Gemstone Leadership Council

The Gemstone Leadership Council is a student group that aims to improve and support the Gemstone Program, through three different areas: social events, academic support, and campus leadership. More information about the Core 4, GLC’s centralized leadership team, and the different Steering Committees are included below.

Core 4

The Core 4 is the student leadership team in charge of the Gemstone Leadership Council. Members of the Core 4 include the following:

President, who oversees the operation of GLC as a whole. They foster partnership between organizations within GLC, as well as liaise between GLC and the Gemstone Staff and other Honors College organizations to promote collaboration.
Vice President of Operations and Administration, who is responsible for keeping a budget and tracking organizational expenses. They also manage governing documents for GLC and are responsible for meeting minutes and record-keeping.
Vice President of Strategic Outreach and Engagement, who coordinates various social events to build community across the whole program.
Vice President of Marketing, who creates graphics and advertisements for GLC events and manages promotion and social media presence.

Steering Committees

There are many opportunities for students to take on leadership roles within the Gemstone community. Each of the Steering Committees work on different initiatives, but all have the common goal of improving the overall Gemstone experience.

The Alumni Mentor & Partner Program pairs current Gemstone students with Gemstone alumni mentors. This relationship provides students with the opportunity to grow their networking skills and knowledge base about professional careers, internships, and post-graduation opportunities. AMPP also collaborates with other Honors Colleges to provide events centered

The Gemstone CONNECT Steering Committee plans out community events for freshmen and helps facilitate meaningful relationships between mentors and freshmen. These events help freshmen adjust to the academic and social changes of college, while also providing spaces for mentors to engage and offer resources. The committee also leads training for mentors, helping them be a supportive guide and friend in addition to being a resource for incoming students.

The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) committee strives to support and empower all Gemstone students to center DEI themes while here at the University of Maryland and in their life overall. Through the creation of equity-centered dialogue sessions, affinity groups, as well as other initiatives, the DEI Committee is working to help make Gemstone a program that not only produces experienced researchers but also equity minded individuals who are equipped to help move the needle towards justice for all.

GEMS100 Steering Committee has been working on smoothly transitioning the typically in person course to an online setting. It also has worked to update the curriculum and assignments to become more interactive, relevant, and educational by using new resources and refocusing lessons to discuss the relationship between research and social justice more explicitly. Throughout the fall semester, the Gems100 steering committee facilitates training meetings, prepares finalized lesson plans for each week, and meets with TAs to make sure that GEMS100 classes are running well. Going forward the steering committee plans to evaluate the impact of the recent changes to the curriculum and modify the curriculum to further explore research and society.

Gems Camp Planning Committee works to organize and plan an engaging and fun opportunity for new students to get to know each other and learn about the Gemstone Program. GCPC typically works throughout the spring semester and into the summer to plan camp and to train camp leaders. This year, however, GCPC was unfortunately unable to host Gems Camp and had to begin brainstorming other ideas to get new students engaged. GCPC has many ideas that they hope they will be able to make come to life in the spring semester, but they have to wait to see how the current pandemic progresses.

Steering Committee Recruitment

For students that have served at least 1 term in their respective leadership roles, they are eligible to apply to be on the corresponding Steering Committee (SC). The Steering Committees are responsible for maintaining a vision for their Subcommittee, as well as ensuring their Student Leaders are set up for success.

Steering Committee Recruitment occurs in the Spring Semester, prior to the Student Leader Recruitment. This enables the Steering Committees to provide feedback to the Gemstone Staff regarding the hiring process for both the Spring and Fall Student Leader Recruitment cycles. Student Leaders who are eligible to apply for Steering Committee membership will be contacted by the Gemstone Staff or the Gemstone Leadership Council.

If you have any additional questions regarding the application process, please email the Gemstone Leadership Council at gemstonecouncil@gmail.com or the Gemstone Staff at gems@umd.edu.

Applications

Each year, we have two application cycles: one in the Spring for positions starting in the Summer and Fall, and one in the Fall for positions starting in the Spring. The positions, as well as their term length, available during each of the application cycles are listed below.

Spring Application Cycle

Gems Camp Leader (Summer)
GEMS100 Teaching Assistant (Fall)
CONNECT Mentor (Fall + Spring)
AMPP Participant (Fall)

Fall Application Cycle

Team Formation (GEMS102/104) Teaching Assistant (Spring)
AMPP Participant (Spring)

You should receive an email during the Spring (for the Spring Application Cycle) and during the Fall (for the Fall Application Cycle) with more information about and a link to apply for each of these leadership positions. If you have any additional questions regarding the application process, please email the Gemstone Leadership Council at gemstonecouncil@gmail.com or the Gemstone Staff at gems@umd.edu.