It is with utmost pleasure that I welcome you to UCLA, the number one public research university in the country and one of the best in the world!

I am glad you have chosen to pursue your graduate/professional studies here, and I am confident that together with other Bruins, we will continue to find sustainable solutions to many of the challenges our society faces.

The past year has been challenging globally, with a significant impact on how graduate and professional students learn, conduct research, interact, and decompress. As we reopen and restrictions are lifted, my team and I are committed to building community, while advocating for the expansion of resources, as well as making them accessible to graduate and professional students.

The Graduate Student Association (GSA) is a community of about 13,000 graduate and professional students across the 13 academic councils. Together with our Vice Presidents of Internal, External and Academic Affairs as well as Directors and Student Representatives, we work towards making our graduate experience robust by advocating for issues that affect graduate and professional students.

This year, as we turn the corner of COVID, we hope to build a community of care and wellness by creating varied social events where graduate and professional students can decompress and forge personal and professional relationships. We will continue to advocate for policies and initiatives that ensure affordable and accessible housing, improved transparency between the UCLA administration and the graduate community, diversity and inclusion for underrepresented communities, and more funding support for students who have been disproportionately impacted as a result of the pandemic.

Collaboratively, we are positive we can achieve all of these with your active support and participation. We encourage you to stay connected and engage the GSA through our website, newsletters, social media platforms, and varied events.

Once again, welcome to the UCLA family, I wish you a rewarding graduate experience. Go Bruins!

Musibau Francis Jimoh
President, Graduate Student Association
Ph.D., Materials Science and Engineering