Governance & Committees

The English Student Association (ESA) is a student-run organization that seeks to improve living and working conditions of students enrolled in the CUNY Graduate Center’s English PhD Program by representing the their interests. Representation includes expressing the concerns of the students to the faculty and administration as well as relaying information back to the students.

The primary tasks of the ESA are to provide a forum for student concerns, sponsor a network of student mentors, oversee course evaluations, and run the student election process. In addition, the ESA runs an annual conference with faculty participation, open to ESA members as well as students from other institutions.

To get involved, sign up for the ESA listserv, join the ESA Facebook group.

ESA Constitution and By-laws

ESA Budgets (Current and Past)

ESA Meeting Agendas and Minutes

ESA Committee Membership

Former ESA Committee Members can be found here.
See Descriptions of Committee Roles and Statements from current and former committee members here.

  • ESA Co-chairs
    Facilitate discussion among members; act as liaisons between the student body and the Executive Officer; organize ESA meetings; serve on the Executive Committee ex officio.
    Esther Bernstein
    Kristi Fleetwood
  • Admissions and Financial Aid
    Joint program-ESA committee. Read applications and work with faculty to make recommendations for offers of admission.
    Makeba Lavan
    Elly Weybright
    Daisy Atterbury
    Seth Graves
    Michele Chinitz
  • Alumni and Fundraising
    ESA-only committee. Maintain alumni contact info; organize career panels, readings, and other social and scholarly events; create a yearly alumni newsletter with department updates and alumni publications.
    Makeba Lavan
    Talia Shalev
    Daniel Hengel
    Aaron Botwick
  • Conference
    ESA-only committee. Organize and run ESA conference; distribute a CFP; screen submissions; advertise conference; direct participants and volunteers on the day of the event.
    “Shit! A Graduate Conference”
    Paul Hebert
    Esther Bernstein
  • Course Assessment
    ESA-only committee. Oversee the dissemination, collection, and transcription of course evaluations.
    Laura Eldridge
    Bradley Nelson
    Kultej Dhariwal
    Jacob Aplaca
    Margot Kotler
  • Curriculum
    Joint program-ESA committee. Regularly review the program’s requirements and make recommendations.
    Lauren Bailey
    Janie Boynton
    Catherine Engh (Alternate)
  • Diversity
    Joint program-ESA committee. Attend to matters of diversity within the Program. As of May 2017, Diversity officers are drawn from members of program committees to better be able to represent diversity concerns across all areas of program governance.
    Michele Chinitz (Admissions)
    Janie Boynton (Curriculum)
    Sarah Schwartz (Faculty)
    Elissa Myers (Placement)
    Danny Dupont (Recruitment)
  • Editorial
    ESA-only committee. Organize student guides on ESA Commons; revise existing guides as needed.
    Makeba Lavan
    Maxine Krenzel
    Jacob Aplaca
    JoJo Karlin (Alternate)
  • Elections
    ESA-only committee. Conduct the election of student committee members and ESA Co-chairs; Responsible for including any valid proposed amendments to the ESA by-laws on the ballot.
    Andrew Dunn
    Margot Kotler
  • Executive
    Joint program-ESA committee.     This committee is the chief governing body of the English Program. It meets about once a month, including Open Meetings at the end of each semester.
    Danny Dupont
    Erin Spampinato
  • Faculty Membership
    Joint program-ESA committee. Consider changes in the doctoral faculty membership; publicize searches for new members; make recommendations to the Executive Committee.
    Sarah Schwartz
    Catherine Engh
    Elly Weybright (Alternate)
  • Friday Forum Committee
    Joint program-ESA committee. Evaluate the Friday Forum Proposals each semester.
    Allison Douglass
    Bradley Nelson
  • Library
    ESA-only committee. Maintain the ESA library in the English lounge.
    Sarah Hildebrand
  • Placement
    Joint program-ESA committee.     Work with the Placement Officer and other faculty members to coordinate job placement efforts.
    Elissa Myers
    JoJo Karlin
    Laura Elridge
  • Recruitment
    Joint program-ESA committee.     Recruit potential new students before and during the Open House for admitted students; coordinate the Mentor/Mentee program; coordinate with the Website Committee on materials for the Prospective Students.
    Elissa Myers
    Daniel Hengel
    Iris Cushing
    Sarah Schwartz
    Danny Dupont
  • Website
    ESA-only committee. Maintain the ESA site; update, expand, and organize the website as needed.
    JoJo Karlin
    Jeffrey Binder