The UM-St. Louis Political Science Graduate Student Association (PSGSA) is a student organization formed to represent the interests of its members to the faculty Graduate Committee, the Political Science faculty as a whole, the Student Assembly, the Graduate School, and the University community.

As a University Center of Eminence, the Political Science Department is attracting a growing number of qualified and energetic candidates, many work full time, and others of who have special demands on their time and energy. Therefore, the PSGSA is committed to providing for its members the resources they need to successfully complete the program, including: use of the association's computer and software and manuals; access to texts and the expertise and experience of senior students to assist and advise new arrivals to the program.

Finally, the PSGSA, while serving the formal purposes briefly outlined above, will also have an informal, collegial function: to allow the students and faculty in this growing and vital program to get to know one another, share the experience of the academy, and form networks and friendships that will extend into its members' professional lives.

The following Constitution, as adopted by the membership of the PSGSA, shall govern the operatations of the organization.

Membership in the PSGSA is automatically granted to students upon their acceptance into the Doctoral Program in Political Science at the University of Missouri - St. Louis.

The payment of dues shall not be a condition of membership in the PSGSA; however, its officers shall, from time to time, request donations of members for capital projects, computer programs or books, for various social functions, or for other projects the membership deems necessary for the Association to carry out its mission.