Meet MUSSA!

EXECUTIVE COUNCIL 

​PRESIDENT/
FACULTY COUNCIL REP​/SECOND-YEAR REP

Melissa Mertsis

Melissa is a second-year Master of Museum Studies student, with a Bachelor of Science in Anthropology from Trent University. Melissa has an interest in children’s programming, and wants to work with kids to prove that science and education are cool! Melissa volunteers at the Royal Ontario Museum in the Discovery Gallery, where her favourite activity is the Dinosaur Dig (did you know the Argentinosaurus was the biggest dinosaur in the world?)

​Melissa served last term as the Social Media Manager, and gained lots of valuable insight into what students like to see on Instagram (hint: it’s memes). In her spare time, Melissa loves to explore, drink good coffee, and thrift shop, as well as other grandma-inspired activities like knitting and embroidery. As President, Melissa wants to make Museum Studies students feel heard and represented. Communication, collaboration, and community-building are Melissa’s goals for this year’s council, and she can’t wait to see what’s in store! 

VICE PRESIDENT/
​CRO/UTGSU REP/FACULTY COUNCIL REP

Jordan Vetter

Jordan is a second year MMSt student and served as MUSSA's Treasurer in her first year. Prior to coming to the iSchool, Jordan received a Bachelor of Environmental Studies in International Development and a Minor in French from the University of Waterloo. After an overseas placement, she started her career working for an international development charity based in Toronto, where she worked with events, volunteers, communications and fundraising. Passionate about stakeholder experiences, Jordan is keen to create meaningful engagement for visitors in museums. Outside of school and work, Jordan loves to travel, pursue photography and visual arts, play the ukulele and sing in a choir. She is excited to use her passion for the program, and organization and communication skills to contribute to MUSSA as VP!

SECRETARY

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Cassidy Latimer

Cassidy is a first-year Master of Museum Studies student. Before joining the U of T gang, she attended Wilfrid Laurier University, and has a Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in honours history and archaeology. Her special interests were in Greco-Roman art history, and feminist archaeology. In the summer of 2019, she completed her field school at the Town of Nebo archaeological site in Jordan. She is currently working at a museum and library in her local township. When she's not doing school or working, she spends her free time travelling, cuddling her dog, doing yoga, binge watching Marvel movies, trying to find new shawarma places, and reading anything she can get her hands on.

TREASURER
​

Jessica Parsons

Jessica is a first-year Master of Museum Studies Student. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in History with a minor in Canadian Studies from Trent University. After graduating in 2019, Jessica took on an internship at the Canadian War Museum as well as a volunteer position at the Nepean Museum in Ottawa where she worked with collections. Jessica is fascinated by the idea of collective memory and the politics of commemoration and would love to pursue a career in collections management. Outside of school, Jessica works for the non-profit Dragon Boat Foundation as an event assistant and a social media assistant. In her spare time, Jessica loves to play golf, go thrifting, and explore new places in Toronto. She is very excited to be working with MUSSA this year!

SOCIAL CHAIR
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Chantelle Perreault

SOCIAL ASSISTANT
​

Natalie Scola

SOCIAL MEDIA
​MANAGER

Hanna Schacter

Hannah is a second-year Master of Museum Studies student. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History from Queen's University. After graduating from Queen's in 2018, Hanna worked for the charitable organization Kids Up Front Toronto, where she got to help improve access to cultural and sporting events in Toronto for children and youth 18 and under. When not in the Inforum or iSchool student lounge, Hanna can be found doing yoga, hanging with her dogs or eating dumplings!

SOCIAL MEDIA
​ASSISTANT

Sarah Cavaliere

​Sarah is a first-year Master of Museum Studies student. Before coming to the iSchool, Sarah completed her undergrad at the University of Toronto. She has a Bachelor of Arts in French Linguistics and Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations, with a focus on Egyptology. Because of her studies in Egyptology, her favourite part of any museum is the Ancient Egyptian gallery! Sarah volunteers at the Royal Ontario Museum’s Hands-On Biodiversity Gallery. She loves to talk to people about the bees that live in the gallery’s live beehive. While she loves living in the heart of the city, one of Sarah’s dreams is to be a beekeeper someday. Outside of school, Sarah works as a Commuter Don at Victoria College, one of U of T's seven colleges. When she isn’t in class or at work, Sarah spends her free time reading (and she’s always looking for new recommendations!), hanging out with her cat, Leo, or making graphics on Canva.

FIRST-YEAR
​REPRESENTATIVE

Annabelle Kolomeisky

Annabelle is a first-year Master of Museum Studies student. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in History and a double minor in Renaissance Studies and Material Culture. In addition to her enthusiasm for museums and history, Annabelle is very passionate about Jewish studies and hopes to incorporate her passions into her work one day to develop a broader understanding of Jewish history and culture!  
 
When she isn’t on Zoom calls, Annabelle is either teaching her youth Karate classes, playing with her dog, Kai, or enjoying a theatre show (but not all at the same time)! Annabelle is very excited to be your First-Year Representative this year and is looking forward to representing the first-year students of 2020! 

MISC-MUSSA ​LIAISON

Sara Fontes

Sara is a second-year Combined Degree Program (CDP) student concentrating in User Experience Design and Museum Studies. She has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Waterloo in Classical Studies. She joins MUSSA in 2020 to help engage with iSchool students and represent CDP students. Academically she is interested in museums, user experience/service design in museums, digital preservation and VR/AR capabilities in museums. She is grateful to be awarded a CGS-M SSHRC award for the 2020/21 academic year.

A fun fact about her is that she can speak three languages and read and write eight! Her interests are swimming, soccer, cats and food. She spends time in the Inforum so feel free to strike up a conversation about food or cats at any time.

MUSINGS ​

MUSINGS
​ADMINISTRATIVE EDITOR

Jaime Meier

Jaime is a second year MMSt student at the University of Toronto. Originally from Treaty 6, more specifically Saskatoon, Jaime completed her Bachelor of Arts (double honours) in History and Art History. Her museological interests include breaking down the formal atmosphere of art institutions to create welcoming and accessible environments. Jaime also aims to use her position in museums to critically recognize intercultural narratives and Indigenize institutions. Outside of school, Jaime enjoys being with her friends, checking out new restaurants, and taking care of her plant children.

MUSINGS
​COPY EDITOR​

Erika Serodio

Erika grew up in fields of flowers. Fast forward ten years and she is handing a professor a bouquet in place of an essay. She likes to communicate visually and in other languages like French and Spanish. Erika is currently in her second year of the Master of Museum Studies program. Before that, she studied ethnography and comparative literature at Quest University in British Columbia. She is interested in outdoor exhibitions and alternative museum spaces. Erika is a reluctant rock climber. She enjoys eavesdropping in coffee shops. She thrives in the depths of jumbled word documents. Her favourite YouTube celebrity is a copy editor known as the Comma Queen. As the Musings Copy Editor, she aims to facilitate excellent writing that connects our program with the museum field beyond it.

MUSINGS COMMUNICATION OFFICER

Jefimija "Mia" Vujcic

Jefimija “Mia” Vujcic is a first year MMSt student. Mia just completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto with a double major in socio-cultural anthropology and history, along with a French minor. Her museum interests are broadly in exhibitions, research, and interpretation. She is especially interested in memory studies, global heritage, and diaspora communities – and is looking to continue to research along those lines through the thesis option.
 
For the past few years, Mia has worked in her local community museum, researching and designing an upcoming exhibit on oral history and immigration. She has also spent a fair bit of time there dressed in Victorian costume! When not in museums, she is likely to be reading (aka admiring the books on her precariously overcrowded bookshelves), learning languages, or writing creatively. She is also a firm believer that any of the above can be improved with an iced coffee at hand.

COMMITTEE REPRESENTATIVES

SECOND-YEAR TECH FUND REPRESENTATIVE

Magali Delgado

​I majored in Mechatronics Engineering at the National Autonomous University of Mexico
(UNAM). After graduating, I started working as a Field Engineer for the Oil & Gas industry.
After 8 years of professional development, I became the Country Operations Manager for
the Mexican branch of a down-hole technology manufacturer.
 
I had the opportunity to travel around the world and meet people from different
backgrounds. Those opportunities encouraged me to drastically change my professional
career and look for a more meaningful path. Therefore, in September 2019 I joined the
Master of Museum Studies at the University of Toronto where I am currently getting the
necessary skills to be a museum professional.
 
My professional career was always focused on meeting customer expectations and
providing quality services. As a museum professional I want to continue with that focus and propose innovative exhibitions that are user-centered and that engage the community.

FIRST-YEAR TECH FUND REPRESENTATIVE

Jingshu Helen Yao

Jingshu Helen Yao is a first-year MMSt student with a collaborative specialization in Food Studies. She believes that museums can utilize the food to document different cultures and their heritage. Interested in museum education and programming, she plans to design an exhibition project about Ojibwe wild rice cookbook. Jingshu conducted her undergraduate degree in Linguistics, translation, and creative writing. Her international study experience inspired her to explore multicultural themes in her writings. She is currently a staff writer at The Underground magazine, and she is also a contributor to Musings.

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION REPRESENTATIVE

Chantelle Perreault

ADMISSIONS COMMITTEE REPRESENTATIVE

Natalie Scola

PROGRAMS COMMITTEE REPRESENTATIVE

Christina Ugge

Christina is a second-year Master of Museum Studies student. She has an undergrad in fine arts and French literature from McMaster University. Her artistic practice consists of paintings and mid-scale installation works that explore social norms and femininity (you can check out some of her pieces @christina.ugge.art). When not making, you can find her writing about conscious style (hint: thrifting is the most sustainable option!) and capsule wardrobes over on her blog, The Considerate Closet. She loves trying new coffee shops and exploring art galleries, and is excited to take on this new position as Programs Committee Representative.

COMMITTEE ON STANDING REPRESENTATIVE

Louisa Simmons

Louisa is a first year Master of Museum Studies student with a collaborative specialization in Book History and Print Culture. She also holds a Bachelor of Journalism degree from Carleton University and a Master of Arts degree from Queen’s University. Louisa discovered a love for museums and heritage spaces after working at Canada’s two First World War memorials on the Western Front. She has a special interest in interpretative programming and hopes to work in museum education after graduation. 
 
In her spare time, Louisa likes to weave on a loom (that she built herself!), discover new coffee shops, and read mediocre mystery novels. In addition to MUSSA, Louisa currently sits on the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario NextGen Executive Board. She looks forward to advocating for students in her role as Committee on Standing Representative for MUSSA!
Position descriptions can be found in MUSSA's Constitution.

View past MUSSA Council members here.
Faculty of Information,
University of Toronto
BL 624
140 St. George St
Toronto, ON M5S 3G6
CONNECT WITH US
mussa.ischool@gmail.com
@mussauoft
MUSSA acknowledges the past and ongoing role of museums in colonialism and are committed to overcoming and reforming oppressive practices within the iSchool and larger museum community. MUSSA operates on the traditional lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit, Wendat peoples, Haudenosaunee, and Anishinaabe. We are thankful to be situated on Turtle Island and for the opportunity to learn and work on the land.
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MUSSA is a student association of the University of Toronto and as such is committed to the university’s goals of equity, human rights, and respect for diversity. All members of the learning environment should strive to create an atmosphere of mutual respect where all members of our community can express themselves, engage with one another, and respect one another’s differences. The University of Toronto does not condone discrimination, violence or harassment against any persons or communities. As University of Toronto students, MUSSA members are bound by the University of Toronto’s Code of Student Conduct and are expected to act in a manner that is appropriate and respectful while fulfilling their role on MUSSA.
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