‘A Responsible Pair of Hands’: Canales, Alvarado Elected To Lead Harvard Graduate Council

The Harvard Graduate Council elected Harvard Extension School student Bradley Canales and Harvard Graduate School of Education student Cynthia J. Alvarado as president and vice president for the 2025-26 academic year.

Both students committed to strengthening social ties across schools as the HGC held its elections Monday evening. Canales, the current HGC vice president, will take his new seat after winning an uncontested race for the helm of the student government for Harvard’s 12 graduate and professional schools.

Each school was given a single vote, cast by a school representative via secret ballot at Monday’s HGC meeting. The Harvard Medical School and Dental School representatives were not present at the meeting and did not cast votes.

Prior to elections, candidates discussed their background, qualifications, and goals for the position in two-minute speeches.

Canales said his main goal is to maintain “momentum” built by HGC presidents from the past two years.

“I’ve seen the way that we come out of Covid,” he said. “And now it feels like we’re back, and we’re in a space where we can really advocate for cross campus activities.”

More specifically, Canales committed to widening the reach of HGC events in order to serve a larger population of graduate students. Events include the council’s annual masquerade ball celebrating the end of the academic year, as well as spring dinners designed to connect students both socially and professionally.

“The social connections that you make here are one of the most important aspects of getting an education,” he said. “That’s the way that we make progress in society.”

Beyond social events, Canales also hopes to start earlier in developing relationships with the administration, which he noted in his speech prior to voting.

“We should also continue to press for more from big Harvard, from the administration, and so don’t spend the year building up relationships with the deans and the provost office,” he said.

Alvarado, the current HGC chair of finance, won the race for the vice presidential position. In her speech prior to voting, she underlined her main priorities as increasing efficiency and inclusivity in HGC events.

“Efficiency is the main task that I take on this year, starting with HGC calendar to help us be intention with the inclusivity for all students,” she said.

The Harvard Graduate Council elected Graduate School of Education student Cynthia J. Alvarado as president for the 2025-26 academic year. Canales currently surves as the HGC's finance chair. By Briana Howard Pagán

As the current finance chair, Alvarado said she will continue to focus on proactive financial planning in her new role.

“I think it’s very important to have knowledge of how to work with our funding and how to save it, and how to make sure that we always have reserves so we’re not just spending,” she said. “We want to make sure that we have longevity in the long run.”

Dalton Fogarty, the current HGC president and a student at the Harvard Business School, said Canales and Alvardado will “do a great job leading.”

Fogarty noted that his goal as president is to build up HGC’s culture, a goal he believes Canales will continue in his role.

“This year has really been trying to deepen and really build great processes and also culture,” Fogarty said. “In his hands, I’m sure that we’ll go even to greater heights, especially in a context of changing macro environment, changing potential funding.”

“I think it’s really great that we've got a responsible pair of hands,” he added.

—Staff writer Iris Hur can be reached at iris.hur@thecrimson.com.

—Staff writer Claire Jiang can be reached at claire.jiang@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X at @_clairejiang_.