Salimatou Doumbouya
Chairperson
As the 37th Chairperson of the University Student Senate and Student Trustee of the City University of New York, Salimatou Doumbouya is a first-generation college student. She wasborn and raised in West Africa, Guinea. Doumbouya is fluent in the languages of French,English and her native languages. Doumbouya was drawn to CUNY because of its rich diversity and comprehensive service to New Yorkers of all backgrounds .Doumbouya is dedicated to ensuring that students have an active role in university governance and is committed to improving the quality of public higher education through advocacy efforts at the university, city, and state levels. Doumbouya, as an international student, first graduated with an associate's in Liberal Arts fromthe Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC), where she began her leadership journey as a student volunteer in the student government.In 2019 Doumbouya became an inducted member and executive board member of the National Society of leadership and success. She was also a mentor for two years, teaching her how to interact with people and serve them one-on-one. Later, Salimatou becomes a senator in the BMCC Student Government and is currently serving as the City Tech Student Government Association president.Upon graduating from BMCC, Doumbouya enrolled at New York City College of Technology(City Tech) and is currently an upper senior studying Architecture. At City Tech, she became a senator at large for the school of Technology and Design and then Vice President for External Affairs (VPEA). As VPEA, she connected City Tech students with other CUNY campuses, including the University Student Senate and collaborated and advocated for more funding for public higher education. In 2018 Doumbouya founded Building a Brighter African Diaspora (BBAD), an organization that provides training in research, entrepreneurship, and project management to students who aim to realize projects in African countries and reunite people of African descent through afro-centered workshops. She has been leading BBAD ever since.
Cory Provost
Vice Chair for Legislative Affairs
Cory Provost B.A., M.A., is currently the Vice Chairperson of Legislative Affairs of the University Student Senate (USS) and will serve as interim USS Chairperson. In this role he will represent more than 500,000 full and part-time CUNY students in New York State and will serve as the only student member of the City University of New York Board of Trustees.Mr. Provost is a third-year law student attending the City University of New York School of Law. Previously, from 2009-2011, Mr. Provost served as Chairperson of USS and as a Trustee for CUNY. During his tenure Mr. Provost fought on behalf of the students of CUNY and advocated for the advancement and affordability of higher education at local, state, and federal levels. Since leaving CUNY in 2011 Mr. Provost has worked in government, politics and the non-profit sector. Most notably, Mr. Provost has served as a Democratic Presidential Delegate for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Currently, Mr. Provost serves as the Democratic State Committee Member and District Leader of New York State’s 58th Assembly District and as a member of the Executive Committee to the Kings County Democratic Party.On his local campus, Mr. Provost currently serves as the Co-President of the Student Government Association working with students and administration to improve professional development opportunities and resources for the student body. Additionally, Mr. Provost serves as the Director of Alumni Relations for the Northeast Black Law Student Association, as well as the campus chapter of the Black Law Student Association at CUNY School of Law. Mr. Provost received his B.A. in Philosophy and M.A. in Urban Policy and Administration from Brooklyn College. Mr. Provost currently resides in Brooklyn with his partner and their two children, Eva and Cory Jr.
Vice Chair for Senior Colleges Affairs
Tzvia Waronker
Tzvia Waronker is a self proclaimed city girl who also struggles with wanting to live on a farm. She loves all forms of art and expressing herself creatively. Beyond that, she is a class Representative, the Vice Chair for Senior Colleges, an honors student and Peer Mentor, and the Web Editor for the John Jay Sentinel. She is majoring in Forensic Psychology and minoring in Digital Media and Journalism. Like the John Jay motto, she is a fierce advocate for justice and hopes to work in reforming the prison system for the incarcerated and the impacted victims.
Muslimah Abdul Muntaqim
Vice Chair for Evening & Part-Time Affairs
Muslimah Abdul - Muntaqim was born to a working class family in Brooklyn, New York. She is a second generation CUNY student, and is currently an Upper Senior attending Queens College. She is a pre-law student that is majoring in Political Science and minoring in Urban Studies. She has always felt compelled to advocate and help marginalized individuals; identify themselves within society. During her junior year at Queens College she interned for Senator Julia Salazar’s. As an intern, she helped bring recognition, and to confront the disparities in the black and brown communities of North and Central Brooklyn, as well as advocating for women’s equality. After her internship Muslimah was encouraged by her peers to join her Student Association at Queens College, which led her to become an undergraduate delegate for the University Student Senate and eventually becoming the Vice - chair for evening and part- time students. As a USS delegate and Vice chair, Muslimah plans to: continue advocating for free CUNY tuition and additional classes in the evening,terminating the marginalization of evening and part time students, ensuring that evening and part time students have access to life counselors and administration is accessible.
Zhuo "Joe" Yin
Vice Chair for International Student Affairs
I am Zhuo (Joe) Yin who is a CUNY Graduate Center physics doctoral and international student from China. As doctoral students and CUNY adjunct lecturer, I interacted with many CUNY undergraduate, master students, and doctoral students and understood the issues affecting these student groups. As Vice Chair for International Student Affair, I am looking forward to advocating for CUNY international students. I want to make sure that CUNY international offices across campus not only act as a compliance office, but also serve as a supporting office.
Saaif Alam
Vice Chair for Disability Affairs
Meet Saaif Alam, who is pursuing a Masters in Criminal Justice. He served in USS for the last two years who is passionate about disability advocacy. As Vice Chair of Disability Affairs, he is passionate about bringing representation of 11,000 students with disabilities across CUNY. He aims to continue to bridging the gap between USS and CUNY Coalition for Students with Disabilities (CCSD) to ensure students with disabilities receives the best experience transitioning in person classes. If anyone has any questions or concerns, he is willing to listen and take action to ensure students get the representation they deserve for the 2021-2022 academic year.
Jonathan Hanon
Vice Chair for Technology Fee Affairs
I am a Computer Science PhD student at the CUNY Graduate Center and an Adjunct Lecturer in Computer Science at John Jay. The reason I initially joined USS was because as a student with mobility and digestive disabilities myself, having struggled through my own studies due to a lack of proper understanding from many different administrators at CUNY, and a discouragement from my professors from proper accommodations, I saw so much more that could be done with regards to advocacy for our disabled students. I was brought to USS by Sara Ortiz, our previous Vice Chair for Graduate Affairs, who brought me on to the Academic Affairs Committee as its committee Vice Chair to assist with writing and passing a P/NC resolution, which although the Board of Trustees did not accept, was a display of the discontent of the student body, as well as of our willingness to compromise for the good of our students. I was also brought on as a Co-Chair of the Mental Health Committee, to formulate an agenda for the 2021-22 academic year, and to expand the purview of USS disability initiatives. My hope as Vice Chair for Technology Affairs is to bring this advocacy to disability initiatives such as Assistive Technology, and to discuss with CUNY administration how much money they are hemorrhaging on various technologies for which there are solutions which will not cost the University tens of millions of dollars per year - money which can be used to actually further the education of our students by upgrading technology which desperately needs to be upgraded, rather than that which is being done inefficiently.
Oumou Sylla
Vice Chair for Fiscal Affairs
I am Oumou Sylla. I go to York College (Queens). I came to America from Mali in the hope to get a good education. With help of my family and my educators, I was able to gain knowledge and further my passion for education. I joined student government and USS, in order to support and serve CUNY students and the York College community. I was selected by plenary members for vice-chair of fiscal affairs. With opportunity comes great responsibility. As a student, I joined the National Society of Leadership. The leadership program taught me the principles of leadership and personal development. With USS I will grow more as a leader, person and be able to network with others.
Elizabeth Asemota
Vice Chair for Community College Affairs
My name is Elizabeth Asemota, I am a first generation public Health student at CUNY Bronx Community college. I serve as the President of the BCC student government association and the Vice-chair of community college affairs on the CUNY University Student Senate. I believe that community colleges are the unsung heroes of tertiary education and I aim to continue to promote us in such light. My goal is to continue to advocate for our community colleges and it’s students by brainstorming on ways to address their needs. In my leadership, I have been a spearhead and a part of various initiatives that aligns with my goals including facilitating a campaign to break the stigma against community colleges and inform prospective and current students. As a student, I also intern with the healthy CUNY food security program by working with partners inside and outside of CUNY to promote well-being and a culture of health in order to foster the academic and life success of our students. Through this program, I work to provide and advocate for more food and health resources for our students.“