On Tuesday afternoon, Shiza Nisar spoke about how she wants to raise awareness for the Graduate Student Senate. 

She’ll have another year to do that. 

In GSS’ annual executive board election Tuesday, all four candidates for the open positions were unopposed.  

Communication and Information doctoral students Shiza Nisar and Theorose Dzineku ran for Executive Chair and Executive Vice Chair respectively. Graduate strategic communication student Yani Shao ran for Finance Chair, and geology PhD candidate Esmaell Adrah ran for Programming Chair. 

All four candidates participated in an interview portion where they answered questions about their future plans.  

Election Committee Chair and PhD candidate in applied geology Sadiq Adebayo, served as the mediator and asked each candidate the same question.  

“How do you plan to use your position to better the GSS, and what are your plans to initiate change within the senate?” 

Most candidates focused on holding weekly office hours, working towards engaging younger audiences and increasing GSS visibility.   

After the interview portion, the senators put the election to a vote.  

Out of 24 voting senators, 23 voted in favor of the candidates, and one chose to abstain.  

Nisar will continue onto her second term with big goals.  

“My goal is to make GSS even more visible through meaningful collaborations across campus,” she said. “I also want to focus on expanding and refining funding opportunities that better support graduate students’ research output and professional development. Strengthening those systems is a priority for the coming year.”

Bailey Thomas is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].