UMGSA General Council

The UMGSA General Council is made up of representatives from over 40 departments at the University of Manitoba who vote on issues that affect graduate student life. Take a look at the list below and see if your department is represented. There are great reasons to make sure that your department is represented on council, including the department grant you receive twice a year for participation. If your department isn’t on the list below, follow our step-by-step guide on how to become a councillor. If you want to get to know your councillor, contact us and we will put you in touch with the representative from your department.

What does General Council do? Councillors meet monthly (usually the fourth Wednesday of the month) in the UMGSA Lounge at 221 University Centre (or on Zoom during COVID-19). The UMGSA Executives report to council about what their committees are working on, Executives relay updates about university administration, councillors share news from their departments, and council discusses and votes on issues that affect graduate student life. If you have an issue that you would like to have discussed at General Council contact us, or your departmental representative and they can advocate on your behalf. If you would like to learn more about the UMGSA Executives, you can read their profiles or familiarize yourself with their duties in the Governance and Operations Manual.

If you want to know what goes on at a UMGSA General Council meeting, you can read the minutes of past meetings here. Guests are also welcome, so feel free to join us for a General Council meeting to see what it’s all about.

Departments and Representatives on UMGSA General Council

Faculty of Agricultural & Food Science

Animal Science: Breanna Zwick

Entomology: Danie Wood

Food & Human Nutritional Sciences:  Anashwar Mullankuzhiyil Valsalan & Breanne Semenko

Plant Science: Laetitia Mukungu & Md. Ehsanul Haq

Soil Science: Charitha Hansima & Jose Almodovar 

Faculty of Architecture

Architecture: Paige Coleman

City Planning: Oluwasegun (Isaac) Omonaiye & Julian Loutsik

Interior Design: Juliana Anderson

Faculty of Arts

Economics: Michael Apata & Shantanu Debbarman

English, Film, Theatre, and Media: Sakshi Tyagi

History: Cara Ginter

Linguistics: Mohadeseh Rostami Samak & Ashkan Ghaemmaghami

Political Studies & Public Administration: Jessica Drakul & Md. Azizul Hakim

Psychology: Cici Guo & Reegan McCheyne 

Sociology & Criminology: Mehraz Sarker 

Asper School of Business

Management – MBA/ MFin/ MSCM: Kalyn Maskiw-Connelly (MBA), Sheena Gee & Tony Wu

Faculty of Education

Education – PhD: Christopher Yendt

Education – Curriculum, Teaching & Learning: Minhee Kim

Faculty of Engineering

Biomedical Engineering: Farinaz Jonidi Shariatzadeh 

Civil Engineering: Tara Seidi 

Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources

Environment & Geography: Fowzia Ahmed  & Nicole Loeb

Earth Sciences: Tekla Cunningham 

Natural Resources Institute: Alejandra Diabb Sanchez & Sobiya Aziz Badat

Faculty of Graduate Studies

Applied Health Sciences: Brenda Tittlemier & Banke Oketola

Peace & Conflict Studies: Maha Mehanna

Faculty of Kinesiology & Recreation Management

Kinesiology & Recreation Management: Mudra Dave & Sasha Kullman

Faculty of Nursing

Nursing: Hannah Mohammed & Trinh Nguyen-Lu

Faculty of Science

Biological Sciences: Krista Shofstall

Chemistry: Hanieh Rezasoltani 

Computer Science: Vacant

Mathematics: Ian Thompson

Microbiology: Dustin Maydaniuk

Physics & Astronomy: Brydyn Mac Intyre

If you would like contact information for any of the above councillors please e-mail our Governance and Communications Coordinator with your question and request at:  gcc@umgsa.org

You may also want to contact your department’s graduate student advisor or graduate chair for more information about getting involved at the department level.