• printer friendly
• mail this article
• iPod format
• digg

Photo

Anthony Dunbar, a graduate student in information studies and GSA director of communication, is r

Anthony Dunbar calls himself a “go-getter.” He doesn’t just do work in his office.

Instead, the fourth-year doctoral student in information studies and candidate for Graduate Students Association president goes out on campus, armed with a camcorder and ready to hear directly from students.

As the current director of communication for GSA, Dunbar has worked to represent students’ lives through the media in various projects over the year, including the Chancellor “Speak-Out” videos, for which he personally asked students to express their concerns and issues for UCLA’s next chancellor to address.

“I want to show graduate students that we don’t have to wait for progress if we have focused leaders who are willing to go out and serve the people,” Dunbar said.

Dunbar said his personal philosophy for serving others prompted him to get involved with GSA last year.

“I thought GSA was the perfect opportunity to refresh my skills in communications and technology and give myself away to other people,” he said.

Dunbar said he developed his personal drive and giving attitude from his mother. She died of cancer in 2001, but her determination and courage “always set the example” for him, he said.

Dunbar’s campaign goals focus on uniting the UCLA graduate student community into a collective political force. He said GSA needs to help the students become a constituency that will give the students a political voice loud enough for the administration, political entities and UC Board of Regents to hear and acknowledge.

In order to make this happen, Dunbar has proposed a two-step process.

“First, we need to create an infrastructure by using the power of Web sites and modern technology. With the Internet, we all have the power to broadcast, which would bring students into the community and keep them informed,” he said. “Second, we need at least a 30-percent voter turnout this year to demonstrate the students’ momentum. If we want to be taken seriously as a political force, we need to be respected as voters.”

Last year’s voter turnout reached a record high of 22.77 percent, so Dunbar’s goal would represent a significant increase.

Dunbar has been a student representative for the UCLA Department of Information Studies’ Doctoral Procedure Committee and its student governing board, and a student representative for the Faculty Executive Committee of the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies.

He also recently published an article in the academic peer-review journal, Archival Science.

Nikki Brown, a second-year law student and GSA Forum representative, expressed her support of Dunbar, who she said would be highly qualified as a leader.

“A leader has to see a need and fulfill it, and that’s what Anthony has done. He puts in more time than he’s supposed to put in,” Brown said. “He’s got the most positive attitude, to the extent that when I first met him I thought, ‘That’s not real’ – but it is.”

Dunbar said he took up the new job of director of communication with virtually no funds and few guidelines to follow, but said he has achieved the goals he set at the beginning of the year.

Some of these goals have included getting visual content about several aspects of GSA on the Web site, compiling the Speak-Out videos and creating a virtual orientation project to be posted in May, which Dunbar hopes will help further orient new graduate students.

“I’ve demonstrated how quickly I can change things,” he said.

Jamie Keaton, a fourth-year Slavic languages and literature graduate, met Dunbar while he was filming the Speak-Out videos and soon became good friends with him. She said that his active involvement with the graduate community makes him a good candidate for the presidency.

“Anthony has done a ton of footwork to get people aware of the issues at hand. Because of the Speak-Out project with the chancellor, he met a lot of people and knows what graduate students are concerned about,” she said.

Keaton said Dunbar’s campaign to bring GSA to the students has been complemented by his honest and dependable character.

“Anthony’s the type of person who, when you get to know him, he’ll really go out of his way to do things for you,” Keaton said. “What appeals to me is that he really does want to see change (happen) and he really wants to see more involvement.”