Although we have a constant and demanding workload, we also have the opportunity to develop ourselves outside of the academic arena. We have access to a lot of culture, sports facilities and beautiful countryside. Visit the museums of San Francisco for free on the first Wednesday of each month. Take a lunchtime swim at the Hearst Pool and enjoy the warmth of the sun. Experience the wilderness of Point Reyes.

I would like to take this opportunity to say goodbye and thank you to the department as I leave to start my professional career. Lea Popovic will take over as SGSA president in Spring 2001.

Gill Ward