Graduate Student Organizations

COMMGrads is the graduate student organization for the Department of Communication, offering leadership and representation to department graduate students.

The Association of Communication Graduate Students at Maryland (COMMGrads) was established for the expressed purpose of developing social and academic support for communication graduate students as they pursue their scholarly and professional interests. The primary goal of this organization is to assist its members in the development of professional and academic success by advocating communication graduate student needs and concerns.

• President: Andrew Lowe M
• Vice President: Katie O'Malley
• Secretary: Jana Sabri
• Treasurer-Fundraising Chair: Emma Newton
• Chair of Wellness and Morale: Rudy Kim
• Faculty Appreciation Chair: Tania Nachrin
• Social Events Chair: Kate Smitherman
• Grad Studies Committee Representative: Tania Nachrin
• Departmental Assembly Rep: Emma Newton
• Undergraduate Studies Committee Representative: Omoleye Adeyemi
• International Student Point of Contact: Najwa Albaqami
• Track Representatives: Anuoluwapo Adesina, Najwa Albaqami, Kate Smitherman
• Department Working Group on Anti-Racism Reps: Sean Rhodes, Kate Smitherman
• Graduate Advisory Committee to the Chair: Sean Rhodes, Alexandra Grimm, Najwa Albaqami, Jana Sabri
• Dean's Grad Student Advisory Board Rep in ARHU: Kalin Schultz
• GA for Graduate Studies: Marcus Wu

Responsibilities of the Graduate Student Advisory Council and Procedure for Electing the Council

Cheló̱na RSA is he University of Maryland’s graduate student chapter of the Rhetoric Society of America. Cheló̱na (the Greek, χελώνα) means “turtle.” Terp pride! RSA is dedicated to bringing scholars of rhetoric together across traditional university and field boundaries and it is our mission to do the same at Maryland. 

Along with our parent organization, we strive to make scholarly and pedagogical collaboration between communication and English rhetoricians not only possible, but regular. Through various programs, workshops, colloquia and other initiatives, we hope to foster an academic climate in rhetoric that supports the interests, needs and desires of our graduate students at Maryland. Read more about Cheló̱na RSA. 

The 2020-21 Executive Board: 

• Chair: Matthew Salzano
• Vice Chair/Treasurer: Brooke Phipps
• Secretary/RSA Liaison: Meg Itoh
• Webmaster/Publicity Chair: Taylor Hourigan
• Representative to the English Department: Elizabeth Catchmark
• Representative to the Communication Department: Fielding Montgomery