The candidates have given their speeches and the votes have been counted. Results are in for the 2007-08 Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS) officers, who will be representing more than 11,000 graduate and professional students at the UW.

Dave Brown will serve as president, Sarah Reyneveld is the new vice president, Krislyn McWilliams will be the new treasurer and Yutaka Juno is the returning secretary.

The officers know they have big shoes to fill.

“How do we continue the momentum we’ve achieved this year?” Brown asked.

Reyneveld said she hopes to help GPSS develop a bold and purposeful agenda with the top priorities given the most support, which is the main duty of the vice president.

Brown and Reyneveld would like to hold a forum with GPSS officers, legislative officials, the UW administration and government bodies from other state universities to figure out the future of the professional workforce for the state.

Key discussion points will be how to ensure that the global economy views Seattle and the UW as producers of top talent and how to recruit more students to the University, Reyneveld said.

“President Emmert has done a tremendous job of letting people know that we are ranked 17th in the nation,” she added.

This year, GPSS has made an effort to help pass legislation in Olympia and has worked with the University administration to ensure the needs of the graduate community are met. One of the most recent victories was advocating for a new Student-Parent Coordinator position to serve as a liaison between student-parents and the administration.

“I’m happy to see that all the hard work [with childcare] wasn’t wasted,” President Kimberly Friese said.

Better healthcare insurance for students who are not research or teaching assistants at the University is another goal of next year’s GPSS officers, McWilliams said.

“We want to research what other institutions are doing and push full-steam ahead,” she said.

Reach reporter Jenna Curry at news@thedaily.washington.edu.