Organization
Student union is a large organization, which consists of members, representative council, board and employees. Here you can read more about each body, our strategy and the representative council’s meetings.
Table of Contents
Members of LTKY
According to Finnish university legislation, all degree students have to be members of a student union. Students will become members of the student union automatically after they have paid the student union membership fee. Post-graduate students may also join the student union but they have different befits. There are approximately 5000 members in LTKY, both under-graduate and post-graduate students.
Symbol of LTKY is the first letter of Hebrew alphabets, Aalef, in red circled by a black gearwheel. As a mathematical symbol Aalef stands for ‘one’ which can be seen as a symbol of unity in LTKY.

Representative Council
Members of LTKY elect the representative council by voting in council elections. Elections are held every other year in November and 27 representatives are elected. All under-graduate and post-graduate students can vote in the elections if they have paid the student union fee. Representative council is the highest decision-making body of the student union and they have meetings approximately once a month. Representative council elects the student union board, nominates student representatives, decides on the membership fee, and ratifies the budget.
The rules that guide the actions of the council can be read under the rules of Student Union. Minutes from council’s meetings can be found here.
The results from the Representative Council Elections in 2021 and other information can be found here.
Minutes of Representative Council’s meetings can be found here.
Representative Council 2022-2023
Chairs of the representative council ([email protected])

Chair of the Representative Council
Suvi-Tuuli Poikonen
[email protected]

1st Vice Chair of the Representative Council
Mette Hyytiäinen

2nd Vice Chair of the Representative Council
Yannick Schuurmans
Contact persons of the unions:
GT: Elias Samuli
NEON: Lasse Narinen
YLE: Samuli Kantola
KTOKK: Joona Palviainen
PI: Yannick Schuurmans
KokMi: Jemina Laine
Council members of the unions:
GT
- Tuuli-Maaria Rönkä
- Noora Rautio
- Maria Aartolahti
- Ella Toimela
- Olivia Kuronen
- Reetta Malmivaara
- Sonja Töyrylä
- Roni Juntunen
- Anniina Pokki
YLE
- Oona Karttunen
- Katja Immonen
- Akseli Suutari
- Johanna Johansson
- Suvi-Tuuli Poikonen
IND
- Tommi Murtola
NEON
- Mette Hyytiäinen
- Roosa Grönberg
- Monika Rautio
- Maria Tawaststjerna
- Juho Karén
- Tino Hakanen
KTOKK
- Joona Palviainen
- Miikka Huotari
PI
- Yannick Schuurmans
- Ari Holahan
KOKMI
- Kuisma Saariaho

Board
Board uses the administrative and executive power given by the representative council. The Board’s mission is to direct the daily activities in the student union. The Board includes a chairman and six board members with different duties. The Board meets regularly but all board members are in a fulltime commitment to Student Union. Board selects the secretariat and can hire project secretaries if needed. The Board works for both Lappeenranta and Lahti campuses.

Chair of the Board
Lari Vanhala
[email protected]
050 303 3044

Vice-Chair of the Board,
Municipal Politics, Elections
Niilo Hendolin
[email protected]
044 293 8820

Corporate Relations, Financials, Events
Erik Kuitunen
[email protected]
050 303 2346

Social Politics, Communications
Pinla Nokkanen
[email protected]
050 551 4478

International Affairs, Lahti
Robin Karlsson
[email protected]
044 293 8811

Higher Education Politics, Environment and Sustainability
Suvi-Tuuli Ryhänen
[email protected]
050 303 6785
Employees
Task of the employees is to take care of different duties assigned to it by the Board. Head of employees is Executive Director who is responsible of general administration, office functions and government of the employees. The employees work in either the Lappeenranta or Lahti offices, but handle the affairs of both campuses. The Executive Director works weekly at both offices.
The following employees work permanently at LTKY: Executive Director, Office secretary, Secretary of member services, Advocacy Expert, Community Specialist and Communications Specialist.
The Student Union also has secretarial positions that work on different projects, such as a Secretary of annual celebration.

Executive director
Arttu Kaukinen
General administration, finance
[email protected]
044 293 8818

Office secretary
Virpi Partti
Office servicers, invoicing
[email protected]
044 293 8803

Advocacy Expert
Tiia Kettunen
Advocacy policies, HallOpEd -processes, Feedbacks, Exam archive, Harassment contact person activity
[email protected]
044 293 8825

Secretary of member services
Petra Sjögren
Associations, member services, spaces, communication
[email protected]
044 293 8819


Communications Specialist
Roosa Pehkonen
Informing, publishing, communications
[email protected]
044 293 8823