On Sept. 2, the Graduate Student Council voted four new members onto its executive board in a permanent capacity, promoting formerly temporary appointees in uncontested races. Three positions were vacant after elections in May, and a fourth opened over the summer after the treasurer stepped down.
At the GSC’s first meeting of the academic year, Madison Smith GS was approved as chair of student life and Suha Darbo GS was elected co-chair of social events. Amanda Loewy GS, who is enrolled in the online master’s of technology leadership program, became chair of nominations, making history as the first online master’s student elected to serve on the council’s executive board, according to GSC President Kevin LoGiudice ScM’21 GS.
Nazanin Ahmadi GS once again became the council’s treasurer, a position she has held for the past two academic years. She did not run for the board in May, but is reassuming her former position after her successor relinquished the role, she told the council.
The meeting was more crowded than usual, since first-year graduate students attended to check out the student governing body and eat the free food. The executive board had to move quickly to order extra food for the new graduate students, but attendance thinned throughout the roughly hour-long meeting.
The council also approved a $126,000 budget for fall 2026. This marks a slight decrease from last fall’s budget of $132,000, which LoGiudice attributed to a slight drop in graduate student enrollment.
Ian Ritter is a university news and science & research editor, covering graduate schools and students. He is a senior concentrating in chemistry. When he isn’t at The Herald or exploding lab experiments, you can find him playing the clarinet or watching the Mets.
