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.