They are sub-groups of the GSA and are comprised of graduate students within the respective department.

Not all departments have dGSA’s, but all department can have dGSAs so long as a minimum of 3 graduate students within the department are willing to run it.

DGSAs are meant to provide support for students within their department. They can host department specific orientation events, social gatherings, fundraisers, coffee hours along with professional building opportunities for their students. DGSAs can also guide their students to the GSA when an issue falls outside the scope of the dGSA.

There is only one GSA at UW, and it oversees all graduate students, but there can be as many dGSAs as there are departments, and they oversee the graduate students within their respective departments.

Our Engagement Coordinator (gsa-engagement@uwaterloo.ca) holds a start of term meeting on a termly bases and invites representatives of each dGSA to attend. The same coordinator also sends dGSAs emails keeping them in the loop when appropriate.

While it is common for a departments councilor to also be part of their dGSA, it is not a prerequisite and there are councilors not involved in their respective dGSA.