by Katy Knapp
Daily Lobo
Joseph Garc°a was voted president of GPSA on Thursday.
A total of 751 students voted online from Monday through Thursday to select leadership for the Graduate and Professional Students Association.
Garc°a took 40.7 percent of the vote.
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Opponents Justin Crosby and Blair Dunn received 32.1 percent and 27.2 percent respectively.
Garc°a will take the reins from GPSA President Buckner Creel at the end of the semester. Creel was president for two years.
Creel is implementing a training period to help the transition process for the new president, he said.
"I hope to start conversations early to keep momentum going for GPSA," Creel said.
Garc°a said he looks forward to getting advice from Creel.
"I think it's great. I think it's necessary," Garc°a said. "I've been in jobs where I wasn't given good training, and it leaves one in kind of in an awkward position."
Crosby said Garc°a is a good choice for president.
"I feel that Joe is an able candidate to do the job effectively," he said.
Garc°a had a lot more support from students and did more vigorous campaigning, Crosby said, which could be one reason he won.
"There's not a lot of face time (with students) since it's done electronically," Crosby said.
More than winning, Garc°a said he enjoyed the process of running. He said he has worked on other campaigns in the past, but never been a candidate.
"It was enlightening," he said.
The first thing Garc°a plans to do when he takes over at GPSA is talk with different student groups on campus, he said.
"I want to get an understanding of what's going on at campus," he said.
After that, he will address funding issues, such as pay for graduate assistants, he said.
Garc°a, who has been at UNM since 2000, is a Peace Corp coordinator on campus and cofounder of Peer Mentoring for Graduates of Color at UNM. He is also running for the Legislature as a Democrat. He is working on his master's in Latin American Studies.
Opponent Dunn could not be reached Wednesday.
