Brooke Jeffery, a Doctoral Candidate in the College of Natural Science, is the recipient of the RCPD 2025 Student Leadership and Service Award for her contributions that bring awareness, inclusion, and accessibility to the greater MSU community.
The Student Leadership and Service Award recognizes outstanding leadership within the RCPD and the broader community. These students uphold MSU’s core values of quality, inclusiveness, and connectivity as they prepare for lives of purpose.
Brooke Jeffery is a PhD candidate in the Department of Integrative Biology and the Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior program. In 2022, Brooke founded the Graduate Student Accessibility and Support Network (GSASN), MSU’s first university-wide student organization for neurodivergent, disabled, and chronically ill graduate/professional students. As GSASN President for three years, she has led GSASN’s mission of getting disabled graduate students access to the health care, emotional support, and institutional backing they need to successfully complete their academic program(s). She has also co-organized various educational, professional development, and outreach opportunities for this
population of graduate students. Brooke’s work with GSASN has made her a leader in disability inclusion at MSU—engaging with the Graduate Employees Union to expand parking access for disabled graduate students on campus, working with university administration on increasing accessibility as a representative on the Presidential Advisory Committee on Disability Issues (PACDI), co-planning the annual MSU Disability Summit, serving as a panelist or presenter for numerous RCPD events aimed to educate MSU faculty and staff on disabled graduate student experiences, and speaking with prospective and existing grad students in various departments about GSASN and resources for disabled students. Brooke is grateful for the vibrant disability community at MSU and hopes to someday leave a legacy of disability inclusion that always elevates the voices of disabled graduate students.
