Senate Executive Committee
President
Robin Hershkowitz, American Culture Studies
Robin is a second-year Ph.D. student in American Culture Studies and a graduate of the BGSU Masters of Popular Culture Program. Her research interests are postfeminism, camp & kitsch, and sitcoms. Prior to BGSU, Robin worked in higher education administration at the University of California, Berkeley.
Vice President
Ashley Hendricks,Media & Communication
Ashley Hendricks is no stranger to BGSU. As a proud Falcon alumna, Ashley has returned to BGSU for her MA in the School of Media and Communication. She is currently the assistant coach for the Forensics Speech and Debate Team, who has received National and State recognition for excellence in public speaking, performance and debate competitions. Her goals are to work in Higher Education as a Forensics coach for a college or University in Ohio. Outside of academia, she enjoys travelling, hanging out with friends and enjoys exploring local restaurants in BG.
Academic Affairs Representative
Lauren Dial, Psychology
Lauren Dial is a 4th year doctoral student in the Developmental Psychology program studying children's conceptualization of health, specifically in terms of food.
Student Affairs Representative
Jessica Puder, English
Jessica a second year MA student in the English department with a specialization in Literary and Textual Studies. Her research interests vary, but have recently focused on discipline and punish through the eyes of Foucault as well as prison education. As Student Affairs Representative, she hopes to advocate for all graduate student needs and intends to be an active voice and ally for graduate students.
Treasurer
Ivan Johnson, World Languages & English
Ivan was born and raised in Moscow, Russia and now calls Grand Rapids, Michigan home. He graduated from Grand Valley State University in 2014 with a BA in Spanish Language and Literature with a minor in Chinese and a BBA in International Bissiness and Marketing. After schoo,l he worked for a midsize industrial parts company and took them global while acting as their International Account Manager. He did not feel fulfilled, and after teaching English in the favelas of Rio during the 2016 Olympics, he decided to go back to school. Now he is a Dual Masters student at BG in the English and Spanish departments.
Secretary
Brian Timm, Sociology
Brian is currently in his 4th year at BGSU in the Sociology Department. He is also involved in the Sociology Graduate Student Association and sits as the Graduate Student Representative on the Institutional Review Board (IRB).
Representative-at-Large
Cheyanne Jeffries, American Culture Studies
Cheyanne Jeffries is in her second year of the American Culture Studies program at BGSU. She has worked primarily in non profit administration and education and has served on several committees and councils in addition to Graduate Student Senate.
Professional Development of Graduate Students Chair
Ashley Justice, Cross-Cultural & International Education
Ashley is originally from Kansas, which is where she obtained a Bachelor's of Science in Elementary Education in 2014. After graduating, she spent two years in the U.S. Peace Corps as an education volunteer in West Africa and then one academic year teaching spoken English in a rural community in the People's Republic of China. In the summer of 2018, she returned to the U.S. and began graduate school in the MA in Cross-Cultural and International Education here at BGSU. She enjous studying education development and multiculturalism. Her future professional goals include continuing to travel and writing, developing and implementing curriculum and training for teacher professional development and multiculturalism in all levels of education. On a personal level, she likes to read, write, travel and spend time with good friends.
International Graduate Student Affairs Chair
Sajjad Afroosheh, Chemisty
Sajjad is originally from Iran and he is in the last year of Ph.D. in Chemistry at Center for Photochemical Sciences. Sajjad is a computational chemist and his research focus is to understand the molecules behaviors from the heterogeneous organic-inorganic interface. On his free time, he likes camping, hiking, and hanging out with friends.
Multicultural/Accessibility Graduate Student Affairs Chair
Sima Sharghi, Mathematics & Statistics
Sima Sharghi finished a Master of Applied Statistics in College of Business at BGSU in 2016. She currently is in the last year of PhD in statistics in Math & Stat Department at BGSU. She has worked in the offices of Undergraduate Education and Academic Advising for the last three years, taken the role of a data scientist to help make decision through data. Over the last 5 years, she has taught several Math and Stat Courses at Math and Stat Department.
Environmental Affairs Chair
Bernadette Bowen, Media & Communication
Bernadette Bowen has a bachelors in sociology, a masters in communication, and has been teaching public speaking since 2015. In 2014 she was affiliated with the Purdue Northwest environmental club and attended the Greenpeace leadership summit in Virginia. A month later she attended the People's Climate March in New York and spearhead the Northwest Indiana chapter of Greenpeace's Act for Arctic campaign.
Online Graduate Student Affairs Chair
Julia Ringma, Philosophy
Julia grew up as a Canadian military brat and this nomadic start to life has informed her identity as well as how she views other people in the world. She went to 9 different schools in 3 different countries, including 3 different high schools in 4 years, graduating from an American high school in Belgium. In spite of finding university difficult, she loved being in school and she has always been trying to get back to school. She has a BA in art history and a JD from Queen's University in Kingston. She practised law for a number of years and then went to LSE to get her masters of law degree. After that she worked in Parliament for politicians, then taught law at a community college and then determined she wanted to go back to school again, so she obtained an MA in philosophy at Carleton University in Ottawa. Now she is rounding out my collection with a PhD in philosophy here at BGSU.
Board of Trustees Graduate Representative
Leah Fishman, College Student Personnel
Leah Fishman is a student in the College Student Personnel (CSP) program here at BGSU. Prior to working on her masters degree, she spent four years teaching high school special education in Connersville, IN, where she also coached Varsity Women’s Soccer and Varsity Men’s and Women’s Swimming. She graduated from Indiana University, Bloomington in 2014 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Education, with concentration areas in secondary special education, and science education. Leah was born and raised in Farmingdale, New York, about an hour east of New York City. In addition to her role as the Graduate Student Representative on the Board of Trustees, she is an Academic Advisor in the College of Education and Human Development working with students in the TLEP and THEM majors, as well as the Vice President of Technology in the Student Development Association (SDA). In her free time, Leah loves to travel, particularly to Disney World, go to concerts and sporting events, and spend time with the friends she has made in her cohort.