The University of Manitoba Graduate Students’ Association (UMGSA) closed nominations for their annual elections on Feb. 13 – the same date as the closing of nominations for the UMSU General Election.
The UMGSA includes over 3,000 U of M graduate students, from the Fort Garry and Bannatyne campuses, as well as some students from the Université de Saint-Boniface.
Two candidates submitted nomination papers to run for president of the UMGSA. Junhui Gong and current vice-president academic Kristjan Mann, are both running to replace outgoing president Laura Rempel.
Aida Adlimoghaddam and David Terrazas Gonzalez are both running for vice-president academic – the only contested vice-president position.
The other three vice-president positions to be filled in the election each feature a single candidate: Enoch A-iyeh for vice-president external, Valery Agbor for vice-president internal, and Beibei Lu for vice-president marketing and events. Both Agbor and Lu are looking to retain their current positions on the executive.
Four candidates are running to fill the three U of M senate seats reserved for UMGSA representatives: Gustavo Mejicanos, Kathryn Marcynuk, Gagan Sidhu, and Richard From. From is the only incumbent.
The senate is the senior academic governing body, responsible for all academic matters at the university that do not fall under the scope of the U of M Board of Governors.
The UMGSA elects three students to sit on the senate as part of the annual UMGSA elections. This differs from undergraduate students, who are represented on the senate by the UMSU president and 25 other student representatives directly elected through their faculty councils.
The position of vice-president health sciences, currently held by Melissa Rabb, is a position reserved on the UMGSA executive for the president of the Health Sciences Graduate Students’ Association (HSGSA). Members of the UMGSA vote to elect their own HSGSA executive each year, including for president, vice-president internal, vice-president external, vice-president academic, vice-president marking and events, and vice-president Saint-Boniface.
The nomination period closed on Feb. 20 at 4 p.m. for the HSGSA election.
Colin Graydon was the only candidate nominated for the position of HSGSA president.
Other candidates include Chuwunonso Onyilagha for vice-president academic, Deepak Upreti for vice-president internal, Crystal Acosta for vice-president St. Boniface, Michelle Perner for vice-president marketing and events, and Hadeesha Piyadasa for a seat on the senate on behalf of HSGSA.
Marc-Antoine De La Vega and Mohammed Fazle Rabbi are competing for the vice-president external position – the HSGSA’s only contested position.
Only health sciences graduate students may run or vote in HSGSA elections. In last year’s HSGSA election all of the positions went uncontested.
Online voting for the UMGSA and HSGSA executives will take place March 16-18.
