2025-2026 Graduate Council Members
Student Affairs Committee
Chair: TBD
Co-chair: TBD
- Cydney Alexis - English
- Mekin Elcioglu* - Interior Architecture and Industrial Design
- Terry Felderhoff* - Agronomy
- Erika Geisbrecht - Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics
- Alexa Heseltine* - President-Elect, Graduate Student Council
- Tricia Jenkins - Applied and Interdisciplinary Sciences (K-State Olathe)
- Behrooz Mirafzal - Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Phillip Payne - Graduate School Associate Dean
- Valentina Trinetta* - Food, Nutrition, Dietetics, and Health
Committee on Planning
Chair: Jonathan Ulmer - Communications and Agricultural Education
Co-chair: Susan Yelich Biniecki - Educational Leadership
- Siny Joseph - Integrated Studies
- Jun Li - Chemistry
- Phillip Payne - Graduate School Associate Dean
- Claudia Petrescu - Graduate School Dean
- Daniel Rolles* - Physics
- Douglas Walker - Marketing
- Andrew Wefald* - Leadership Communications
Assessment and Review Committee
Chair: Umut Yucel - Food Science Institute
Co-chair: Adam Ahlers - Horticulture and Natural Resources
- Christy Craft - Special Education, Counseling, and Student Affairs
- Ursula Emery-McClure - Architectural Engineering and Construction Science
- Judy Gordon - Architecture
- Shabina Kavimandan - Curriculum and Instruction
- Phillip Payne - Graduate School Associate Dean
- Charles “Chip” Pickens - Psychological Sciences
- Aleksey Sheshukov - Biological and Agricultural Engineering
- Lydia Yang* - Special Education, Counseling, and Student Affairs
Academic Affairs Committee
Chair: Hulya Dogan - Grain Science and Industry
Co-chair: Bruce Schultz* - Anatomy and Physiology
- Torben Amtoft - Computer Science
- Marne Arthaud-Day - Management
- Aditya Jha - President, Graduate Student Council
- Travis Linnemann* - Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work
- T. G. Nagaraja* - Diagnostic Medicine Pathobiology
- Mervi Pakaste - Art
- Phillip Payne - Graduate School Associate Dean
- Susmita Rishi - Landscape Architecture and Regional & Community Planning
- Mingjun Wei - Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering
Academic Affairs and Innovation Representative
- Janice Nikkel
K-State Libraries Representative
- Laura Bonella
2026 Election Committee
- Adam Ahlers
- Cydney Alexis
- Marne Arthaud-Day
- Erika Geisbrecht
- Shabina Kavimandan
- Behrooz Mirafzal
- Mervi Pakaste
- Aleksey Sheshukov
- Jonathan Ulmer
- Susan Yelich Biniecki
* Indicates new Council member for 2025-2026 academic year
Council Representatives by Academic Area
The Graduate Faculty is organized into Academic Areas for the purposes of electing representatives to the Graduate Council. These Academic Areas, which form constituencies for representation to Graduate Council, ensure that educational and scholarly variety between disciplines is represented in all Graduate Council deliberations. The Graduate Faculty members also have membership in colleges.
