Sinna Habteslassie

In 2018 Sinna Habteselassie became the first African American student body president at the University of Cincinnati. Between March of 2018 and April of 2019, Habteselassie represented over 36,000 undergraduates. As the student body president, she advocated for an improvement of the lives for all students on campus. An example of a change she brought to UC is extending nighttime hours for university shuttles in 2019 due to concerns regarding safety of walking without assistance at night. She also pressed the university to remove McMicken’s name from the College of Arts and Sciences stating, “When I graduate, I’m not too pressed to have his history associated with my degree.” On campus, she was heavily involved in the African American Cultural and Resource Center (AACRC), Racial Awareness Pilot Program (RAPP), and the University of Cincinnati African Student Association, most of which are located here in the Steger Student Life Center. Habteselassie graduated from UC in 2019 with a degree in Neuroscience and Organizational Leadership. Since graduation, she has worked in New York as a Business & Integration Architecture Analyst at Accenture, a part of the Technology Development Program. Based on her social media presence, she clearly demonstrates tremendous support for all minorities, the underrepresented, and LGBTQ+ community and is driven to push others to seek equality for these groups. For example, on her Twitter page, one of the tweets she posted on June 7, 2020 states, “Protesting our dehumanization is and must continue to be a multi-faceted approach. So take the time to balance serving your community and yourself.”