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The Legislative Branch

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 Elena Vidrascu, the 2022-2023 Senior VP, with any questions or concerns.

Meeting Times (unless otherwise indicated)
Date: 1st Tuesday of every month, September through April (in January and April, the meeting is on the 2nd Tuesday).
Time: 5:30pm
Location: Kerr 2001

Senate Committees

All legislation, minutes, and archival information can be found at the GPSG archives. 

Appropriations

If you have any questions, email the Appropriations Committee.

Name Department Email
Ishan Phadke (Chair) Economics iphadke@live.unc.edu
Maria Al Haddad  Biochemistry and Biophysics alhaddad@unc.edu
Abby Ward Social Work wardar@live.unc.edu
Mayur Krishna  Pharmacy mayur_krishna@unc.edu
Reilly Stahl Public Administration reillyy@live.unc.edu

Rules and Judiciary

If you have any questions, email the R&J Committee.

Name Department Email
Hilary Fokwa (Chair) Chemistry hilarydf@email.unc.edu
Phillip (Aaron) Nette Public Health Leadership pnette@unc.edu
Lee Rodio Law lee.rodio@unc.edu
Marica Thomas Environmental Sciences & Engineering mthomas2@unc.edu
Andrew Gavin Physics and Astronomy asg243@live.unc.edu

Travel Awards

If you have any questions, email the Travel Awards Committee.

Name Department Email
Nicholas Moloci (Chair) Health Policy & Management nmoloci@email.unc.edu
Megan Blackwood Political Science Megan.Blackwood@unc.edu
Chris Brehm Sociology cbrehm@email.unc.edu
Jackson Cacioppo Chemistry cacioppo@live.unc.edu
Alice Woolard Bioinformatics & Compoutational Biology alice@unc.edu

State of Graduate and Professional Student (SoGAPS)

If you have any questions, email the SoGAPS Committee.

Name Department Email
Abhigna Rao (Chair) Health Behavior  abhiarao@unc.edu
Kendall Winter  Musicology khwinter@live.unc.edu
Kat Furtado Microbiology & Immunology kfurtado@live.unc.edu
Daniels Akpan Education daniels-akpan@unc.edu
Katie Heath Biomedical Engineering katiemh@live.unc.edu

Finance

If you have any questions, email the Finance Committee.

Name Department Email
Nathan Quinn (Chair) English naq@email.unc.edu
Earl Hahn Education earlhahn@unc.edu
Fadi Bitar Dentistry fadi.bitar@unc.edu
Joshua Bakita Computer Science jbakita@cs.unc.edu
Noah Lyman Economics nmlyman@live.unc.edu

Oversight and Accountability

If you have any questions, email the O&A Committee.

Name Department Email
Elie Abboud (Chair) Dentistry abboud@unc.edu
Jamie Andrews Public Administration bandrews@unc.edu
Abigail Coupe Information and Library Sciences coabig@unc.edu
Thery Sanon Psychology tsanon@unc.edu
Tim Feeney Epidemiology feeney@unc.edu

President Pro Tempore – Joshua Bakita

Duties of the President Pro Tempore:

  1. The President Pro Tempore shall serve on the Hearing Committee.
  2. The President Pro Tempore shall also serve as an Ex Officio member of the following committees:
    1. The Student Advisory Committee to the Chancellor;
    2. The Student Fee Audit Committee;
    3. The GPSG Oversight and Advocacy Committee; and
    4. The Future of the GPSG Committee
  3. 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.
  4. The President Pro Tempore shall keep a list of speakers during Senate meetings to facilitate the recognition of said speakers.

Chair of Summer Governance – Jamie Andrews

Duties of the Chair of Summer Governance:

  1. The Chair of Summer Governance shall convene the summer sessions.
  2. 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.