Grad Student Leaders Featured as They Make Advocacy a Part of Their Education

The presidencies of UC Davis student governments and hired advisors to the chancellor and the dean of Graduate Studies are among the most high-profile student positions on campus. Among the five featured who’ve taken on the roles this year, two are graduate students.

Luna Loganayagam (Gregory Urquiaga/UC Davis)

Luna Loganayagam

President, Graduate Student Association

Luna Loganayagam, a fourth-year doctoral student in English, leads the Graduate Student Association, representing about 5,000 graduate academic and professional students.

Her priorities include increasing programming for historically marginalized and underrepresented student groups; advocating for students experiencing discrimination; addressing health care concerns; and providing social programming and financial resources for student parents.

Loganayagam is currently raising awareness of increased graduate student needs around research and travel funding, food equity through the association’s pantry, and safe community spaces.

She said she expects to formally summit for May’s election two referenda to incrementally increase fees that support those projects and to gain fare-free access to Unitrans for graduate and professional students.

Loganayagam got involved with student government as the representative of the Graduate Scholars of Color+, a registered student organization, to the association and then as vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion for the association. As president, she has formally established the association’s new community engagement unit under the new name of the Scholars of Color Alliance.

The association plays an important role in helping graduate students feel seen and heard and find community, Loganayagam said. “Our campus is so huge it can be difficult to find your people and ask them to advocate for you,” she added. “Our goal is to have literacy around the institutional makings of UCD and render them visible for our peers.”

Logagnayagam holds two degrees in English, an undergraduate degree from California State Polytechnic University in Humboldt, California, and a master’s degree from Portland State University in Oregon. She also has a certificate in teaching English to speakers of other languages.

This fall, Loganayagam plans to take the qualifying exam that will launch her into her doctoral thesis on games, rituals and the occult as a conceptual worldbuilding engine.

Denise Yamhure Ramirez (Gregory Urquiaga/UC Davis)

Denise Yamhure Ramirez

Graduate Student Advisor to the Dean of Graduate Studies and Chancellor

Denise Yamhure Ramirez is busy as a bee as graduate student advisor to Jean-Pierre Delplanque, vice provost and dean of Graduate Studies, and Chancellor Gary S. May. But you could say that’s almost second nature for her.

You see, the doctoral student of population biology studies how differences in the brains of male and female orchid bees — known as the “jewels of the rainforest” for their brilliant metallic colors — explain their behavior.

Yamhure Ramirez, an international student from Colombia, came to UC Davis to pursue her doctoral degree with Santiago Ramirez, a professor of evolution and ecology. Ramirez earned his bachelor’s degree in biology about 25 years ago from the same school where Yamhure Ramirez received hers: Universidad de los Andes in Bogota, Colombia.

“There are certain cultural connections that support me as an international Ph.D. student,” she said.

Yamhure Ramirez said she is eager not only to serve graduate students and act as a liaison with administration, but also to use the opportunity for her own professional development. “I want to expand my skills with a new challenge.”

In a self-selected project that is part of the job, Yamhure Ramirez plans to identify and implement ways to help graduate students expand their project management skills to become betters prepared and more competitive in the job market — from academia to industry, and nonprofits to startups. She is considering using workshops focused on a cohort of students or even a course.

Yamhure Ramirez said she is pursuing a career in which she can support university research and education by putting her energy into the people, not the system. She earned a master’s degree in population biology from UC Davis in 2022 and anticipates completing her doctoral degree in 2027.