The Senate is GPSG’s legislative body and is overseen by the Senior Vice President of GPSG. This forum seeks to discuss and reach consensus about graduate/professional student issues, and also to award funds for events and travel. Consistent Senate attendance enables each department/program to receive an end-of-year monetary allocation for its own social events.
All students and members of the public are invited to attend the monthly meetings. Email Hashem Amireh, the 2025-2026 Speaker of the Senate, with any questions or concerns.
Meeting Times (unless otherwise indicated)
Date: 2nd Tuesday of every month, September through April.
Time: 5:30pm
Location: Kerr 2001
Senate Committees
All legislation, minutes, and archival information can be found at the GPSG archives.
Senate Student Organization Awards
If you have any questions, email the Senate Student Organization Awards Committee.
| Name |
Department |
Email |
| Samantha Beck (Chair) |
Pathology |
shbeck@email.unc.edu |
| Open |
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| Open |
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| Open |
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| Open |
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| Open |
VP of Communication |
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Rules and Judiciary
If you have any questions, email the R&J Committee.
| Name |
Department |
Email |
| Molly Hoch (Chair) |
Biostatistics |
mhoch@unc.edu |
| Open |
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| Open |
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| Open |
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| Open |
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| VACANT |
Solicitor General |
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| Hashem Amireh |
Speaker of the Senate |
hamireh@unc.edu |
Travel Awards
If you have any questions, email the Travel Awards Committee.
| Name |
Department |
Email |
| Fernando Quijano (Chair) |
Business Administration (MBA) |
fernando_quijano@kenan-flagler.unc.edu |
| Open |
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| Open |
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| Open |
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| Open |
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| Open |
VP of Finance |
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State of Graduate and Professional Student (SoGAPS)
If you have any questions, email the SoGAPS Committee.
| Name |
Department |
Email |
| Jair Valenzuela (chair) |
Biomedical Engineering |
jeva117@email.unc.edu |
| Open |
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| Open |
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| Open |
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| Open |
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| Hashem Amireh |
Speaker of the Senate |
hamireh@unc.edu |
| Erin Wright |
VP of Advocacy and Governmental Affairs |
ecwright@unc.edu |
Finance
If you have any questions, email the Finance Committee.
| Name |
Department |
Email |
| Omar Merhebi (Chair) |
Bioinformatics & Computational Biology |
loem@email.unc.edu |
| Open |
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| Open |
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| Open |
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| Open |
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| Open |
VP of Finance |
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Oversight and Advocacy
If you have any questions, email the O&A Committee.
| Name |
Department |
Email |
| Emma Wrenn (Chair) |
Linguistics |
ewrenn@unc.edu |
| Open |
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| Open |
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| Open |
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| Open |
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| Open |
Chief of Staff |
|
| Alonna Despain |
President Pro Tempore |
adesp@unc.edu |
Summer President Pro Tempore – Alonna Despain
Duties of the President Pro Tempore:
- The President Pro Tempore shall serve on the Hearing Committee.
- The President Pro Tempore shall also serve as an Ex Officio member of the following committees:
- The Student Advisory Committee to the Chancellor;
- The Student Fee Audit Committee;
- The GPSG Oversight and Advocacy Committee; and
- The Future of the GPSG Committee
- The President Pro Tempore shall be the presiding member of the Senate when the Senior Vice President is absent, or when the Senior Vice President designates the President Pro Tempore to be the presiding member.
- The President Pro Tempore shall keep a list of speakers during Senate meetings to facilitate the recognition of said speakers.
Duties of the Chair of Summer Governance:
- The Chair of Summer Governance shall convene the summer sessions.
- The Chair of Summer Governance shall act as the tie-breaking vote.
Senate Minutes and Documents
Senate Meetings and Passed Legislation can be found in our GPSG Archives under the Legislative Branch. All archives folders are public.
