About Us
The Graduate Students of Color Alliance (GSOCA) at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) is an organization established for People of Color (POC) and associated allies who are in pursuit of or have attained a graduate degree. Our organization values community, equity, unity, and scholarship, as these are key to promoting academic and professional success as well as personal growth. We seek to foster interdisciplinary cohesion, solidarity, and equitable change on the USM campus for graduate students of color to have the opportunity to expand their academic horizons and have a haven for support. Through working in an interdisciplinary capacity, the GSOCA plans to support each other by (1) facilitating a supportive network for graduate students of color both past and present; (2) fostering multicultural understanding (e.g., respect, support, recognition of challenges, community-building) within GSOCA members; (3) facilitating interdisciplinary cohesion and research ; (4) supporting and promoting efforts to enhance multicultural awareness across graduate school students, faculty, and staff; (5) fundraising to expand the representation of POC in research samples and advance research impacting POC communities in Mississippi; and (6) supporting (e.g., didactics, mentoring) undergraduate students of color aiming to pursue graduate degrees.
