UMGSA 2022-2023 Executive Nominations
See below for a list of executive profiles. The candidates names are listed below in alphabetical order by last name and are sorted by the position they have applied for, with their slate name in bold. The election takes place solely online and you will receive a link in your University of Manitoba email account that will connect you to your ballot.
President:
Silvia Sekander (Electrical & Computer Engineering, Ph.D.), Experience
Vice President Academic:
AKM Monsurul Alam (Electrical & Computer Engineering, Ph.D.), Experience
Vice President Services and Support:
Marzieh Hajiloo (Psychology, M.Sc.), Experience
Vice President Finance and Administration:
Rubel Chandra Talukder (Electrical & Computer Engineering, Ph.D.), Experience
Senator
William Dowie (Environment & Geography, M.Env.), Experience
Uche Nwankwo (Natural Resources, M.N.R), Experience
Varun Gudral (Supply Chain & Management, MBA)
President:
Silvia Sekander (Electrical & Computer Engineering, Ph.D.), Experience
Hello, fellow graduate students! I am Silvia Sekander. I completed my M.Sc. program at the University of Manitoba and currently I am pursuing my Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering Department.
I am the current President of University of Manitoba Graduate Students’ Association (UMGSA) and running to be your next President in the UMGSA election 2022. During my tenure, I was actively involved in the following:
- Advocacy for Pandemic and Strike relief fund
- Proposal and implementation of U-pass subsidy program
- Advocacy for deferral of summer continuing fees 2021
- Implementation of English Language Center (ELC) subsidy program
- Facilitating student accommodation waiving the guarantor form requirement
- Lobbying the Provincial Government for International student health care
- Managing fund from administration for UMGSA Holiday Hamper program
I was a Sr. Software Engineer in “Samsung R&D Institute Bangladesh” for three years, Post Manager in “Samsung Electronics, Dubai” and “Samsung Noida Mobile Company”. I served as the President and Graduate Students’ Representative at University of Manitoba Bangladeshi Students’ Association. I also served as the Assistant General Secretary of Canada Bangladeshi Association, Manitoba.
My experience of leadership provides me unique strengths to qualify for the position of UMGSA President. If elected, my plan is to work for the graduate students’ welfare as my top priority. Ensuring a good financial and mental support for the students of Fort Garry campus as well as for Bannatyne campus will be my goal.
For more details: https://www.linkedin.com/in/silvia-sekander-765a39101/
Vice President Academic:
AKM Monsurul Alam (Electrical & Computer Engineering, Ph.D.), Experience
My dear graduate students, my name is AKM Monsurul Alam. I am a PhD student in the department of electrical and computer engineering (ECE) and currently I am one of the senators of UMGSA. This year I am running for vice president academic in upcoming UMGSA election. My main goal as a VP Academic would be to increase number of financial awards for students as well as increase the holiday hamper. I want to work with university administration on health insurance, transportation, grading system and EDI to create easier and fairer academic experience for our graduate students. I am interested in advocating on new bursaries and relief funds to address potential post pandemic crisis that our grad students may face.
Over the years I have been involved in different student and community groups from where I gained tremendous experience in leadership, information sharing and advocacy. From the beginning of my study at this University, I am very much engaged with UMGSA and served in many FGS and senate committees. I am also serving as a treasurer of the graduate student association of ECE department. Apart from that I am active in professional networking and serving as a treasurer of IEEE Youth Professionals (YP) Winnipeg and assistant general secretary of Canada Bangladesh Association (CBA). These positions helped me a lot to learn more about students’ needs and problems and the strategies that I can apply to eliminate or lessen those problems.
Vice President Services and Support:
Marzieh Hajiloo (Psychology, M.Sc.), Experience
Hello graduate students!
My name is Marzieh (Marianne) Hajiloo, a first year master student in the Department of Psychology, researching brain and cognitive science. I finished my undergraduate program in physics while in Iran. I gained valuable experience within different roles in student associations such as: lead administrator of the astronomy group; administrative secretary of the physics scientific association; founder and chief editor of our astronomy magazine; and co-organizer of multiple conferences, workshops, and seminars.
I’ve always looked at the academic environment as a place to challenge yourself, work on different skills, and learn to grow as a member of a strong community. My main goal as your VP of Services and Support is to make the everyday practice of our academic roles easier, while providing what is needed to come over hardships– especially the stressors caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Offering accessible and engaging workshops (in partnership with FGS and administration), plus constant social communications with graduate students of all types, is my promise to you.
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LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/marzieh-hajiloo-741791a8
Vice President Finance and Administration:
Rubel Chandra Talukder (Electrical & Computer Engineering, Ph.D.), Experience
Hello Grad students, I am the current VP Academic, Rubel Chandra Talukder and running for VP Finance & Administration in the upcoming UMGSA Elections 2022. My priorities are following:
Priorities as VP Finance & Administration if elected:
- Secure the availability of conference grant in a post-COVID world
- Ensure adequate funding for holiday hamper and UMGSA Awards
- Accelerate ethical investing to better align with UM’s Climate Action Plan
I would also like to highlight few achievements that I am proud to be part of as VP Academic in last two years: http://www.umgsa.org/executive/
Compassionate grading, 2020: This grading scheme will give students the choice to drop one of their grades so it does not impact their GPA, although it will stay on a student’s transcript. It was reported in CBC: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/university-manitoba-alternative-grading-1.5827956
Holiday Hamper 2020 and 2021: I helped to organize last two year’s holiday hampers. There are far more applications (8 times and 16 times, respectively) compared to previous years. I also convinced my fellow UMGSA executives to increase the hamper from 100 to 250 dollars for every student.
UM COVID-19 Graduate Student Pandemic Relief Fund, 2021: Introduced the idea of suspending the continuing fee in Summer-2021 until Summer-2022 and that push ultimately resulted in University Administration creating this new bursary for graduate students.
UM Strike Relief Fund, 2022: UMFA’s strike at the end of Fall semester was very inconvenient to all graduate students. I advocated the idea to FGS and resulted in Administration creating this new bursary.
Senator
William Dowie (Environment & Geography, M.Env.), Experience
William (Bill) Dowie is a two-term incumbent Senator for UMGSA and the graduate student representative of the UMSU-chaired Manitoba Alliance of Post-Secondary Students.
Since September 2020, Bill has tirelessly dedicated time to weekly meetings to look after graduate students’ interests as part of the COVID-19 Recovery Steering Committee. Bill is a strong and vocal advocate on committees such as: Senate, Senate Executive, Student Senate Caucus, Faculty of Graduate Studies Council, Sustainability, FGS Student Experience, Co-Curriculum Record, Libraries and UM-FM.
Bill is the past Riddell Faculty Representative and Co-Councillor for the Environment and Geography GSA, as well as a past vice-president for UMGSA. Bill knows giving back to the community is important. Past and current service include several boards and committees within the non-profit and government sectors. Bill is also a casual Guest Lecturer and Instructor within the Faculty of Extended Education.
Bill, a practicing environmental project manager returned to school as a Mature Student to pursue a Master of Environment working with research units in Environment + NRI, Architecture, and Engineering. Bill is mindfully exposed to interdisciplinary research and different schools of thought. Therefore, Bill is very empathetic to the needs of graduate students wholistically – domestic, international, and indigenous. Indeed, as a proud Winnipegger and Canadian it is Bill’s duty to be an especially strong leader for any and all graduate students studying at the University of Manitoba and living in the City of Winnipeg.
Bill would love to connect with you at www.linkedin.com/in/williamdowie
Uche Nwankwo (Natural Resources, M.N.R), Experience
Uche, also called Focus, is a graduate student at the Natural Resources Institute. He is devoting time learning and working on issues relating to Indigenous Food Systems. Uche is running for the first time, as a Senator in the UMGSA election because of his readiness to serve humanity and give back to community. Uche continues to play strong community and student advocacy roles within and outside the university.
Uche prioritizes issues of equitable and affordable access to education. He strongly believes that quality education tailored to solving human problems can contribute to reducing societal inequalities.
He will be a dependable strong voice for the students
Uche has played several leadership roles within and outside the university community, leveraging on his vast innovative and compassionate leadership experience acquired from three continents. Uche have travelled extensively, which presents him with robust interpersonal relationship skills to easily network and interact with multicultural students.
Uche is passionate about working with and assisting students attain their academic and non-academic goals.
He continues to play mentorship and role model obligations. Uche also have broad network within and outside the academic community which are often mobilized when students have challenges.
As a leader, Uche networks, consults, listens, and acts. He is focused and employs the tools of diplomacy, compassion, and positive assertiveness in resolving conflicting issues.
In 2015 and 2019, Uche organized academic delegation visits with foreign universities to explore student and staff exchange programs with the University of Manitoba.
Varun Gudral (Supply Chain & Management, MBA)
Hello, fellow grad students. It is a pleasure to meet you after the pandemic. My name is Varun Gudral. I am currently doing my Master’s in Supply Chain and management from Asper School of Business at the University Of Manitoba. Before coming here, I worked for Government of India as an officer in an executive role. I have previously worked in Southeast Asian countries, i.e. Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. It has benefitted me immensely to work with a diverse population and understand them. Many of my administrative skills come from my experience, and I wish to apply those skills as a senator.
Apart from my bread and butter winning things, I am a Swimmer, Yachtsman and Horse rider. I also love trekking, and whenever I am in my hometown of Himachal-which lies in the folds of Great Himalayas- I climb up the hills to test my limits and enjoy the thick Alpine forests. I like doing eclectic things, and that is why when you visit my Instagram page(@varungudral), you will see interests varying from arts to sports. I feel there is something more in humans than just breadwinning work. I think insight into others’ perspectives and their lives just opens up your personality, and you can understand others’ viewpoints in a much better way. Maybe because of this, I keep myself open to learning. I hope to learn more from this election and from you. See you soon folks!!