Official Blog | UCGPC

Stephanie Valadez is a dual-national musician and scholar based in California and Mexico City. She is currently a PhD student in Ethnomusicology at UCLA, serves as the President of the Board of the University of California Graduate and Professional Student Council, and is the Executive Director of Xicameri Productions. She is a Marimba One Education Artist and maintains a private teaching studio. Valadez holds a Master of Arts in Music (Cross-Cultural Musicology) from the University of California, Santa Cruz and two Masters of Music degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in Music Composition and Music Performance: Marimba. In her spare time, she enjoys creating children’s books in Nahuatl for her two sons as part of her commitment to decolonial parenting practices.

Email Stephanie at president@ucgpc.org

Josiah Beharry is a Ph.D. student in Interdisciplinary Humanities at UC Merced, blending research, advocacy, and creativity into a career that refuses to be boxed in. His scholarly work lives at the intersection of education, trauma studies, gender, linguistics, and political science—driven by a radical belief that research should serve people, not just publications. An immigrant, a poet, and a stand-up comedian, Josiah’s journey is shaped as much by policy memos as it is by punchlines. He studies how systems fail students—and how communities rise anyway. His projects range from corpus linguistics studies on academic struggles and masculinity in higher ed to arts-based pedagogy programs that teach high schoolers to reclaim their narratives through comic books and Afrofuturism. Josiah serves on the multiple university-level committees. Whether training students to testify before the Regents or designing trauma-informed curriculum, he brings the same mission: to advocate, to innovate, and to create. At his core, Josiah believes that research is storytelling, leadership is healing, and that the classroom—no matter the form—can be a site of radical belonging.

Email Josiah at chair@ucgpc.org

Melanie Girod (she/her) is a second-year Master of Public Policy student at UC Berkeley and the Treasurer of UCGPC. She brings to UCGPC many years of private sector experience in finance and accounting. Originally from France and now based in the Bay Area, Melanie is dedicated to serving her community through public service and is a committed advocate for students and gender equity, both on and off campus.
As Treasurer, she is excited to support UCGPC’s mission through sound budgeting, responsible financial management, and efforts to increase funding. She is committed to ensuring that students are uplifted and centered in all key decisions.

Email Melanie at treasurer@ucgpc.org