The winners of the presidential and vice presidential elections of the Graduate and Professional Student Council were announced Tuesday, although representative winners have yet to be named.
Zachary Brooks, current GPSC president, was elected for his second term as president, and Iman Daryaei, a current at-large representative, was elected as vice president. Both Brooks and Daryaei ran unopposed, with Brooks receiving 269 votes and Daryaei receiving 270.
Although the winners for president and vice president have been announced, the school and at-large representative election results have not been finalized at this point, according to Heath Vescovi-Chiordi, GPSC elections director. This is because individuals who ran for more than one position now have to decide which position they want to accept. The candidates have until Friday to decide, and the results will be posted on the GPSC website when the representative positions are finalized.
The polls closed on Friday night, but results for the election were unavailable due to some candidates running for more than one position. The online voting system reported more than one number for those individuals; However, it did not say which number was for which position, Vescovi-Chiordi said. Despite these complications, Vescovi-Chiordi said there were no issues with the overall process.
GPSC aims to increase the amount of marketing for future elections and get the information out to potential candidates earlier so there will be more competition, Vescovi-Chiordi said.
“It [the GPSC elections process this year] went really, really well,” Vescovi-Chiordi said, “and I am excited to do it again next year, too.”
Coming into his second term as GPSC president, Zachary Brooks said he has three main goals.
Brooks’ first goal is to reach 10 percent more graduate students here at the UA. His second is to build up the research grant program. His third is to secure a pay increase for graduate and professional students at the university.
“They [graduate student employees] have been asked to do more with less for, like, seven years,” Brooks said. “They haven’t gotten any pay raises in forever, so we really want to see more investments are made into them — in terms of income, in terms of better healthcare, better benefits, whatever it is.”
As for the new vice president, Daryaei said that as an at-large representative this year, he got a better understanding of how the system works both within GPSC and beyond. He said his goal for next year is to get more graduate and professional students involved with GPSC.
Both the president and vice president, along with the representatives, will be sworn into office at the next GPSC general assembly meeting, on April 16.
The elections for the chair positions on the council will be held during the second general assembly meeting following the elections, according to the elections director. Potential chair candidates can nominate themselves or be nominated by others. The decision on chair positions will also be finalized at the meeting.
There will be special elections for unfilled positions in September, Vescovi-Chiordi said. The exact dates for the elections are unknown at this point, but he said he will be working on it this summer.
“I think GPSC is in a really good place, and I am very happy to be a part of it and I am very excited to work with lots of other good people coming in,” Brooks said. “I am just looking forward to another great year at GPSC.”
