Clemson University Black Graduate Student Association

Carl Lamar

BGSA Founder

Jordon Gilmore

President 2011 - 2012

Lori Pindar

President 2012 - 2013

Evan Black

President 2013 - 2014

BGSA at a Glance

  Establishment

After going defunct for several years, BGSA was re-founded at Clemson University in 2010 by Carl Lamar, a Black graduate student in the mechanical engineering program. At that time, the current constitution and bylaws were drafted. Once approved by the graduate student government (GSG), the organization held its first executive board election.

 

  Membership

Since its reestablishment, BGSA has steadily increased its membership. The majority of BGSA’s member are in the human centered computing and educational leadership programs.  The various engineering disciplines make up the third largest source of BGSA members. The organization also has several students from programs such as etymology and graphics communication.

  Involvment

Thanks to the strong leadership of the organization, Clemson's BGSA has developed good relationships with other campus organizations including GSG, MSSI and CUBSU. The organization also has several members who hold leadership positions in NBGSA and attend the annual NBGSA conference.

 

  Transition

BGSA has primarily been a social organization but the leaders of the organization wanted to expand its services to the Black graduate student population.  In 2013, the pillars of BGSA - fellowship, professional development and community service- were established.