The Computer Science and Engineering Graduate Student Association (CSEGSA) is a group of graduate students whose purpose is to make the department a great place to work and conduct research. CSEGSA serves as a unifying influence among Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) graduate students by: 1) organizing graduate student participation in department related matters; 2) promoting social activities among students, faculty, and staff; and 3) providing a mechanism for documenting the history of departmental events. CSEGSA accomplishes these objectives by maintaining friendly relations with the faculty, staff, and other graduate students. Any graduate student within CSE can become a member of CSEGSA, including those that are on temporary leave. CSEGSA members communicate with each other by using an email list. All CSEGSA members are on this email list, which is csegsa at cs dot ucsd dot edu. Graduate students in CSE are added to the list if they ask to be added, and are deleted from the list if they ask to be deleted or if they permanently leave the department.
CSEGSA meets once per quarter at a time that is mutually agreeable for all CSEGSA members. The purpose of these meetings is to reflect upon recent departmental activities, prepare for upcoming departmental activities, and to discuss any other issues related to the needs of CSE graduate students. Everyone within the department is welcome to attend these meetings, and they will be notified by email shortly before they occur. However, anyone within CSEGSA or CSE can request a special meeting to discuss any topic of current interest. To do this, all one needs to do is email csegsa at cs dot ucsd dot edu, and ask that a meeting be held. CSEGSA will attempt to resolve the topic of concern without conducting a meeting, but a meeting will be held if the members of CSEGSA decide that it is needed. All of the decisions regarding departmental topics will be made in consultation with the appropriate faculty and staff.
In the spring quarter, CSEGSA holds an additional meeting to describe the jobs that are needed for the following academic year. This meeting is also open to everyone within the department, and an email will be sent prior to the meeting to encourage everyone to attend. Food is provided in order to boost attendance. Prior to the meeting a list is generated containing of all the positions that require student participation, which should be decided in the CSEGSA winter quarterly meeting. During the meeting the responsibilities of each position are explained, and afterwards department members can volunteer for any position they think they would like to do and have time for. There are no formal elections to decide which positions are filled. Instead, both the people who volunteered for the positions and the current CSEGSA members together decide who will get the positions, based on a consensus. A description of all the current positions and who is responsible for carrying out their duties can be found here: CSEGSA jobs.