Meet the Leadership

Officers, 2021-2022

Maria del Mar Galindo, Chair

Maria del Mar (she/her/hers) is a 5th-year PhD candidate in Yale’s English Department. This is her fifth year serving as a GSA representative and her first serving as Chair. She has previously served as Vice-Chair, Secretary, and Chair of the Service Committee. Maria’s research is on Early Modern English individuals who were teaching, writing, or learning at the margins of established scholarly and publication communities, and on what they can teach us about serving underrepresented students in higher education today.

This year, Maria del Mar will continue working on the GSA’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives. Through her work with the GSA, she wants to provide graduate students with as many resources, information, and support as possible to help them construct lives that allow them to pursue their work and the many things that fulfill them beyond that work. She’s invested in opening more avenues for graduate students to form and deepen relationships with their advisers, with university leadership, with fellow graduate and professional students, and with the wider New Haven community.

Da’Von Boyd, Vice Chair

Da’Von is a fifth year Ph.D. candidate in the Departments of African American Studies and Political Science. Da’Von’s dissertation examines the influence of Black religious traditions in shaping the political and ethical architectures of organizations in the Black Freedom Struggle in the mid-twentieth century. This is Da’Von’s fourth year in the GSA as one of the Political Science representatives  and he currently serves as Vice Chair of the assembly. Prior to his election as Vice Chair, Da’Von previously served the GSA as a member of the Steering Committee and, more recently, Secretary. As Vice Chair, Da’Von hopes to help represent graduate students’ interests by making audible the untold narratives of graduate student life, ensuring that graduate students are key contributors in the university’s decision making, and increasing the assembly’s engagement as partners with the New Haven community.

Karina López, Secretary

Karina is a fifth- year PhD in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. This is her second year as a representative and her first serving as Secretary. Her research focuses on anti-slavery works written by people of color in Cuba and Brazil during the late nineteenth century. Through her work with the GSA, she hopes to continue to support graduate students as they navigate the uncertainty brought upon by the pandemic. She is deeply interested in helping her fellow graduate students develop their skills and best utilize the resources available to them at Yale so as to prepare them for work opportunities beyond their time here, whether they be academic or professional
 

Jo Machesky, Treasurer

Jo is a fourth year PhD candidate in Environmental Engineering. This is her fourth year in the GSA and her first year as the treasurer after serving as the CTF director for two terms. Her research focuses on identifying and understanding non-traditional sources of air pollution in urban areas. Before Yale, Jo received a degree in Environmental Engineering and Integrated Science from Northwestern University. Through her position in the GSA, Jo is excited to work with GSA representatives and GSAS to ensure that GSA is helping advocate and support graduate students in all divisions.  
 

Committee Chairs, 2021-2022

Zheng Wei, Academics and Professional Development Committee Chair

Zheng is a fifth-year PhD candidate in the Immunobiology Department. This is his first year as a GSA representative and his first serving as the Academic & Professional Development Chair. His research is on the immunometabolism mechanisms regulating inflammatory responses and antibacterial activities in immune cells, especially myeloid cells. This year, Zheng will work on assessing and improving academic life and professional training for graduate students at Yale. Through his work with the GSA, he wants to establish and revive more career and networking programs, work on the department-specific advising guidelines that are being developed by different units across GSAS, and help GSAS community with professional exploration and development of alternative careers to academia.

Alison Renna, Facilities and Healthcare Committee Chair

Alison is a fourth year PhD student studying Religion and Modernity and Science and Technology Studies. She will be the Facilities and Healthcare Chair for the GSA for 2021-2022. Please do not hesitate to reach out to her with questions and concerns about your living, working, and healthcare conditions at Yale–she and the rest of the GSA Facilities and Healthcare committee are here to advocate for you! When she’s not thinking about insurance policies, Alison researches the intellectual history of science and religion, with a special focus on the human body and planet in the history of ecology
 

April Pruitt, Service Committee Chair

April is a second-year PhD student in the Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program (INP), co-mentored by Ellen Hoffman and Kristen Brennand. She is interested in genetic risk of autism spectrum disorder, sex-specific differences in neurodevelopment, and rare copy number variant disorders that predispose individuals to developmental and psychiatric disorders. She is a Kavli Institute for Neuroscience Scholar and is in the Medical Research Scholars Program (MRSP). April obtained a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Biology with minors in Chemistry and Psychology from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

This is April’s first year as a GSA representative for the Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS). She is also the Service Committee Chair and is excited to partner with New Haven community organizations and other graduate school advocacy organizations.

Anne Taylor, Public Relations Committee Chair

Anne (she/her/hers) is a 5th-year PhD candidate in Yale’s Sociology Department. This is her second year serving as a GSA representative and her first serving as PR Committee Chair. Maria’s research is on charisma and community in culture, media, and religion. She is passionate about teaching and about telling stories. Before Yale, she received a BA in History from Gordon College (Wenham, MA) and a BA in Sociology from the University of Colorado Boulder. She has also worked for Apple, Bernie 2016, and Twitter.