Council members (or Board Directors) provide oversight, insight, and foresight to UCGPC as an organization. There are 9 council members who represent each active Graduate Student Association in each University of California campus. At this time, the following campuses have recognized associations: UC Berkeley, UC Los Angeles, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC San Francisco, UC Merced, UC San Diego, UC Davis, and UC Santa Barbara. The council consists of ex officio directors who serve as external vice president or executive vice president of each graduate student association. Associations with more than one external vice president will identify who will serve as a UCGPC voting director.
For more information, read our governing documents.
Attention Council Members
Sandra Oseguera Sotomayor is a Ph.D. candidate in Anthropology at UC Berkeley studying long-term human-environmental interactions in Oaxaca, Mexico.
As the current External Affairs Vice President (EAVP) of the UC Berkeley Graduate Assembly, Sandra champions equitable access to basic needs resources and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for graduate students. She also serves as Co-Chair of the ASUC-GA Joint Public Safety Committee, focusing on campus safety initiatives. Sandra is a CONACYT-UC MEXUS Fellow.
Email: eavp-ga@berkeley.edu
Rebecca Angela Ruiz (They/She/Elle) is a 3rd year PhD student at UC Irvine in the Criminology, Law & Society program. Studies violence (state and interpersonal), immigration, public policy, labor trafficking, and critical criminology.
Email: vpexternal@ags.uci.edu
Mohit Saraswat (He/him) is a third-year Ph.D. student researching at LLNL. His home campus is Merced and has close ties to all UC campuses. He has held leadership roles advocating for international student affairs and graduate student needs in more than one out of state schools. He brings diverse experience to UCGPC with exceptional skills in budget management and advocacy. In addition to the Treasurer at UCGPC, he also volunteers to serve as the graduate representative for Student health advisory committee and affordable transport work group.
As a UCGPC council member this academic year, he aims to enhance mentorship standards, promote diversity & inclusion and amplify student voices in decision-making processes. He will work to strengthen the graduate community, and address key issues in higher education like housing and basic needs insecurity. His goal is to empower students, and reinforce faith in the system through effective advocacy and leadership.
Email: treasurer@ucgpc.org
Katia Hatem (she/her) is a third-year PhD student in the chemistry department at University of California, Riverside. Her research is in the field of atmospheric chemistry in Dr. Jingsong Zhang's laboratory. She was the president of Chemistry GSA and coordinated with other committee members to plan out various social activities, such as ice cream social, etc.
As a UCGPC council member this academic year, she is hoping to bring more insight and awareness towards the different organizations that are being advocated for across each of the University of California campuses and organize potential collaborations with these campuses.
Email: vpea.gsa@gmail.com
Francesco Dalla Ricca, a second year graduate student at UCSF who is passionate about the bureaucracy of governance, as well as the intricacies of budget management. He believes there is a disconnect between the administration and the students they serve, and wishes to bridge the divide by directly reaching out to students.
Francesco wants to address issues with transparency to hold the UC administration accountable and understand the state of the UC system
Brandon Chu (he/him/his) is a fourth-year medical student at the UCSF School of Medicine. He received his BA and MPH from UC Berkeley before starting medical school. In addition to medical education, He is passionate about community health and health equity.
Email: brandon.chu@ucsf.edu
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