Gee, Wiseman Elected to Lead Harvard Graduate Council for 2026–27

The Harvard Graduate Council elected Michael Gee and Robyn L. Wiseman as president and vice president for the 2026-27 academic year on Monday.

Gee, a doctoral student in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, currently serves as the council’s chair of operations and previously represented SEAS on the body. Wiseman, a student at Harvard Medical School, also served as a school representative this year.

Three candidates — Gee, Wiseman, and Extension School student Juan O. Pastrana Martinez — competed for the top roles, marking the council’s first contested election in two years.

As president and vice president, Gee and Wiseman will lead the student government representing Harvard’s 12 graduate and professional schools, serving as the primary voice for graduate students in conversations with University administrators.

Wiseman said the council aims to strengthen its relationships with administrators by better supporting student representatives.

“I think that will help a lot, because they are obviously the people on the ground, and they know their administrators,” Wiseman said.

She added that increasing the council’s visibility is also a priority, noting that many graduate students are not aware of its existence.

Candidates each delivered three-minute speeches to their peers before leaving the room for a vote. While each school has multiple representatives on the council, it casts a single vote in the election.

In interviews with The Crimson, Gee and Wiseman emphasized the council’s role in connecting students across schools, particularly by supporting student organizations and expanding access to extracurricular opportunities.

“A lot of schools don’t have student organizations outside of maybe just the pure academic ones,” Gee said.

HGC hopes to make events more affordable for students and maximize their budget to accommodate new projects, Wiseman said.

One proposal under consideration would expand food pantries to all 12 graduate schools, part of an effort to deliver “more meaningful change for students,” Wiseman said. Currently, the Graduate School of Education and the Divinity School operate food pantries.

But as the University looks to cut costs across graduate schools — including reducing graduate student admissions and pausing spending on non-essential capital projects for the fiscal year — Wiseman said the HGC would prioritize “being really fiscally responsible.”

The council receives funding from the Provost’s office and raises additional revenue through event fees and smaller fundraising efforts. Despite financial pressures, maintaining programming will remain a priority, Gee said.

“We’re trying to figure out how we can get people engaged without having to take budget out of other areas,” Gee said.

Spanning both the Cambridge and Longwood campuses, the council plays a key role in bridging divides across Harvard’s graduate schools.

Wiseman said that as a first-year medical student based in Longwood, she initially felt “disconnected from the rest of the Harvard community” before joining the council.

“Graduate Council has really meant a lot to me this year, because it’s made me feel a lot more connected to the community,” she added.

Looking ahead, Gee and Wiseman said they hope to deepen engagement across the University.

“I think it’s just a really magical kind of place and community that we have within the council,” Gee said. “We’re going to try and spread that magic to the rest of the Harvard graduate community.”

—Staff writer Megan L. Blonigen can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X at @MeganBlonigen.

—Staff writer Andrew Park can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on X @AndrewParkNews.