As we prepare to close out the 2025–2026 GSA year, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on what we have accomplished together and thank the graduate student community for allowing us to serve.
Over the past year, GSA has worked to advocate for graduate student needs, strengthen communication and transparency, and create more opportunities for graduate students to engage with one another and with university leadership. Through Meet & Confer, college and campus-wide town halls, weekly office hours, committee representation, advocacy meetings, grant funding, Graduate Student Appreciation Week, community-building events, and partnerships across campus, we have worked to ensure that graduate student voices are represented in conversations that impact student life and success at UMBC.
At the same time, we have continued to listen. Every email, office hour conversation, survey response, town hall discussion, committee report, and student concern helped guide the work we pursued this year. None of our accomplishments would have been possible without the students who chose to engage, ask questions, provide feedback, challenge us, and help us identify ways to improve the graduate student experience.
As one leadership team prepares to pass the torch to the next, I am excited to introduce the 2026–2027 GSA leadership team, which will begin serving on July 1:
Executive Council
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President: Ahmet Kaan Aydin
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Vice President: Kennedy Davis
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Chief of Staff: Xixëllonjë Nebihu
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Secretary: Tori LaChapelle-Sproat
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Treasurer: Milind Ramesh Rampure
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Speaker of the Senate: Diane Placide
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GRP Chair: Aminah Amjad
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GEARS Chair: Gaurav Shinde
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GAAC Chair: Rishav Gupta
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EoF Chair: Pavan Raj Ravi
Student Affairs Senators
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Dharani Nadendla
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Diane Placide
- Aaryaa Rajendra Gaikwad
COEIT Senators
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Sreeja Lakkakula
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Krish Mehta
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Suma Ronanki
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Monika Battula
CNMS Senators
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Vaibhavkumar Ginoya
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Chelsea Hook
CAHSS Senators
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Elle Hook
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Carole Njoroge
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Alfred Boakye
Directors
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Director of Events: Bethel Gabriel Beyene
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Director of Communications and Marketing: Saad Ahmad Khan
Please join me in congratulating these student leaders and supporting them as they begin their service to the graduate student community. I know they will bring new ideas, energy, and perspectives while continuing GSA's mission of advocacy, service, and community building.
While the individuals serving in GSA may change, our commitment to graduate students does not. GSA will continue to advocate for your needs, amplify your voices, and work toward making graduate student life at UMBC the best it can be.
We are also still seeking graduate students interested in serving as GSA Senators. If you are passionate about representing your peers and helping shape the future of graduate student life at UMBC, we encourage you to get involved.
Interested in serving as a GSA Senator? Sign up here
Serving as your GSA President has been one of the greatest honors of my graduate journey. Thank you for your trust, your support, your feedback, and your willingness to work alongside us. I hope that, through our efforts this year, we helped make GSA a little more visible, a little more accessible, and a little more connected to the graduate students we serve.
With gratitude,
Aminah Amjad
GSA President, 2025–2026